This Sounds Messed Up

      From NBC Chicago:

… [L]ast summer Jo and Holly Howard visited the Social Security office in Woodstock. The good news: Jo Howard was issued a check for almost $55,000 [under the Social Security Fairness Act] and The bad news - she never got it. …

It turns out, just five days after the check was issued in June, it was cashed. According to the police report, the ‘female suspect, employed by Amazon inc’ was using an ID with Jo Howard’s information.

“We thought the case would be solved, that she would be prosecuted,” she stated. 

According to the police report,there was even video of the suspect cashing the check at the bank. But the officer "could not open the encrypted file." That lead was quickly abandoned, and then Old Dominion Bank stopped responding to the police department, police stated.

“So the police just closed the case,” Holly Howard said. …

“I made seven trips to the Social Security office. Every time you see a different person, you get a different story,” she said. 

On the seventh visit, Jo Howard said she was told to file a theft report with the U.S. Treasury Department. Now almost a year from the theft, she said the investigation is just ramping up. …

   Does the Secret Service still investigate these cases? The Secret Service isn’t even in the Department of the Treasury. It’s in Homeland Security now.  Has she even contracted the right agency? Doesn’t Social Security have an obligation to pay this woman now, regardless of the investigation? Whether the crook gets caught is irrelevant. Where is Social Security’s Office of Inspector General? Old Dominion stopped responding? No kidding. If they accepted a forged endorsement they’re the ones on the hook for this fraud. I remember that much about the U.C.C.

     Please, no snarky remarks about the Social Security Fairness Act. If she’s owed the money, she’s owed the money.

New OHO Report Posted

      I had posted a link to the Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) Caseload Analysis report but it only went through March. They’ve now posted a new report going through most of April. 

     What sticks out to me is the huge amount of overtime OHO is getting. Of course, this is at the expense of other agency components. I think that SSA management is quite concerned by the prospect of a huge and rapidly growing backload at OHO so they’re borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, which is the story at Social Security for many years,

Can Anyone Find Them?

      MarketWatch has a piece that’s more remarkable for its headline than its content: Dead people claiming Social Security? Here’s one — but we’re still looking for the other 19,999,999.

“All 1,300 Branches Shut Down In Weeks”

      You wouldn’t believe all the stupid articles I see online on a daily basis. Maybe you would since you probably see of them. I’m talking about pieces with headlines saying something like “Millions To Receive New Social Security Payments This Week.” Those articles concern only regularly scheduled payments. Here’s a new one titled “Social Security Confirms All 1,300 Branches Shut Down In Weeks For Temporary Closure.” Sounds like it could be a big deal but the piece is about the Memorial Day holiday! I’ll bet most of these brain dead items are written by AI.

The Name Game

      From Parade:

The Social Security Administration just released its list of the most popular baby names of 2025, and one thing is perfectly clear: vintage names and classic monikers are in. Last year’s list of popular baby names shows a movement toward old-style names, soft vowel-heavy names, and a strong multicultural and global influence. Thanks to social media — TikTok in particular — a new baby name trend is also rising, which means throwing proper spelling out the window in favor of carving one’s own path, spelled with a “K,” naturally. …

Unique spellings of classic names are also on the rise thanks to social media influences from the likes of Khloé Kardashian and company, who have helped popularize personalized spellings of traditional names. 

What does it all mean? The current trend of personalizing classic and vintage names suggests new parents want their kids to stand out — just not too much. Names like Eliana, Theodore, Eloise, and Charlotte fit that sweet spot perfectly. 

This fresh take on old-timey names also suggests new parents are thinking ahead. While it may seem cute to name your baby something trendy and offbeat like Jicama, many parents want to give their children a name that ages well over time. 

Simply put, parents want to give their children names that will stand the test of time while still allowing them to stand out during roll call at school. …

New Caseload Analysis Report

      The Social Security Administration has finally released its Caseload Analysis Report for its Office of Hearing Operations. It’s only through  March but it’s still good to have it again. I’d like to reproduce it here but there’s a  practical problem I won’t bore you with. You can just go to the link.

     There’s a couple of new things I notice. First, the total receipts at OHO are far higher than the dispositions. Perhaps related is the fact that OHO is getting a ton of overtime. Second, there’s a new line showing “Agency Video Objections.” It’s only a handful of cases. The only explanation that comes to my mind is that they’re forcing a few people who want phone or video hearings to show up in person so ICE can arrest them but maybe it’s something different altogether. I’d be interested to know.

Some Overpayments Aren’t Worth Trying To Collect

      Social Security’s Office of Inspector General has issued a report on an investigation into the cost effectiveness of the agency’s efforts to collect small overpayments. Here’s an excerpt.

… Of the 250 low-dollar OASDI [Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance] overpayments we reviewed, SSA took actions on 50 (20 percent) that we did not consider cost-beneficial because it sent more notices to the overpaid individuals than required. Since SSA could not provide its average cost to send an overpayment notice, we applied the average cost to collect overpayments as reported in CAS during our audit period, and we did not consider it to have been cost-beneficial to recover these 50 overpayments. Specifically, we estimate SSA spent $14,492 to attempt to recover the 50 overpayments, which totaled $8,129. 

Projected to our population, we estimated SSA spent $4.6 million to recover almost 16,000 low-dollar OASDI overpayments totaling almost $2.6 million. Therefore, we estimate SSA spent about $2 million more than it would recover.  …

National Hearing Centers To Close — Also A New Chatbot At SSA

      From Federal News Network:

Decades before the current boom in videoconference platforms, the Social Security Administration launched a similar concept to address workload backlogs.

In 2007, SSA opened National Hearing Centers to have administrative law judges hear more appeals from individuals whose initial retirement or disability claim was rejected. Individuals would show up at their local hearing office to have their appeals heard, but the case would be heard on video by an administrative law judge located in one of these National Hearing Centers.

But with the vast majority of these appeals hearings now taking place fully virtually through modern-day videoconference platforms, the agency is now planning to shutter these National Hearing Centers next week, on May 18. …

SSA is also launching a Policy Assistant Tool (PAT), an AI-powered chatbot designed to give employees access to information more quickly when assisting the public. …