I guess this is a dog bites man story but a Virginia man has finally received his Social Security benefits after the intervention of a television station.
But Social Security has announced that it's stopped doing this sort of thing. No more expediting a case because of "adverse public relations potential." Of course, I didn't think they'd really stop. Did you?
I'm certainly not sorry the man finally got his benefits. He had been waiting far too long. It's just that he's not the only one. Getting media intervention is like winning the lottery. It has little to do with just how bad the delay is.
Management makes their own rules when it’s needed.
ReplyDeleteThe spotlight needs to be put on resources. Frame the issue that way. When the SSI Redeterminations and CDR money run the show it gets a point we have time for anything else. Answer phones. Work reception. Take claims. No time left to adjudicate.
ReplyDeleteYes this is an agency resource issue, though here I bet it was the payment center that was backed up rather than the field office.
ReplyDeleteI think there might be a misunderstanding about that linked instruction about changing definitions of dire need between HALLEX and POMS. For example, if SSA is going to CPS a claimant, they have to assign a code for why they're doing it, using POMS. Dire need means the claimant can't pay rent or utilities or medical bills, and they are in dire need. PR isn't dire need. But, a different code IS for PR, so the CS is saying the claimant doesn't NEED the money, but SSA has screwed something up and isn't fixing it very well and the claimant is getting pissed. So it sounds like HALLEX was coding PR issues as Dire Need, and now it has them as separate issues.
ReplyDeleteWhich still has nothing to do with the fact that sometimes the only thing preventing a claim from getting finished is getting it to the attention of the right person, and that's all a news story or congressional inquiry is about. If someone isn't being treated fairly, it's usually because they've slipped through the cracks, and once that's identified, it's corrected.
Now, what IS some BS is if the agency makes a different decision because of media attention. Like if an overpayment can be waived, waive it. If it can't or shouldn't be waived, don't waive it just because they were on the news.
it's usually because they've slipped through the cracks, and once that's identified, it's corrected.
DeleteI’m sorry but waiting over three years is beyond slipping through the cracks. Where is the accountability?
Almost EVERY SSDI/SSI claimant NEEDS the money, and in a timely matter. SSA's definition of "dire need" basically means "hasn't bankrupted entire family."
DeleteApplication filed in 21. Yes, three years from application but not three years from ALJ decision. We don't know how long ago that was.
ReplyDeleteAll cases should be processed quickly but there are many cases that went to District Court, got Remanded, received a favorable decision by an ALJ and we are waiting more than a year for the payment center to process the payments. In one case, the application was in 2015.
Does every case now require Congressional intervention and/or a TV show?
Thirty thousand people died while waiting for Social Security disability determinations during fiscal 2023, the Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley told Nextgov/FCW in a recent interview.
DeleteIt’s a grim statistic for an agency undergoing what O’Malley describes as a “customer service crisis” induced by a lack of adequate funding and associated staffing woes.
SSA needs to do a better job of expediting claims if the thirty thousand number is correct.
DeleteStill in denial! This number comes from O’Malley himself!.
DeleteThirty thousand people died while waiting for Social Security disability determinations during fiscal 2023, the Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley told Nextgov/FCW in a recent interview.
Some deaths were no doubt due to slow processing but I had a couple of early deaths a few years ago that were TERI cases processed very timely. I infrequently had a death while a claim was pending due to accident or other non disability related cause. I suspect the vast majority were due to slow processing.
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