The House Social Security Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for October 18 on “examining how the Social Security Administration can better identify improper payments before they occur and provide beneficiaries with adequate notice when they occur.”
8 comments:
As with most of SSA‘s problems, the answer is simple: Stop demanding your employees perform increasingly cumbersome tasks in increasingly shorter amounts of time.
1. Automate tasks that can be automated.
Did the last work review show that they were 3 months into a trial work period? Maybe don't wait two years before launching the next work review because it requires a person to make three keystrokes first. Plenty of $10k-$20k overpayments avoided.
Did a DIB recipient cross the threshold of SGA (monthly) times 12 when they filed taxes? Automate sending them out a work review.
Did an SSI recipient pop up on one of the many databases they have for other benefits, income or resources? Automate the dang review.
2. Communicate responsibilities better.
All SSA printouts are garbage. Make one specific sheet that is easily readable, and a mandatory hand-out/mail-out to anyone receiving a benefit that could be adversely affected by earnings (SSI, DIB, early RIB).
There's also a mandatory script we have to read at the beginning and end of claims, attesting them under penalty of perjury. I don't enjoy it, but I understand why it's there. Add some language about their reporting responsibilities, and them affirming that they've been told and understand them. Give them a chance to go "woah woah wait".
3. The other obvious stuff.
Increase budget, hire more, train better, etc.
They always had the chance to say WOAH!
This agency couldn’t even competently select a time-keeping system of software telephone system. And when they tried to create an application to remove duplicate records from claimant files (a very crude and simple task, by the way), the result was a flaming pile of trash that made the task take about 15 times longer.
The agency needs to come to grips with the fact that difficult work takes time, and quit pretending its incompetent third-rate tech staff can tech away all of its problems.
If you worked your ework tickles, you would be doing a work review at the 9th month of the twp.
@914. Work tickles do come up at 9 months. But you can't cut them off then. They have to continue at SGA until they stop getting paid for the 13th month. If someone has a solid job, then it's no problem doing inputs and having the check stop. But if someone is just over SGA it's difficult to cut them off when they may fall under its ga imminently. That's just a real pain to get them back on at times when the inputs don't work.
There are things SSA could do (especially with more funding) but there are also things only Congress can do that would really help:
1. Let people keep their benefits for the month they die
2. Increase and inflation-adjust the SSI resource limit and earned/unearned income exclusions; also eliminate ISM, holding out, and dedicated accounts
3. Simplify DI work rules (I would raise the TWP threshold to SGA and to 12 months instead of 9 in the rolling 5-year period)
4. Figure out something to simplify the retirement earnings test: just making it a 2-for-1 offset all the years instead of 3-for-1 in the FRA year would help and that would actually save the trust funds some money. Maybe not trying to adjust benefits in real time would be easier...just do it retroactively when people file their taxes.
5. Increase all SGA to the blind level? That would cost a lot but make things easier. Maybe just increase it for people who've been awarded benefits, not for getting on benefits in the first place.
@222PM Regarding letting people keep their benefits for the month they die--they aren't around to spend T2 benefits as they are paid for the prior month. So even if a person dies on the last day of the month, the money won't be getting to their bank until after they are dead, sometimes well after they are dead. If this change was made it would mean no survivor benefits for the month of death as well.
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