In 2024, more than 71 million Social Security recipients are set to see a significant increase in their benefits. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced a 3.2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). This change reflects the rising cost of living and aims to provide enhanced financial support to beneficiaries. This adjustment, based on the Consumer Price Index, will impact those receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), ensuring their benefits keep pace with inflation. Starting in January 2024, this increase marks a crucial step in ..read more

The Social Security Administration (SSA) adjusts the amounts of benefits paid to those who receive Social Security Disability on an annual basis. This includes Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The SSA refers to this benefit increase as a cost of living adjustment (COLA). In January 2023, SSDI benefits increased by 8.7% through COLA. While this increase fails to keep up with the current inflation rate, it’s still good news for those who depend on SSDI. COLA increases help social security recipients stay afloat and afford the necessities everyon ..read more

In an ideal world, young people facing cancer diagnoses would unrelentingly and unanimously receive the medical care that would not only free them of cancer but give them the right to a happy and healthy life. This, however, isn’t always the case.  Insurance providers who prioritize their own bottom lines over young people’s recoveries can prove as detrimental to these young people’s health as a cancer diagnosis. In Dimitri Vallejo’s case, insurance providers’ decisions regarding his care permanently caused damage to his heart and have changed the way he will interact with his health for ..read more

Navigating the Social Security disability system can be complex, especially when it comes to documenting your complaints and symptoms. Many disability claims rely on an individual’s statements about their pain, limitations, and other subjective experiences. In an effort to provide clarity and consistency in evaluating these aspects, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has implemented a new rule that impacts how subjective complaints and symptoms are assessed in disability claims. Our Social Security Disability lawyers can help you obtain the necessary medical evidence to maximize your cha ..read more

You Can Appeal and Reclaim Your Life When you’ve been denied Social Security Disability benefits, you want a law firm that has helped thousands of people in the Carolinas win approvals—the Law Office of Pilzer Klein. After all, your future’s at stake. Your health has gotten worse, and you know you can’t work. When you’re denied, it feels like all hope is lost. Your income stops. Your medical bills grow. On top of a health crisis, you’re facing a financial meltdown. But don’t give up. You can still appeal the decision, win benefits, start receiving monthly checks and get a sense of peace back i ..read more

When a claim is denied by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the claimant has the option of seeking Appeals Council review. A Request for Appeals Council review must be made within 60 days of the receipt of the unfavorable ALJ decision. For the Appeals Council to grant review, the claimant must show that the ALJ abused his discretion in some respect, made an error of law, or made a finding of fact which is not supported by substantial evidence. The Appeals Council will not reverse an ALJ decision merely because a more liberal person would have awarded it, or there is some supportive evidence ..read more

As part of a campaign to reduce the number of people awarded Social Security disability, the Social Security Administration has changed the rule about how much weight to accord opinion statements from treating doctors. Under the old rule, it was presumed that the treating physician had a special knowledge of the patient, and those opinions were normally accorded more weight than the opinions of the doctors that the SSA sent the claimants to for a one-time exam, or the reviewing doctors that never examine the claimants at all. These opinion statements from treating doctors, about the physical o ..read more

Tips for a Successful Disability Application in Greenville It’s hard enough when you’re dealing with health problems and you can’t work. Now you face a Social Security Disability process with thousands of rules, its own separate legal system and most people getting denied the first time they apply. At Pilzer Klein, we know you have enough stress already, so we do everything we can to ease your way through this complicated system. One way to make applying for disability benefits as smooth and comfortable as possible is to sidestep some common mistakes. To give your application the best chance f ..read more

The White House’s federal budget proposes to reduce federal spending for Social Security disability by 72 billion dollars over the next ten years. In addition, it proposes to cut 600 billion dollars from the Medicaid budget, in addition to the 839 billion dollars in Medicaid cuts proposed by the US House of Representatives. This would produce a total of 1.439 trillion dollars’ worth of Medicaid cuts over a ten year period. White House budget director, Mick Mulvaney, states that this is not a breach of President Trump’s campaign promise to refrain from making cuts to Social Security: “If you as ..read more

The proposed 2018 federal budget that the President is sending to Congress cuts the budget for the Department of Health and Human Services by 12.6%, amounting to $16 billion. These budget cuts are likely to cause further downsizing of staff at the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, where disability cases are heard, and the field offices of the Social Security Administration. With fewer people to work up the files, and assist the judges in preparing the cases, hearing delays are likely to worsen. At present, in Greenville, SC, the waiting time between requesting a hearing and ge ..read more