By Charles W. Forsythe at The Forsythe Firm I write this post in September of 2026. Within the last 10 minutes I have received 2 scam calls from the same person (different phone numbers), telling me I may qualify for an extra $250 from Medicare this month. Totally phony, 100 percent scam. Hang up immediately if you get one of these calls. Here is how the scam goes: You receive a call from what looks like a local number (It is not). A recorded female voice says: "You ma

Here's a question from our mailbag this week: I hear people speak of a "closed period" disability claim with Social Security. What is that?" A "closed period" of disability is a disability benefit that has both a starting date and an ending date. This simply means that the disability began on a certain date and ended on a certain date, with no benefits past the ending date. A closed period pays for a disability only for a certain period of time, then stops. Let's say

“My neighbor has the same back problem I have, and he got approved in three months. Why didn’t I?” It is one of the most common questions in Social Security disability cases. It is also one of the most understandable. When someone you know gets approved, it is natural to compare your claim to theirs. If the diagnosis sounds the same, the result should feel predictable. But Social Security disability claims do not work that way. A claim is not decided by diagnosis alone. The S