I have taken a look through the health care reform bill passed by the House of Representatives for the words "social security" to see what new responsibilities it assigns to the Social Security Administration. I only found two new responsibilities for the Social Security Administration. Social Security is to verify that Social Security numbers and names match -- in effect verifying citizenship -- for purposes of eligibility for the various forms of assistance available under the bill. This is a responsibility that Social Security does not want and should not have, but it appears that the agency is stuck with it and not just for health care. At least, Social Security is appropriated $30 million for this under the bill for doing this. Also, under the bill, Social Security is required to do outreach to identify individuals eligible for the low income prescription drug subsidy.
10 comments:
More amazingly, SSA can't do it. At least we could not for employment identity checks, when everybody was so excited about illegal immigrants. This ought to be "plug-in" simple.
So you looked at all 1,990 pages of the bill? If that's the case, that puts you ahead of the people that voted for it.
Ah, once again, the stupid "subsidy outreach" is being funded. This is a ridiculous waste of resources and time. Why they keep this in year after year is beyond me.
Ugh...not more subsidy outreach.
So we have to do more outreach for a benefit that we do not administer, while hundreds of thousands of claims go unworked due to inadequate funding/staffing.
Dumbest Congress ever.
Why is verifying citizenship a bad thing? As a lawyer, you are not saying that you favor benefits being provided to those not legally entitled? We do still live under the rule of law...or at least I hope so.
"Why is verifying citizenship a bad thing? As a lawyer, you are not saying that you favor benefits being provided to those not legally entitled? We do still live under the rule of law...or at least I hope so."
It is bad because the majority of SSA records prior to 1984 don't include actual verified proof of citizenship for anybody. They only include the individual's (or their parents') allegations about citizenship of that individual.
At best, you can imply citizenship based upon SSA records but you can't prove it.
i wonder how this will be done in my town. we dont have a main office and the guy from ss comes here once a month for about 4 hours. our nearest office is a 45 minute drive to another town and county. this would not be practical in most places that have no main office.
"It is bad because the majority of SSA records prior to 1984 don't include actual verified proof of citizenship for anybody. They only include the individual's (or their parents') allegations about citizenship of that individual."
OK then lets do it now and you get a two for. You verify eligibility for health care and it won't need to be done when the person applies for benefits.
Most of the SSA can't or shouldn't do this, is just like e-verify is a smoke screen for letting illegals work and get government provided benefits.
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