Stephen Goss, Social Security's Chief Actuary, testified on July 17 before the House Budget Committee on the desirability of funding for continuing disability reviews and SSI redeterminations. You can read his prepared remarks online. I do not understand why Goss would have been testifying. He does has more credibility with Congress than any other senior Social Security official. Goss has been around for many years and is well respected by both Democrats and Republicans. While funding this part of Social Security's operations is certainly desirable, one has to contrast this effort to make sure there is funding to cut off benefits, with the half-hearted efforts to get enough funding to put disabled people on benefits. Of course, Goss may have testified because everyone else was on vacation.
An important reason for having sufficient funding for cdr's and redeterminations is that it involves field office staffing. If there is less funding for those items, it serves as an excuse to reduce field office staff--the same staff that must also process claims. The remaining staff is insufficient to process claims accurately and timely, adding to the overall backlogs.
ReplyDeleteStudies have consistently shown that conducting medical reviews of SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance)and SSI (Supplemental Security Income)recipients and financial reviews of SSI recipients saves much more money than it costs to conduct the reviews. These savings can help offset the cost of the initial claims workload. But it all boils down to more staffing and it is the same staff that processes both workloads in the field offices. Nearly all federal agencies are severely short staffed these days. Wether it is SSA, the FDA or the USDA Americans want the government to help and protect them but do not want to pay the taxes that provide the services.
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