Social Security Update
In their annual report for 2018, the trustees for Social Security projected that Social Security retirement and disability programs will be insolvent by the year 2034. Even more troubling is that Medicare is scheduled to hit insolvency in 2026, three years earlier than last year’s estimate. The trustees also stated that 2018 will be the first year that Social Security will run an annual deficit, meaning Social Security will spend more than it collects. What will happen after 2034? Social Security has said that it will have to cut recipients benefits by 21%. Social Security will only be able to pay 79% of a recipient’s promised benefits. For Medicare, as of 2026, Medicare will only be able to pay 91% of promised benefits.
2017 saw a reduction in the number of Americans applying for Social Security disability. Fewer than 1.5 million people applied for Social Security disability last year, the lowest that number has been since 2002. Reasons for the drop in applications for disability vary including stronger economic growth, tightened standards for eligibility, and an increase in the number of baby boomers who are now receiving Social Security retirement instead of disability.
For more information on Social Security disability benefits and your eligibility, contact an experienced Social Security disability attorney at Gardberg & Kemmerly, P.C. today at 251-343-1111 for a free case evaluation. Gardberg & Kemmerly, P.C. represents Social Security disability claimants in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana at all levels of the disability process from initial application to appeals to Federal Court.