AARP And FICA Base

      From a report from AARP: 

… The share of gross domestic product (GDP) subject to Social Security’s payroll tax, the program’s primary income source, has declined steadily over the past four decades, falling from 41 percent in 1984 to 34 percent in 2025.

If payroll tax revenue had not fallen relative to GDP, Social Security would have collected an additional $10.8 trillion between 1984 and 2034.

That additional revenue would have provided Social Security with enough resources to pay full benefits until 2059, 25 years longer than the Social Security trustees now project. 

Some lawmakers have proposed lifting the payroll tax cap and taxing some investment income for high earners, which would bring revenue as a share of GDP back toward historical levels, strengthening Social Security’s finances without burdening lower- and middle-income workers. …

Congressional Hearing On November 18 — Also Report On Lobbying Expenses

      From Legis1, whatever that is:

Senate Budget Committee will examine the program's financial outlook at a Nov. 18 hearing titled "Social Security: The Reality." The committee is chaired by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) serving as ranking member. The hearing will feature testimony from economist Veronique de Rugy of George Mason University's Mercatus Center, Jason Fichtner of the LIMRA Retirement Income Institute and labor economist Kathryn Anne Edwards of the National Academy of Social Insurance. …

Advocacy groups, disability representatives and organizations involved in administering Social Security have also been lobbying Congress over the program's future. Lobbying disclosures covering the fourth quarter of 2025 through the third quarter of this year report the following spending:

• National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare: $1.02 million. Its filings identify budget resolutions and fiscal commissions that could lead to benefit cuts.
• National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives: $550,000.
• Allsup LLC: $140,000.
• National Council of Social Security Management Associations: $120,000.
• Association of Administrative Law Judges: $85,500.
• Social Security Works: $80,000. Its filings include support for S. 770, the Social Security Expansion Act.

The disclosures reflect lobbying on Social Security-related issues, although the reported totals may also include spending on other policy priorities. …

Rep Payee Problems

      From a report by the Government Accountability Office:

For children receiving Social Security benefits (beneficiaries), such as disability benefits, the Social Security Administration (SSA) typically assigns representative payees (payee) to manage those benefits. When children enter or exit foster care, SSA may need to change the payee. Since 2018, SSA has encouraged states to set up data exchanges to submit monthly data on children in foster care to help SSA identify when these beneficiaries need a new payee. Twenty-five states were submitting data through these exchanges, as of July 2026. However, no new states have begun submitting data since 2024; officials from four of eight selected states not submitting data had minimal awareness of the data exchanges. Yet, SSA has not changed its state outreach efforts, thereby limiting the number of beneficiaries covered under its exchanges. … 

SSA generates alerts from the data exchanges when a beneficiary enters or exits foster care or changes placement while in foster care. Alerts have helped SSA field office staff identify when to reassess payees. But staff GAO interviewed from four selected field offices reported challenges addressing alerts, such as: • Each alert had limited information, requiring field office staff to conduct additional, time-consuming research. • There is a large volume of alerts to address—over 50,000 in fiscal year 2025—but many of these generally do not require a change in payee. SSA field office staff GAO interviewed had existing practices and ideas for changes SSA could implement to mitigate these challenges. For example, they said that SSA could designate staff to address alerts, include more information in each alert (e.g., payee email addresses), and use artificial intelligence tools to more easily address change of foster care placement alerts that require action. Although field office staff are the end users of the data, SSA has not sought staff input or provided a way for them to share potentially useful practices with each other. Without seeking input, SSA is missing opportunities to improve the efficiency of its processes and ensure beneficiaries in foster care have suitable payees. …

Medicare Changes

      A notice from Social Security to attorneys who represent claimants before the agency:

Changes to Medicare Eligibility Requirements

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Dear Colleague,

We are sharing important information about changes to Medicare eligibility under Section 71201 of Public Law 119-21.

Under this law, an individual may be entitled to or enrolled for Medicare only if they are:

• U.S. citizens or nationals;
• Lawful permanent residents (green card holders);
• Cuban-Haitian entrants; or
• Compacts of Free Association migrants.

These changes do not affect Social Security benefit eligibility or payment rules.

What Your Clients Should Know

This week, we will begin:

• Applying the new requirements to Medicare applications and enrollments.
• Notifying current beneficiaries whose eligibility we cannot confirm that their Medicare coverage may end February 1, 2027, unless they establish eligibility within the applicable timeframe.

How You Can Help

Please encourage your clients who receive a notice to:

• Read it carefully to understand how the changes may affect their coverage.
• Respond by the deadline provided and follow the instructions for providing evidence of U.S. citizenship or eligible immigration status.

Clients may submit evidence through their personal my Social Security account at www.ssa.gov/myaccount by selecting “Upload Documents,” or bring documents to a local Social Security office. For assistance, they may also call 1-844-507-7131(U.S.) or 855-522-6939 (outside the U.S.).

Individuals who later obtain an eligible immigration status may apply for Medicare at that time, subject to other applicable eligibility requirements.

Visit our webpage to learn more.

Thank you for your continued partnership. Please share this information with your clients, members, colleagues, affiliates, and other interested parties.

Sincerely,

Nick Perrine

Chief Communications Officer

DDS Allowance Rates

      Social Security has posted statistics on allowance rates at the initial and reconsideration levels on disability claims.

Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) Disability Claims
Allowance Rates1/
Initial and Reconsideration Adjudicative Level
Fiscal Year 2026
by Nation, Region and State
	INITIAL	RECONSIDERATION
NATIONAL	35.9	14.9
NATIONAL - DDS ONLY	35.9	14.9
BOSTON	39.2	15.4
CT	41.7	14.0
ME	39.3	14.3
MA	35.3	15.5
NH	44.0	20.3
RI	44.0	15.7
VT	45.7	16.0
NEW YORK	35.1	14.0
NJ	33.0	13.9
NY	35.6	14.0
PR2/	42.0	14.3
PHILADELPHIA	35.7	14.1
DE	39.1	12.5
DC	33.0	12.5
MD	43.0	16.7
PA	35.7	13.4
VA	36.3	15.4
WV	33.9	12.3
VA EST3/	22.1	13.2
ATLANTA	36.3	15.7
AL	32.8	15.6
FL	42.0	15.7
GA	35.2	21.1
KY	29.9	9.6
MS	35.4	15.1
NC	37.3	14.2
SC	37.3	16.1
TN	34.3	13.6
MS EST3/	0.0	0.0
CHICAGO	35.7	13.7
IL	36.4	16.9
IN	33.4	11.3
MI	34.6	13.5
MN	39.1	9.9
OH	36.3	12.8
WI	35.9	15.7
DALLAS	36.0	16.2
AR	35.1	12.2
LA	37.7	17.8
NM	41.1	20.3
OK	33.6	14.5
TX	36.5	15.5
AR EST3/	33.6	19.0
OK EST3/	32.1	0.0
KANSAS CITY	39.7	12.9
IA	40.0	10.3
KS	43.6	20.7
MO	38.1	13.0
NE	41.3	13.1
DENVER	35.4	14.1
CO	31.9	13.3
MT	38.5	18.2
ND	40.1	17.4
SD	39.4	11.1
UT	37.3	14.8
WY	40.7	14.2
SAN FRANCISCO	33.8	14.9
AZ	29.6	14.8
CA	34.5	15.1
HI	36.8	15.7
NV	35.2	12.8
SEATTLE	35.6	13.2
AK	54.5	33.0
ID	35.1	11.8
OR	36.7	14.3
WA	33.7	12.5
FEDERAL4/	54.1	18.3
San Juan DPU	5/	5/
Atlanta DPB	0.0	0.0
Chicago DPB	91.1	25.0
Kansas City DPB	0.0	0.0
New York DPB	4.2	1.1
Philadelphia DPB	0.0	0.0
San Francisco DPB	0.0	0.0
Boston DPU	5/	5/
Dallas DPU	5/	5/
Denver DPU	5/	5/
Seattle DPU	5/	5/
Philadelphia DPU	5/	5/
OCO	0.0	0.0
INTPSC	44.0	21.2
Guam	48.1	24.8
Virgin Islands	5/	5/
1/Allowance and denial rates equal 100%.
2/Includes Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI, Title II) only as there is no Supplemental Security Income (SSI, Title XVI) in Puerto Rico.
3/ EST DDS data comes from four extended service team sites in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Virginia. Workload from State DDSs is transferred into these sites.
4/Federal Site data comes from the following SSA sites:  Office of Central Operations; International Payment Service Center; Guam; the Virgin Islands; and Disability Program Branches in the Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco Regions.
5/The federal sites that have zero allowance rates are sites where they do not have their own legacy system and complete cases by remotely logging into the legacy system of the state they are assisting.  Therefore, the allowance information rolls up into the state they are assisting.
Note:  Allowance rates are on determinations completed by State Disability Determination Services (DDSs) and other components which make disability determinations.  For workload balancing issues, cases may be transferred to other states or to SSA components for determinations.  Determinations are not always done in the applicants' state of residence.
Cases processed in the ESTs and Federal sites DO NOT include cases under QDD, CAL, and other fast track case screening.  Accordingly, allowance rates in those sites are NOT comparable to regular State DDSs. Allowance rates equal to zero indicate no cases.  High rates may indicate very small numbers of cases.
Produced By: SSA/LDP/DP/ARTS/DSSIT
Date Produced: October 28, 2026
Data Source: SSA SAOR (State Agency Operations Report)