Washington Post On Social Security Staffing Problems And Medicare

From Stephen Barr's column in the Washington Post:

Staffing problems at the Social Security Administration could make it difficult for field offices to handle increased telephone calls and visits prompted by an upcoming increase in Medicare premiums, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Social Security began mailing notices of the higher, income-based premiums on Monday and expects all 1.6 million affected enrollees to have them in hand by the end of next week. Enrollees may request a recalculation of their premium if they think incorrect tax data have been used to determine their income and set their premium, or if they have recently experienced an income loss from a spouse's death, a divorce or some other "life-changing event."

In a letter sent last week to the Senate Finance Committee, the GAO warned that Social Security is coping with staff shortages and operating under a hiring freeze just as the agency's workload is expected to jump because of the premium increases. The GAO, the congressional auditing agency, noted that the premium change, though approved by Congress in 2003, may come as a surprise to some beneficiaries.

Mark Lassiter, a Social Security spokesman, said the agency plans to shift workloads among field offices if some offices "are getting disproportionately hit" by telephone calls and visits from Medicare beneficiaries.

He expressed confidence that the agency's 1,300 field offices will be able to handle any surge in work. "We do the work we are assigned to get done," he said. ...

The GAO said implementing income-based premiums will cost Social Security an additional $200 million in administrative expenses between fiscal 2006 and 2010.

The extra work comes at a tough time for the agency. Social Security has adopted a hiring freeze because Congress has not been able to complete work on the agency's fiscal 2007 appropriations bill. Agency officials also have warned that it could be forced next year to send employees home without pay, perhaps for as long as 10 days, if Congress does not reverse proposed budget cuts.

Here is a link to the GAO report.