Inflation And Social Security Disability Recipients

     From The Bulletin on Retirement and Disability:

... Social Security Disability (SSD) program beneficiaries, like other consumers, have been negatively affected by inflation over the past several years. In a survey from June of 2023, more than half (59 percent) of SSD program beneficiaries reported higher prices for the disability-related goods and services they need to purchase, and more than one-quarter reported reducing food spending to cover disability-related costs, Zachary Morris and Stephanie Rennane found in Examining the Impact of Inflation on the Economic Security of Disability Program Beneficiaries (NBER RDRC Paper NB23-08).

Using new survey data, the researchers found that 82 percent of beneficiaries reported out-of-pocket expenses related to their disability, with average annual spending of $4,412 and median spending of $384 as of June 2023. Fifty-nine percent of beneficiaries reported higher spending on disability-related goods and services compared to two years earlier. In response to these rising costs, 25 percent of beneficiaries indicated they went into debt; 43 percent found recent COLA adjustments insufficient to maintain their standard of living. ...

Happy Halloween!

 

Dad In Freezer Case

    The title of this New York Post article says it all:  Twisted son left dad’s corpse in backyard freezer for years — so he could keep cashing his Social Security check. 

    You might think this is such a bizarre story that it must be without precedent. No, this happens semi-regularly at Social Security. As I've posted before, they've even made a movie about one such case -- Bernie.

In Person Service Matters

    From Effects Of Suspending In-Person Services At Social Security Administration Field Offices On Disability Applications And Allowances by Monica Farid, Michael T. Anderson, Gina Freeman, and Christopher Earles, a study for the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College:

In this study, we examine the effect of the suspension of in-person services at Social Security Administration (SSA) field offices during the COVID-19 pandemic on applications ...

The paper found that:

• There were systematic differences in the characteristics of applicants by mode of application. In-person applicants were older, less likely to have completed high school, and less likely to speak English compared to phone or online applicants.
  

• The suspension caused a 6-percent decrease in the volume of applications, implying that not everyone who wanted to apply in-person was able to apply using other modes. The effect was larger for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications compared to Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) applications.
  

• The suspension of in-person services caused some would-be in-person applicants to apply by phone, but it did not cause an increase in the volume of online applications.
  

• We did not find evidence that the suspension disproportionately affected groups of applicants defined by educational attainment, age, or English-speaking status.
  

• Our estimates imply that in-person service suspensions explain more than 50 percent of the decline in SSI and DI applications during the pandemic. ...
  

    The first and fourth points above seem to be in tension with each other.

Prove Me Wrong

 

    Let’s imagine a scenario. Donald Trump is elected President.  A year later Trump issues an “executive order” (he’s big on those) saying that henceforth only U.S. citizens are eligible for Social Security benefits. This is to “save” Social Security. The order is blatantly illegal. Statutes and U.S. treaties make legal immigrants eligible for benefits.  The order is no great surprise. Trump has already ordered the arrest of political opponents and ordered the Department of Justice to ignore court orders for their release. He’s already ordered a complete end to refugee admissions across the U.S. borders, which also violates U.S. law and treaties and ordered the Department of Homeland Security to ignore court orders to admit refugees. He’s ordered the Army to suppress peaceful demonstrations. Court orders, even habeas corpus, are routinely ignored in the second Trump Administration. If you don’t know what habeas corpus is, just take it from a lawyer, if there’s no habeas corpus, no one has any rights whatsoever. When government employees have protested all the illegality, the Trump Administration has had two responses. First, don’t worry, I’ll give everyone involved a pardon so you won't get into trouble. Second, either do it or you’re fired since Civil Service protections will have long since been removed from all federal employees.

     So, what are you going to do if you’re a Social Security employee ordered to implement a blatantly illegal order? Pretend that if the President orders it, that it can’t be that illegal? Try to drag your feet? Tell yourself that you only have a small role in the process so what you do doesn't matter. Refuse to be concerned about it since you have no non-citizen friends or family? Implement the order because you like the policy even if it's illegal? Refuse to implement the order and get fired? Quit your job so you don’t have to implement the illegal order? 

     In general, I have enormous sympathy for Social Security employees but on this I expect that few of you will have the courage to quit or court firing.  Prove me wrong but I can hear you now. “I’ve got a family to feed.” “Refusing to implement the illegal order will do no good. If I don’t do it, someone else will.” “I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know what the law is.” “I was just following orders.”

     I doubt this exact scenario will happen but somewhat less dramatic illegality is almost certain. Trump is already saying he'll end citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the U.S. illegally. That's a clear violation of the 14th Amendment. The obvious first step in ending birthright citizenship would be to deny Social Security cards to children born in the U.S. to those present in the country illegally. Would you want to implement a cruel policy that's clearly illegal?

NADE Newsletter

     The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), whose members work at state agencies making disability determinations at the initial and reconsideration levels for Social Security, has released its most current newsletter, concerning its National Training Conference in Oklahoma City in August. Presentations by John Owen, Associate Commissioner of the Office of Disability Determinations, Hope Grunberg, Associate Commissioner of the Office of Disability Policy (ODP), Ben Gurga, Deputy Associate Commissioner of ODP, Kasey Torres, Director of the Division of Disability Quality and Kevin Huse, Deputy Assistant Inspector General For Cooperative Disability Investigations are summarized.

Ways And Means Republicans Oppose Recent Decisions By Commissioner Of Social Security

     From a press release issued by the Republican majority on the House Ways and Means Committee:

Four recently finalized rules from the Social Security Administration (SSA) are the latest examples of the Biden-Harris Administration’s expansion of federal power at a substantial cost to taxpayers, write House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman Darin LaHood (R-IL), Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Drew Ferguson (R-GA), Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX), and Budget Committee Oversight Task Force Chair Jack Bergman (R-MI) in a new letter to Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley.

Over the next decade, these Biden-Harris rules from the SSA, which circumvent the fiscal accountability requirements of the bipartisan Fiscal Res    ponsibility Act, will add $37 billion in new, unpaid-for spending within the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) and Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI) programs. 

The Biden-Harris Administration’s failure to offset the costs of these rules will both run up the already unsustainable national debt and further harm the financial health of the Social Security programs. Further, these rules were finalized at a time when the combined Social Security Trust Funds are expected to go bankrupt and be unable to pay full benefits in the next decade. ...

    The rules in question are:

• Expand the Definition of Public Assistance Household: Estimated 10 Year Cost: $15 billion
• Omitting Food from In-Kind Support and Maintenance Calculations: Estimated 10 Year Cost: $1.6 billion
• Expansion of the Rental Subsidy Policy for SSI Applicants and Recipients: Estimated 10 Year Cost: $837 million
• Intermediate Improvement to the Disability Adjudication Process: Including How We Consider Past Work: Estimated 10 Year Cost: $19.7 billion

Some Pics

     The Commissioner of Social Security, Martin O'Malley, visited Raleigh yesterday for an event at the Governor's Mansion to celebrate the 70th anniversary of North Carolina's Disability Determination Service (DDS). My partner and I received an invitation to the event. Here are a few pictures. 

    First, me with Commissioner O'Malley:

    Second, a picture of my partner, Crystal Rouse, with the Commissioner:

    Next, a picture of Rose Mary Buehler, the Regional Commissioner for the Atlanta Region, myself, Joseph Lytle, the Deputy Commissioner for Hearings Operations and Crystal.

    Finally, a picture of the NC DDS employees in attendance.

    The venue was not large enough to accommodate the entire workforce at NC DDS.

A Little Help From GSA

     From a press release issued by the General Services Administration (GSA):

The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) announced its latest round of investments totaling $50.2 million, aimed at modernizing critical services across two federal agencies. ...

With $19.5 million in TMF support, SSA aims to transition to a more efficient, user-friendly service featuring electronic signature capabilities and a robust online document upload platform. By 2028, SSA anticipates reducing paper mail volume by roughly half and saving over 600 staff work years annually. For the public, this could potentially save customers up to 1.3 million hours in travel time. ...

SSA plans to use $9 million in TMF support to create user-centered design guidance, build new digital tools, and modernize current backend systems for an enhanced customer experience. This effort aims to simplify notice language, create more digital options for receiving notices, and transform how SSA connects with applicants and beneficiaries. ...

As medical records grow increasingly complex and staff resources remain limited, SSA faces challenges in processing disability claims efficiently. To address this, SSA intends to use $1.9 million in TMF support to enhance several key systems, including the National Case Processing System and the Intelligent Medical-Language Analysis Generation tool. ...

    I don't see an explanation for the other $10 million.

NOSSCR Files RICO Suit Against La Grada

     From the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR):

NOSSCR filed suit on Friday, October 18, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against a Spanish company for misleading Social Security beneficiaries and unnecessarily clogging SSA’s phone lines. The complaint alleges that La Grada Online published articles with sensationalized headlines about Social Security benefits, including a false report of a $600 payment increase in June 2024. This misinformation caused a surge in calls to SSA, overwhelming the agency's phone lines and costing NOSSCR members considerable time and money. The complaint further alleges that La Grada Online published another misleading article in August 2024, falsely claiming a "Social Security benefit boost."

The lawsuit accuses Kapital Media Productions of violating the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the Lanham Trade-Mark Act, and Illinois common law. NOSSCR seeks treble damages, attorneys' fees, and an injunction to prevent La Grada Online from publishing further false information about Social Security benefits.  ...

    I see it daily but never post the crap that La Grada puts out. It's obnoxious stuff that unquestionably misleads the public for the purpose of gaining clicks. The problem is titles such as these:

Total change in Social Security checks as of this date – How do I claim the new benefits?

Social Security makes new payment schedule official – List of checks to be paid in November

Last Social Security payment of October for retirees who born between this dates – $4,873 check to be paid this week

Goodbye to Social Security benefits – List of retirees who will no longer receive payments

     I'm not going to help these sleezes by giving links.

    I know just about nothing about RICO. Does NOSSCR have standing?

 

 

Drain The Trust Funds

     From the Washington Post:

A new report projects that the Social Security Trust Fund might run out of money within six years under a Donald Trump presidency, while Vice President Kamala Harris’s proposed policies would not meaningfully change the current trajectory.

Social Security faces a looming funding crisis in an aging country, with trustees most recently predicting that the retirement and disability program’s trust fund will become insolvent in 2035. Many of Trump’s campaign proposals would accelerate that timeline, potentially by years, said the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group that opposes large federal deficits.

In a report released Monday, the organization concluded that many of Trump’s proposed second-term agenda items all work in the same direction when it comes to the Social Security Trust Fund. The budget group did not produce a similar report on Harris’s policies because they would have a negligible effect measured only in weeks or months rather than years, said Marc Goldwein, CRFB’s senior policy director. ...

Most directly, Trump has promised that no Social Security recipients should have to pay federal income taxes on their benefits. Under current law, 40 percent of beneficiaries pay taxes on some portion of their Social Security. The tax they pay on their benefits goes directly back to the trust fund, and getting rid of it could cost the program almost $1 trillion over 10 years, the report forecast.

Other Trump policies might have indirect effects. Trump’s pledge to deport millions of undocumented workers could cost the trust fund hundreds of millions of dollars, the CRFB said. Many undocumented immigrants have payroll taxes taken out of their paychecks for the Social Security Trust Fund, but never become eligible to claim benefits, so they are a net positive for the program. ...

 

Report On OHO Operations

     A statistical report from Social Security on performance at its Office of Hearings Operations:

Click on image to view full size

Recent Posts For Frustrated Disability Claimants

      I and my partner continue posting on the firm's separate blog directed at a different audience -- For The Frustrated Social Security Disability Claimant. Take a look at the recent posts on that blog. 

• I'm On Social Security Disability. I've Gotten Even Sicker. Can I Get A Higher Benefit?

• Arthritis

• "I Can't Afford To File For Social Security Disability. I HAVE To Get Back To Work"

• Lumbees And Social Security Disability Benefits

• Skin Disorders

• Can I Get Social Security Disability For Anxiety?

• What Are "Back" Social Security Disability Benefits?

• It Takes An Immigrant To Point Out Just How Awful This Situation Is

• Cancer

• LTD And Social Security Disability

• Wow! Funny And Incisive View Of Social Security Disability!

• Are Social Security Disability Benefits Taxable?

• Diabetes

• Are You Ashamed To Be Disabled?

• 10 Things A Disability Lawyer Can Do For You

• Liver Disease

• What Does It Mean When My Social Security Account Tells Me That They're 70% Finished Reviewing My Disability Claim?

• Can I File for My Social Security Disability?

GAO Criticizes CBSV

     From Social Security Administration: Actions Needed to Help Ensure Success of Electronic Verification Service, a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO):

The Social Security Administration (SSA) launched the Electronic Consent Based Social Security Number Verification service in June 2020. The service seeks to reduce synthetic identity fraud, which combines fictitious and real information to fabricate an identity. The service allows authorized entities—generally financial institutions and their service providers—to verify an individual's name, Social Security number, and date of birth electronically. SSA spent about $62 million from fiscal year (FY) 2018 through FY 2023, based on SSA data. ...

SSA is required to fully recover the service's costs and collected about $25 million in user fees (40 percent of $62 million total costs) as of the end of FY 2023. SSA has not met its projections for fee collections due to lower-than-expected industry participation. SSA will need to collect about $14 million annually to meet its goal to recover all costs by the end of FY 2027, based on GAO's analysis (see figure). But it is unclear if SSA can meet its goal without increasing users or fees. Subscription data through December 2023 demonstrate that the service has not significantly increased users since enrollment opened in FY 2022, and fee collections decreased after SSA increased fees in July 2023.

 SSA officials told GAO they did not plan to take significant steps to increase use of the service. Industry participants GAO interviewed cited several factors limiting their use, such as difficult-to-interpret verification results. SSA also had not established performance measures and goals for the service's use and benefit. SSA could better ensure the service achieves its intended purpose of reducing synthetic identity fraud by developing strategies and assessing tradeoffs for expanding its use and establishing related performance measures and goals. ...

GAO is making seven recommendations to SSA, including that it implements appropriate controls over IT investments, updates cost estimation guidance, develops strategies to expand use of the service, and establishes related performance measures and goals. SSA concurred with all seven recommendations and stated that it will evaluate its policies and processes to determine how to address them. ...

    Note that the synthetic identity theft being discussed here isn't being directed at Social Security. It's directed at private financial institutions.

A Poll

 

online polls

SSA In The Middle

      From WKBN:

Some Ohio seniors say they are getting their Social Security payments garnished for COVID-19 Small Business Administration (SBA) loans they say they did not take out. 

Congressman Michael Rulli, R-6th District, is looking into the problem since he has learned of at least four cases of this happening to seniors in his district. His team said they are looking into these individual cases and have an issue with the SBA putting the burden of proof on seniors instead of the SBA, who Rulli accuses of having a “lackluster handling” of identity theft with the program.

Rulli said one message to his office involved a constituent who said that two SBA loans were fraudulently taken out in their name in 2021. That person said they provided SBA with the documents they requested, such as a police report and identification, in August 2024 and has yet to receive a response. …

     I don’t know what the process is like at SBA but there’s no way to contest this sort of thing at Social Security. 

The Social Security Administration When Trump Was President

     From the Revolving Door Project:

... Former President Trump filled top roles at the SSA with people actively hostile to Social Security beneficiaries, as well as campaign donors with no real experience relevant to the agency.

 For the role of SSA commissioner, Trump nominated Andrew Saul, a GOP mega donor and “one-time handbag king” with tens of millions in assets. Saul was not entirely lacking in public service experience, however. While serving as the vice chairman of New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), he ran a short-lived congressional campaign in the run-up to the 2008 presidential cycle, but he dropped out of the race four days after the New York Times revealed he had accepted donations from companies bidding on MTA contracts—potentially a violation of state ethics rules.

Saul’s most relevant experience was as George W. Bush’s Chair of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which manages the retirement savings plan for federal workers, the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). But the TSP is much more similar to a private 401(k) plan than publicly-funded Social Security benefits, which led advocates like Nancy Altman of Social Security Works to point out at the time of his nomination that while Saul’s experience with the TSP “was undoubtedly valuable, it has little value to helping him run the Social Security system, unless he seeks to privatize the program.”

When President Biden fired Saul, an action he should have taken on day one but instead held off for months, Saul embarrassed himself by calling his firing a “palace coup.” He argued that his termination was illegal—despite the Supreme Court clearly ruling that the President has the authority to fire the Commissioner.

Trump appointed Mark Warshawsky to be Deputy Commissioner for Retirement and Disability Policy, despite his record of hostility to Social Security. At the Department of the Treasury, Warshawsky worked on President George W. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security, which later earned him a nomination to the Social Security Advisory Board. In 2016, in the midst of stints at various private companies specializing in retirement income, Warshawsky published an article peddling the lie that SSDI is rife with “waste and fraud,” and bloated by people who could be working. (In reality, even the austerity-minded Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget acknowledges that fraud is “less common in the SSDI program than many believe” and “not a major cost driver for the program.”)

Several other papers Warshawsky wrote while at the Koch-funded Mercatus Center expressed skepticism about whether or not the SSA’s extremely stringent standards for assessing disability were in fact too lenient. After his SSA role, Warshawsky joined the American Enterprise Institute, a longtime proponent of cuts to Social Security and privatization.

When SSA’s Inspector General position opened up, Trump nominated Gail Ennis to the role. Inspectors General are supposed to function as independent watchdogs, but seemingly her only qualification was being a campaign donor (including up through August 2017). In her first financial disclosure, she disclosed receiving a salary of over $2 million working for WilmerHale, representing three massive banks and one hedge fund—Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel. ...

2.5% COLA

      The Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) effective for 2025 is 2.5%.

Listen To The Voters Part II

      From Data For Progress

I Have Been Seeing More Of This Problem In The Last Year

      From a recent report by Social Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG):

… [W]e reviewed a sample of 274 cases from a population of 1.5 million recipients SSA placed in non-payment status codes from March 2020 through May 2022 after determining the recipients failed to provide requested information or take requested actions. Additionally, we identified 61,176 recipients who were placed into 7 non­payment status codes during periods SSA had prohibited their use. 

Results 

SSA did not act in accordance with its policy and procedures when it processed SSI ineligibility determinations and suspensions based on applicants’, recipients’, or representative payees’ failure to provide information. SSA’s employees did not complete all required steps for 156 (57 percent) of the 274 sampled cases placed in non-payment status, which led to 96 of the 156 recipients not receiving $203,133 in SSI payments they should have received. Projecting these results to our population, we estimate SSA did not follow its policy before it denied or suspended SSI payments for 871,330 recipients. Of these recipients, we estimate 536,203 did not receive $647 million in SSI payments they should have received. …

     It’s way too easy for field office employees to deny on the basis of failure to provide information without making any serious effort to contact the claimant.

Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Conn Case

      The Supreme Court has declined to hear one of the Conn cases. The issue in this case is the statutory provision requiring that the agency act “immediately” when it detects fraud. In the Conn cases the agency didn’t act for 15 years. Did this failure give affected claimants who were not themselves guilty of fraud (their lawyer, Eric Conn, was the one who did that) a get out of jail free card? The lower courts didn’t buy that argument and the Supreme Court has refused to hear the case.

ALJ Hiring

      Social Security has posted an announcement that it is accepting applications for Administrative Law Judge positions. The announcement is only open until Wednesday.

It’s Hard To Administer SSI

      From a recent report by Social Security’s Office of Inspector General:

… SSA’s SSI financial account validation process for applicants and recipients who alleged having less than $400 in financial accounts did not always lead to accurate SSI determinations. SSA’s process led it to make inaccurate SSI resource determinations for 27 of the 140 recipients reviewed. Based on these determinations, SSA paid the recipients $130,430 in SSI payments they were not eligible to receive. Based on these sample results, we estimate SSA incorrectly made SSI resource determinations that led to 198,960 recipients receiving $718 million in SSI payments for which they were not eligible because applicants/recipients under­reported their financial account balances by $100 or more. 

SSA’s policy did not require that it validate the recipients’ financial account balances because they alleged they had less than $400 in liquid resources. The AFI reports we requested identified 102 of 140 applicants/recipients under-reported their financial account balances by $100 or more. Additionally, the AFI reports showed 28 of the applicants/recipients owned financial accounts of which SSA was unaware. Based on these sample results, we estimate 800,140 applicants/recipients under-reported their financial account balances by $100 or more, with 219,640 failing to report all the financial accounts they owned to SSA. ..

 

Rep Payee Problems

     From a recent report by Social Security’s Office of Inspector General:

SSA did not ensure employees made complete and accurate capability determinations for disabled beneficiaries who previously had payees.  We estimate, for approximately 19,000 disabled beneficiaries who previously had payees, there was no evidence SSA determined the beneficiaries were capable of managing, or directing the management of, their benefits.  In addition, there was no evidence SSA performed proper follow-up development.  SSA paid approximately $887 million in benefits directly to these beneficiaries without evidence to show they were capable of, or were, using the benefits to meet their basic needs.  Finally, we estimate SSA did not properly document capability determinations for approximately 6,700 beneficiaries. 

This occurred because SSA did not have effective system controls to ensure employees properly documented their capability determinations.  Additionally, SSA did not have controls to ensure employees authorized direct payments to incapable beneficiaries in accordance with SSA’s policy and properly performed the follow-up reviews after they made interim direct payment to those 

Social Security Beginning To Text With Claimants

     From Emergency Message EM-25051:

... Prior to September 28, 2024, technicians used email as the sole means to communicate with customers to initiate an Upload Documents request. eSignature/Upload Documents had required technicians to obtain customer consent prior to sending emails requesting document submissions.

Effective with the release on September 28, 2024, eSignature/Upload Documents will no longer require the collection of customer consent in TED for email messaging.

Additionally, text messaging will be added as a communication option in TED. Technicians must collect customer consent before sending text messages. ...

List Of Non-Attorney Reps

     Social Security makes periodic general voluntary releases of materials for which Freedom Of Information Act requests have been made. They have recently released what they describe as "CY 2021 Non-Attys Eligible for Direct Fee Payment (Redacted under b6)."

    I don't understand this list. It purports to show 44,134 non-attorney reps eligible for direct payment of fees. That can't possibly be right, can it? The list contains at least 40 times more names than what I would have expected.

ALJ Hiring?

      Posters on an online message board mostly frequented by wannabe Administrative Law Judges seem convinced that Social Security will soon be hiring more ALJs. We’ll see.

New Requirement For Those Representing Claimants

     Social Security has issued a newly amended section of its HALLEX Manual on Rules and Standards Governing The Conduct Of Representatives. By the way, HALLEX doesn't stand for anything. It's just the name of the agency's Hearings and Appeals Manual. This part of the section appears to be new:

 [A] representative must: ...

Disclose in writing, at the time a medical or vocational opinion is submitted to SSA or as soon as the representative is aware of the submission, if:

1. The representative's employee or any individual contracting with the representative drafted, prepared, or issued the medical or vocational opinion; or

2. The representative referred or suggested that the claimant seek an examination from, treatment by, or the assistance of, the individual providing opinion evidence.

NOTE 1:

The agency must report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) the number of disclosures received pursuant to 20 CFR 404.1740(b)(5)-(9) and 416.1540(b)(5)-(9). To assist with disclosure reporting requirements, Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) and Office of Appellate Operations (OAO) staff will ensure that any disclosures described in this subsection (Hearings, Appeals, and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual I-1-1-40 A.5.) are filed into the electronic claim(s) file (eView) using the document type “Required Disclosure – Medical (3076)” or “Required Disclosure – Vocational (1088),” depending on the type of evidence submitted with the disclosure.

NOTE 2:

A representative must submit a separate disclosure each time they submit opinion evidence that meets the requirements in 20 CFR 404.1740(b)(5) and 416.1540(b)(5) and described in this subsection. A single disclosure for multiple opinions that meet those requirements is not sufficient. ...

    I question whether the agency can impose an affirmative duty such as this "Required Disclosure" in a footnote to a staff manual. How does a mere staff manual bind members of the public? Doesn't this require notice and comment under the Administrative Procedure Act? If nothing else, this appears to violate the Paperwork Reduction Act.

    It's unclear whether this provision applies to forms provided by attorneys to doctors to complete. Generally, attorneys place a legend on these forms saying where the form came from in order to satisfy the agency. Does this special reporting requirement apply to situations where the attorney merely provides a form but does not help with completing the form?

New Acting Inspector General

Ware

     A press release from yesterday:

Today, Hannibal “Mike” Ware joined the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) as Acting Inspector General. He will continue to serve in his role as the Inspector General of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), providing leadership to both agencies until a permanent SSA Inspector General is appointed. ...

“I am honored to have the confidence of the President to provide interim leadership within SSA OIG and to simultaneously continue my commitment to the mission of SBA OIG,” said Inspector General Ware. “This dual role underscores the importance of strong, independent oversight across federal programs to ensure they operate effectively and with integrity.  I am committed to keeping the heads of both establishments and Congress fully and currently informed of the oversight activities and findings.