May 4, 2019

SSA Had No Time For This Reporter

All day long, 5 On Your Side Investigators have been fighting for answers to your social Security questions all while visiting our nation’s capitol. Prior to coming to D.C., we tried to get an on-camera interview with the top people at SSA. We called. We emailed. They declined. So, we printed your concerns and took them straight to the SSA building in Baltimore. 
“I’m Jonathan Walsh from News 5 up in Cleveland. I’m here to interview somebody about the concerns our viewers have,” we told the security staff that stopped us at the front doors. We were trying to help the agency to understand the problems that are happening. SSA refused to send anyone down to talk to us. We were then kicked out. “We’re just trying to get answers for the folks who keep contacting us,” we told them, but it made no difference. ...
     But he did get an interview with Senator Sherrod Brown and Lisa Ekman, Director of Government Affairs at the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR).
     Yeah, I know the reporter sounds awfully self important but communicating with the public is part of the job description for Social Security management. If Senator Brown had time for the guy, why didn’t Social Security?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The way this news channel covered WEP and GPO shows they are just click bait. What is up with the childish printouts of complaints. There are problems but there is no curation of the complaints from this channel. There coverage is worse than bad youtuber coverage.

Looking thru their library is like looking at a facebook meme compilation linked by my grandmother.

Tim said...

10:36. AM. I guess you could claim "journalism" today is essentially "click bait," in that the stories aren't well developed and the headlines are often misleading. This includes even the Washington Post and NY Times. However, your complaints seem designed to distract from the real issues involved here. If you work for SSA, then your complaints are clearly designed to distract from complaints about SSA.
The real issue is that SSA seems uninterested and uncaring about the complaints from people they are supposed to serve: the retired and disabled. "'We're just trying to get answers for the folks who keep contacting us,' we told them (SSA), but it made no difference." Senator Brown's remarks remind me of a doctor who was overconfident of his prescribed medication, who later wondered why the medication "didn't seem to help." What I am saying is, criticism of SSA by claimants and retirees, the media, and even members of Congress is like water on the back of a duck. It just doesn't seem to matter. Even Federal judges decisions are largely ignored by the agency. Even suicides by claimants who have been denied has no apparent effect. For that matter, I don't think a mass killing of DDS, FOs or ALJs would change anything either. They seem hell-bent to deny anyone they can without any regard for the consequences. Worse, they attempt to justify those decisions by stating the people "aren't really 'disabled.'" Why. Because, we don't think they "were credible." The only reason seems to be, because they would have to pay them!!!

Anonymous said...

So Tim, what do you want? Everyone to get approved just for applying?

They get reviewed at DDS at least once. If denied a Hearing, If denied another review can be done at AC and finally Federal Court.

That is a lot of opportunity to prove disability. 1 out of every 19 people in the United States is getting Disability. So they are not denying everyone just because they don't want to pay them.

Tim said...

How much "proof" do you need? 1000 pages of medical reports, showing worsening joint pain in the back, shoulders, hands, knees going back 20+, 15+, 10+ years and migraines 10+ years. Witness statements, employee records, etc. AC and some Federal judges just rubber stamp everything. FBI spies on Trump and subjects this country to 2 years+ of hell based on no evidence... The ALJ even questioned the IBS diagnosis. I would like to send SSA piles of evidence...

Anonymous said...

@9:23 --

He wants his claim paid. That it's been denied at numerous levels in and out of the Agency on more than one occasion doesn't suggest it's not as strong a claim as he thinks it is. No, it just shows everyone is corrupt and out to deny every claim they can. Despite having no financial incentive to do so. It's all part of the deep state!

Tim said...

It's not just me! Just reading Federal Court decisions and comments at the ODARs across the country... If even a third of them are as described, it is a travesty how people are being treated by SSA and their employees!