U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

      From The Economic Times of India:

… According to a global comparison conducted by HR and payroll specialists at Moorepay, the United States ranks outside the top 10 when it comes to how well Social Security payments cover basic living costs, as per a report by The Express. …

The study showed that several countries far exceed the U.S. in how much their pensions cover living costs. Kuwait ranked first, with pensions covering more than 566% of basic expenses. Bahrain followed at 253%, while Luxembourg, Italy, and Finland also ranked high, each covering more than double the average cost of living. 

Other countries rounding out the top 10 included Spain, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Germany, all of which surpassed the U.S. in pension strength relative to living expenses. …

A Bipartisan Bill — Amazing

      From a press release:

Today, House Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member John B. Larson (CT-01) released the following statement after House passage of S. 269, bipartisan legislation that allows the Department of Treasury’s Do Not Pay system to use the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) death records in order to help stop erroneous payments to deceased individuals. After today’s passage, the bill goes to the President’s desk to be signed into law.  

Importantly, the bill contains a provision to prevent the Social Security Administration from meddling with death records to target residents. Last year, the Trump Administration was caught using the Social Security Death Master File to pressure thousands of immigrants with legal status to leave the country, effectively marking them as dead and cutting off their access to the financial system. At the time, Ranking Member Larson decried this abuse of power and called on Congress to act. S. 269 adds explicit protections to the law to prohibit SSA from recording a death unless the individual is actually deceased.  …

“Financial Hardship And Emotional Distress”

      From Follow-up on Claims Denied Because Claimants Were Not Insured for Benefits, a report by Social Security’s Office of Inspector General:

… This audit is a follow up to our 2016 review of Retirement Claim Denials Because of Lack of Insured Status.  

Generally, to be insured for retirement benefits, a claimant must have 40 quarters of covered earnings and have attained age 62. SSA employees should not deny a retirement claim if the claimant is not insured for benefits at the time of filing but will become insured within 4 months and evidence of the earnings is available.  

We obtained the records of 450,209 retirement claims filed between May 2014 and June 2023 that SSA employees determined the claimants lacked insured status. From this, we identified 4,077 claimants who may have been insured because they had 40 or more quarters of coverage in the year of filing. Of the 100 claimants in our sample, SSA employees denied retirement claims for 43 who alleged lag earnings when they filed their claims, were fully insured, and entitled to retirement benefits but employees did not consider their lag earnings. Despite reminders issued to employees after our prior review, employees denied the retirement claims because they determined the claimants lacked insured status; however, the claimants had lag earnings when they filed their claims.  

Based on sample results, we estimate, from May 2014 to June 2023, employees denied retirement benefits to 1,753 claimants who were insured for benefits. Of these, 1,347 claimants were entitled to over $3 million in retirement benefits.  

Without controls and processes to ensure employees identify, review, and document lag earnings, SSA will continue denying millions of dollars in retirement benefits to claimants who should be receiving them. Depriving retired individuals of the benefits to which they are entitled could have a significant and harmful effect on beneficiaries, including financial hardship and emotional distress. …

     This problem is not limited to retirement claims. I’d say it’s more common in disability claims. 

Which Is His Day Job?

      From Tax Notes:

IRS CEO Frank Bisignano is positioned to lead the tax agency through the next filing season and beyond, according to observers.

After seeing seven different commissioners — including one who underwent a full-length confirmation process — the IRS ended 2025 with a leader whose position didn’t exist two months ago. …

Scams Way Down Since 2020

      Social Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a Quarterly Scam Update. It says it’s the 18th such update but it’s the first time I’ve seen it. 

     The report shows that Social Security scams reached a peak in 2020 but went way down in 2022 and have stayed much lower. Maybe the Trump Administration will claim credit for the reduction.Surprisingly, at least to me, those under the age of 50 were the most likely to be scammed but older people showed larger losses.

Social Security Planning To Nationalize Claims Taking

      From Federal News Network:

The Social Security Administration is rolling out nationwide systems in the coming months that will impact how the agency schedules appointments for initial claims and triages its workload to employees.

SSA employees told Federal News Network that they’re used to processing claims submitted locally, but will soon tackle a nationwide inventory of cases.

Employees are wary that these changes will introduce more complexity to their workloads, as well as a higher risk of overpayments that SSA would have to claw back.

“Someone who applies in California could be speaking to an SSA rep in Maine,” one SSA employee said. …

[A] SSA employee said staff were briefed on these changes this week. The employee said staff submitted multiple requests to management seeking clarification on these points, but were told to “worry about today, not tomorrow.” …

Doing Less With Less

      The Strategic Organizing Center, which I’m unfamiliar with, has issued a report on the state of service at the Social Security Administration. It’s a discouraging read. Staffing is down and it’s far from uniform. Some states and areas within states have lost far more than others. I’d give you some excerpts but it seems to be set up to block copying. Read the original.

Bisignano With Newly Sworn In Deputy Commissioner Arjun Mody

  

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