Social Security Cuts May Adversely Affect Children

Tampa, FL (Law Firm Newswire) May 30, 2013 – The new budget proposal from the White House includes a shift in how Social Security benefits will be adjusted for inflation.

The change is expected to save at least $130 billion over the next 10 years, but those cuts will be felt by millions of people in the U.S., including the elderly and children.

“For families that are above the poverty line, Social Security benefits can still be an integral part of their financial security,” stated Tampa Social Security lawyer David W. Magann.

The chained consumer price index (CPI), is designed to allow Social Security benefits to grow slower. Social Security helps an estimated 21 million people stay just above the poverty line, including more than 1.1 million people below the age of 18.

In 2011, 8 percent of the people under the age of 18, six million kids, were residing in households which received some form of Social Security benefits – likely in part due to the number of grandparents raising or helping to raise children. At least four million children directly benefit from Social Security benefits, due to a disabled or deceased parent. The chained CPI proposal includes some protection to protect benefits for many.

The Supplemental Security Income program is not slated to be affected. Some advocates think that the chained CPI will prove to have little or no impact on the country’s poverty rate, and will actually reduce poverty for the elderly. But the bottom line, critics say, is that a reduction in Social Security benefits will logically also mean a reduction in countless family incomes, and that includes the millions of children in families receiving those benefits, as well as children qualifying for benefits due to a retired, deceased or disabled parent or guardian.

Social Security benefits currently pay out an estimated $2.5 billion every month to the 4.4 million children for whom one or both parents are retired, deceased or disabled. Disabled children in low-income households or with limited resources may also be eligible for Supplemental Security Income benefits. To receive benefits, a child must have one or more parents who are retired or disabled and is entitled to Social Security benefits, or a parent who is deceased after working long enough that that paid Social Security taxes. The child must be younger than 18 and unmarried, or 18-19 and in school full-time up to grade 12, or 18 and older and disabled with the disability occurring before age 22.

To learn more about the Tampa Social Security attorney David W. Magann and his law practice, go to http://www.brandonssa.com/ or call 813-657-9175.

David W. Magann, P.A.
Main Office:
156 W. Robertson St.
Brandon, FL 33511
Call: (813) 657-9175

Tampa Office:
6107 Memorial Hwy
Tampa, Florida 33615

South Tampa Office:
Bank of Tampa Building
601 Bayshore Blvd Ste 105
Tampa, FL 33606

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