I wrote about the reach, and perhaps overreach, of Social Security's controls on fees for representation before the agency in 2021. I still think what I suggested at that time would be a good idea:
The Social Security Act says that fees for representing claimants must be approved by the agency. 42 U.S.C. §406(a)(1). The agency has interpreted this provision broadly. Its position is that charging a fee just to help a claimant file a claim or an appeal must be approved by the agency. As a result no one is providing these services for a fee apart from those offering contingent fee contracts for much broader representation. This leaves a large number of people to seek services that the Social Security Administration is unable to supply. Social Security should announce that that merely helping a claimant file a claim or an appeal is not the sort of representation for which fee approval is required. This would allow attorneys and H.&R. Block and whomever else to provide these services for modest fees. As an alternative, if the agency still wants to control these fees, the Social Security Act provides authority for the Commissioner to simply approve a maximum fee. ("The Commissioner of Social Security may, by rule and regulation, prescribe the maximum fees which may be charged for services performed in connection with any claim ...) The Commissioner could announce that the maximum fee to help file a claim is, let's say, $250 and the maximum fee for helping to file an appeal is $100. Those providing these services would not have to submit a fee petition. I will concede that this suggestion helps those with some money more than it helps the destitute but one would hope that even the poor could come up with the modest fees I'm talking about. It would also free up agency personnel to provide more help for poor claimants. If Social Security cannot itself provide these services to all who need them, why stand in the way of others providing these services for modest fees?
4 comments:
This is actually a good idea. There are many retired SSA employees who could this, but may not want to get in the much more in depth representation process.
The modest fee would not be worth it. If flat fee was offered at the initial level, you might get some interest, but likely only from the LTD aligned groups. Many errors that we see later in representation are from poorly informed and processed initial applications. There are huge errors by claimants who attempt it on their own and also with the help of the SSA claims representatives. You really have to do full interviews to support onset dates, and all impairments. You need to get work background and payroll to determine if onset can be pushed back due to UWA when folks have tried short spurts of work. You need to have all the medical information. $250.00? No thanks. At this point, with initial applications taking up to a year to process, most cases will yield a good fee whether paid early or later in the appeals process.
I’m one of those former employees. I’d absolutely do a side business helping claimants with initial claims. Former employees could cut so much processing time out of initial claims since we know what the Claims Specialist is looking for.
I would do it for free. Since it's all online it's a bit more of a pain explaining to others how to complete it. On paper it's easier to skip around and come back to subjects. Online is better, just harder to coach in my experience.
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