Noteboom The Law Firm

Stay Tuned for the Final Decision on COLA

Many people have heard about the proposed elimination of the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. It would affect anyone collecting Social Security payments, including disability checks. You might be interested to know if there is anything you can do to stop this decision from being made.

It helps to know who is in charge of deciding which years will see adjustments. The choice is made by seven trustees using information furnished by the Social Security Administration. The current inflation rate is taken into consideration, which the Consumer Price Index measures.

As of this writing, there are a few proposals floating around, thanks to a few different people. At the beginning of 2009, the trustees claimed that they did not foresee an increase of the COLA, since they did not think that the cost of living or inflation would increase. This is partly due to the fact that energy costs are lower than usual, though healthcare is set to rise next year. Fortunately, many recipients of Medicare will be unaffected by this increase, as they are guaranteed to have the same healthcare prices year after year.

The end of October should see the final decision of whether or not to implement the usual COLA in January 2010. This means there is still time to change the minds of the trustees, which some representatives from different areas have been attempting to do.

According to St. Petersburg Times, one example is Rep. Walter Jones, who is a North Carolina Republican. He has proposed an increased payment that would be calculated using the average cost-of-living adjustments for the past ten years. The result would be approximately 3 percent.

On the other hand, Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio from Oregon has joined forces with Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders to suggest a single extra $250 check. They claim that while this might not make up for the COLA in 2010, every little bit helps.

The final decision will not be made for a few weeks, but it is wise to not expect a COLA for 2010. Many Social Security recipients have already braced themselves for this news, so at this point, either a COLA or an extra $250 check would be a nice surprise for many.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida disability lawyers, LaVan & Neidenberg, represent over 5000 disability claimants. Our disability attorneys have experience with cross examining agency-appointed medical and vocational experts and take time when speaking with you about your disability claim. Call us today at 1-888-234-5758 for a FREE legal consultation. There is NO OBLIGATION to hire our firm and there are NO FEES unless one of our trained disability lawyers wins your case.