Santa Maria man receives ‘life-changing’ help from Rep. Carbajal’s office

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Congressman Salud Carbajal met with a Santa Maria man on Monday morning at Allan Hancock College to celebrate the completion of an effort by this office that helped restore what it called a "life-changing amount" of federal benefits that were being withheld from the local resident.

"We're highlighting the constituent service that my office provides to the community and Central Coast residents who are dealing and are frustrated with federal agencies, and have matters that they want to get resolved," said Carbajal. Today, we highlighted Mr. (Alex) Espinosa and his case. He came to our office, brought us a matter that he was dealing with, with the federal government, the Social Security Administration, regarding his Social Security disability benefit, which was reduced, because of an alleged overpayment."

The 54-year-old Espinoza, who recently graduated from Hancock College in May with a pair of associate degrees, had fought with the government for years to receive the proper amount of benefits he was owed.

"It was so frustrating that I wanted to give up," said Espinoza. "It was devastating for me. It was emotional setback that I was having a hard time dealing with."

Espinoza eventually took his case to the Carbajal's office, which worked over the last several months to find a resolution.

"After we got involved, it turned out the overpayment was in error and the reduction in his benefits were erroneous," said Carbajal. "We were able to get him back pay for that erroneous claim that the Social Security office had made, or errors should I say, so we were able to resolve his back pay, get his benefit expanded, and now he's it's almost been doubled from what he was getting before, and he's able to live his life and have the financial footing that he deserves."

Carbajal said his office receives hundreds of cases from constituents annually, who are in similar situations to the one that Espinoza battled through.

"People come to our office when they're having challenges with their veterans benefits," said Carbajal. "Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, all those issues that are federally related come before our office, and we try and do our best to resolve them. We encourage people to go through the process and apply and resolve the issues with those agencies, but when they are having problems in getting those resolutions, or getting the proper communication to address their case, come see us, and that's what we're here for, to intervene and to help you resolve your matter."

Now that his case is resolved, Espinoza feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulder and he can now continue his educational pursuits without having to worry about having his benefits issue.

I don't even have the words to express how grateful I am," said Espinoza, who graduated from Hancock College in May with two associates degrees. "I'm working on my bachelor's in psychology, and now I'm just happy in my life. It gives me that confidence, that boost that that an extra, you can do it and type of attitude to where I'm going to get it done. No matter what, I'm going to continue to go and pursue it, and I think I got the tools and everything necessary to do that."