Punishing Poor People

      From ProPublica:

Even a glance at Shy’tyra Burton’s life reveals her need for the sort of federal government assistance that helps disabled Americans stay in their homes. Born two months prematurely into a poor family in Philadelphia, unable to breathe or swallow without tubes and largely confined to medical facilities until age 4, Burton was diagnosed with a litany of developmental and intellectual disabilities that left her with an IQ below 70. 

She persevered and graduated from a high school special education program, then attempted community college. But she struggled to grasp basic tasks and information. She couldn’t get hired, including at McDonald’s. After multiple medical and psychological evaluations and a hearing before a judge, the federal government approved her for the Supplemental Security Income program, which provides a basic income to those with severe disabilities and to indigent older people. 

For Burton, now 22, the $994 monthly benefit is lifesaving but not enough to completely support herself on her own. So, like many SSI recipients, she has continued to live with her father, who makes around $2,000 a month as a Philadelphia sanitation worker. 

Now, President Donald Trump’s administration is poised to penalize people like Burton simply for living in the same home as their families, according to four federal officials, internal emails and a federal regulatory listing. The administration is working on a rule change that would deduct the value of a disabled adult’s bedroom from their SSI allotment, even if the family members they live with are poor enough to qualify for food stamps. This would mean slashing the benefits of some of the most low-income SSI recipients by up to a third — about $330 a month in Burton’s case — or ending their support altogether. … 

If enacted, the change will require intellectually disabled young people like Burton as well as very elderly people to file extensive monthly reports if they want to continue their benefits even at the reduced level. They’ll have to provide details about the property where they live: whether it’s leased or owned, as well as the names of anyone in the home, and whether any of these people has any new income or assets. They’ll also have to include documentation of all household bills and expenses, showing how much they do or don’t contribute personally, as well as financial documents such as bank statements and any pay stubs. …

Accessibility Improvements At Social Security?

      From MSN (emphasis added):

President Donald Trump will venture outside the White House for the first time since a foiled assassination attempt, traveling on Friday to a Florida stronghold under mounting political pressure and intense scrutiny of his security.

Trump is expected to tout new tax deductions for seniors and accessibility improvements at the Social Security Administration during a visit to The Villages, a large retirement community that consistently backs Republican candidates. …

The Schemers Never Stop

      From a press release by Social Security’s Office of Inspector General:

Federal law enforcement agencies are warning the public about a surge in government imposter scams involving the misuse of real Social Security Administration (SSA) and Office of the Inspector General (OIG) employee names, fabricated badge images, and fraudulent social media profiles.

Recent reports show scammers are:

• Using the name of a real SSA employee along with a fake badge or credential to appear legitimate.  
• Using information from social media profiles to impersonate a real SSA OIG employee to initiate contact and build trust with potential victims.

These tactics mirror a broader trend in which criminals attempt to legitimize their schemes by sending doctored images of credentials, spoofing phone numbers, or posing as government officials online. …

How Does This Sell In Alabama?

      Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL, or perhaps, the Jurassic Age) is running for governor of Alabama. One of the planks of his platform is that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme.” He can’t believe that his Democratic opponent is calling him out on this. Judging by what he writes Tuberville wants to just end Social Security period. He doesn’t suggest any phaseout or transition to something else.

89 Year Old Man Goes On Shooting Spree At Social Security Offices In Greece

      From the Jerusalem Post:

A gunman opened fire at a social security office and a courthouse in central Athens, wounding several people, Greek authorities said on Tuesday.

Police have launched an operation to locate the shooter, who Greek media reports say is 89 years old. 

Police said the suspect, who was armed with a shotgun, first opened fire at a social security office in central Athens, wounding an employee. …

The gunman then opened fire on the ground floor of a city courthouse, wounding several more people. …

Increased Performance Awards

     From Federal News Network:

   … [T]he Social Security Administration is setting aside additional funds this year to ensure a larger-than-usual pool of employees receives performance awards.

Florence Felix-Lawson, the agency’s chief human capital officer, told employees in an email last month that they would be getting performance awards earlier than usual, at the direction of SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano.

“His goal was simple: to recognize employees as soon as possible,” Felix-Lawson wrote.

According to the email, SSA expanded eligibility to include employees who received a 3.5 or 3.7 performance evaluation, “reflecting a broader commitment to recognizing strong performance across the agency.”

By making more employees eligible for awards, but with the same amount of funding, SSA officials realized that some employees would be getting lower bonuses than they received in prior years.

“As we reviewed the outcomes, the commissioner emphasized the importance of ensuring that awards remain meaningful — particularly for strong performers across the 4-level,” Felix-Lawson wrote. “At his direction, and in partnership with our budget team, we have secured additional funding to supplement awards for employees rated 4.0 through 4.7.”

Previously, awards at the 4-level began at 0.5% of base salary. With this additional funding, they now range from 1.2% to 1.5%:

• 4.0: 1.2% of base salary
• 4.3: 1.3% of base salary
• 4.5: 1.4% of base salary
• 4.7: 1.5% of base salary
• 5.0: 2.0% of base salary (unchanged)

Felix-Lawson wrote that performance awards are discretionary and “are not guaranteed year to year and are not intended to mirror prior awards.” …

Medicare Enrollment Penalty Mistakes

      From a report by Social Security’s Office of Inspector General:

SSA and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services share administrative responsibilities for Medicare. …

SSA enrolls beneficiaries, establishes applicable premium penalties, and collects premiums from individuals who receive Social Security benefits. If an individual signs up for Part B after their Initial Enrollment Period, they may have to pay a late enrollment penalty. 

We identified 101,516 OASI beneficiaries who enrolled in Part B during the 2023 and/or 2024 General Enrollment Periods and whom SSA penalized for late enrollment. We reviewed a random sample of 200 of these beneficiaries. 

SSA employees accurately processed 177 of the 200 Part B applications we reviewed. However, SSA employees did not accurately process the applications for the remaining 23 beneficiaries. As a result, SSA’s systems improperly assessed approximately $24,000 in Part B premium penalties. 

Based on our sample results, we estimate SSA employees accurately processed approximately 90,000 beneficiaries’ applications and did not accurately process 12,000 beneficiaries’ applications. As a result, SSA’s systems improperly assessed about $12 million in Part B premium penalties. 

These errors occurred because SSA employees did not consider Group Health Plan coverage, the impact of U.S. residency and lawful presence start dates on Initial Enrollment Period determinations, deemed enrollment, Exceptional Conditions, Special Enrollment Periods, and equitable relief. …

     What I’ve seen over the years is that you can almost always find a legitimate way to avoid the late enrollment penalty. I don’t know why they even try to apply a penalty. It’s not worth the trouble.

41% Error Rate On Widow And Widower Claims

     From a recent report by Social Security’s Office of Inspector General:

The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program provides benefits to wage earners and eligible family members. The Agency uses the wage earner’s Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) to determine monthly benefit amounts. The eligibility year SSA uses to determine the PIA is usually the year a wage earner attains age 62, becomes disabled, or dies. However, an alternative PIA computation for widow(er)s—the widow(er)’s indexing (WINDEX) PIA—may apply when wage earners die before they attain age 62. 

When a claimant applies for Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance benefits, the application usually covers all benefits for which the claimant is eligible unless they specifically limit the scope of the application. For example, widow(er)s may limit the scope of the application to only include widow(er) benefits and exclude retirement benefits to maximize future benefits. 

We reviewed 2 samples totaling 120 beneficiaries who, as of November 2023, either did not have a WINDEX PIA (from a population of 54,843 beneficiaries) or were dually entitled to widow(er)s and retirement benefits (from a population of 7,253 beneficiaries).

SSA paid 71 (59 percent) of the 120 widow(er) beneficiaries we reviewed the appropriate monthly benefit amounts. For the remaining 49 (41 percent), we found the following. 

• SSA employees did not apply the WINDEX PIA appropriately when they manually processed cases for 11 widow(er) beneficiaries and, as a result, did not pay the appropriate monthly benefits. We could not determine why SSA employees did not appropriately apply the WINDEX PIA for these widow(er) beneficiaries. Based on our random sample, we estimate SSA underpaid 8,618 widow(er)s approximately $50.4 million.
• SSA overpaid one widow(er) because employees used the incorrect PIA.
• SSA employees did not document in the Agency’s system regarding whether they informed 37 widow(er) beneficiaries of their option to receive widow(er) benefits only and delay filing for retirement benefits. Therefore, we could not determine whether SSA appropriately paid these widow(er) beneficiaries despite reminders SSA issued to employees. We estimate 5,367 widow(er)s would have been eligible for $113.8 million in additional benefits had they chosen to delay their retirement claims. …