The Social Security Administration has finally posted the final 2006 numbers on payments of fees to attorneys and others for representing Social Security claimants. Normally, Social Security posts these numbers within a few days after the end of a month, but the figures for November and December 2006 were not posted until today. Here are the final 2006 numbers:
The final total for 2006 was $950,797,676.84. This is an 11% increase over the total for 2005, which was $862,369,764.09, although one should not infer from this that those representing Social Security claimants are enjoying rapidly increasing fees. These numbers are heavily influenced by the advent of withholding of fees in SSI cases and withholding of fees for certain non-attorney representatives. Without those fees being added, the increase would have been far less dramatic. Undoubtedly, there has been some increase in fees over the rate of inflation, but this has come at a cost to those representing Social Security claimants. As the length of time that Social Security takes to adjudicate cases goes up, the fees go up, since they are based upon the amount of back benefits, but so does the work that the attorney or representative must do. The longer the case stays open, the more telephone calls the attorney makes and receives concerning the case, the more medical development the attorney must do and so on.
Fee Payments | ||
|---|---|---|
| Month/Year | Volume | Amount |
| Jan-06 | 18,752 | $64,848,326.02 |
| Feb-06 | 20,426 | $70,312.586.15 |
| Mar-06 | 26,227 | $91,045,934.83 |
| Apr-06 | 23,042 | $79,714,961.76 |
| May-06 | 23,581 | $82,015,869.29 |
| June-06 | 27,771 | $97,085,724.60 |
| July-06 | 21,432 | $74,648,883.83 |
| August-06 | 24,579 | $85,528,548.61 |
Sept-06 | 28,968 | $99,124,616.47 |
Oct-06 | 20,246 | $71,009,543.75 |
Nov-06 | 18,322 | $63,636,873.26 |
Dec-06 | 20,717 | $71,825,808.27 |
The final total for 2006 was $950,797,676.84. This is an 11% increase over the total for 2005, which was $862,369,764.09, although one should not infer from this that those representing Social Security claimants are enjoying rapidly increasing fees. These numbers are heavily influenced by the advent of withholding of fees in SSI cases and withholding of fees for certain non-attorney representatives. Without those fees being added, the increase would have been far less dramatic. Undoubtedly, there has been some increase in fees over the rate of inflation, but this has come at a cost to those representing Social Security claimants. As the length of time that Social Security takes to adjudicate cases goes up, the fees go up, since they are based upon the amount of back benefits, but so does the work that the attorney or representative must do. The longer the case stays open, the more telephone calls the attorney makes and receives concerning the case, the more medical development the attorney must do and so on.
No comments:
Post a Comment