Allsup Got Almost $4.5 Million In Ticket To Work Money In 2019

      Social Security has made a proactive disclosure of recipients of money under the Ticket To Work (TTW) program, which pays for rehabilitation to enables Social Security disability recipients to return to work. A rehabilitation provider gets paid based upon claimants returning to work. 

     Ranked in third place on the list of largest recipients of TTW money in 2019, at $4,467,810, is Allsup Employment Services, LLC. Yep, that's part of the Allsup non-attorney group that represents Social Security disability claimants before the agency.

     Doing this actually occurred to me years ago. Sometimes you help a claimant get on benefits but you know from their medical records that they're getting better and have a realistic chance of returning to work. It doesn't happen much but it does happen. Since you already have their medical records, you're in a great place to spot these cases and to profit from providing "rehabilitation" to people who need little help anyway. I never did it because it seemed like a conflict of interest or at least it didn't seem to smell quite right. It's not illegal, though, as far as I know. Of course, I don’t know how Allsup is coming by its TTW cases.

     I wonder if there are other affiliates of entities representing Social Security claimants on the TTW list, perhaps with names that can't be so easily connected.

ALJ Decision Backlog Increasing

     From what amounts to a press release:

After waiting an average of 583 days for their Social Security disability hearings, 1.1 million Americans will likely face another months-long wait before receiving the judge’s decision, according to Allsup. ... A review of Allsup data shows the wait time to learn if former workers will or won’t receive the insurance benefit now averages 78 days.

The wait time for post-hearing decisions to be issued has increased from an average 56 days in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 78 days in the first quarter of 2017, according to Allsup data. Social Security disability claimants are waiting an average 19 months to receive a hearing, and they do not receive their final decision until after the hearing, when the administrative law judge (ALJ) issues the results.

Allsup Gets Sued For Breach Of Fiduciary Duty

     A lawsuit has been filed in St. Clair County, Illinois against Allsup, a large non-attorney group that represents Social Security disability claimants, as well as Aetna Life Insurance Company. The lawsuit alleges "breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment—failing to disclose conflicts of interest and material facts, and striving to reduce or eliminate the plaintiff’s bargaining power, as well as failing to refund" money owed the plaintiff.
     Allsup does most of its work for Social Security disability claimants at the behest of large insurance companies like Aetna. These companies write Long Term Disability (LTD) insurance policies which are mostly provided as part of an employee benefits program. LTD policies always contain an offset for Social Security disability benefits. This gives a big incentive for LTD insurers to demand that LTD recipients file Social Security disability claims and pursue them aggressively with representation, with providers such as Allsup.
     If a claimant who has been drawing LTD is approved for retroactive Social Security disability benefits, the claimant's LTD is reduced not just for the future but also retroactively. The LTD insurer wants to recoup some or all of the money it has already paid the claimant.
     The insurance company has a problem in collecting money out of the claimant's retroactive Social Security disability benefits. The Social Security Act forbids attachment of Social Security benefits for this reason. Allsup came up with a plan to get around this obstacle. They would use their representational relationship to cajole claimants into allowing their back benefits to be deposited into a bank account. In theory, it was a joint account but as a practical matter Allsup has complete control over the account. Allsup would quickly siphon off the money owed to the LTD insurer as soon as the deposit came in from Social Security. Allsup is so proud of this scheme that they patented the idea! Social Security has acquiesced in this dubious practice even though the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC) has found that a bank which participated in a similar scheme was engaging in an "unsafe and unsound bank practice." It's not hard to figure out why LTD insurers like Allsup far more than law firms. Law firms wouldn't engage in this sort of behavior. At least, I hope they wouldn't!
     Michael Garavalia of Flynn, Guymon & Garavalia in Belleville, IL is representing the plaintiff.

More Layoffs At Allsup

Allsup President and CEO Jim Allsup

     Allsup is having problems. Allsup, based near St. Louis, is a major non-attorney entity representing Social Security claimants. It started out representing disability claimants on behalf of insurance companies whose long tern disability (LTD) policies had an offset for Social Security disability benefits. In more recent years, Allsup has been trying to attract Social Security disability claimants one by one for representation. Allsup laid off 65 employees last August. In January of this year, they reduced the number of hours some of its employees work.The company has now laid off another 90 of its 600 employees.

Layoffs At Allsup

     From the Belleville, IL News Democrat:

Local Social Security disability claims company Allsup Inc. is cutting 65 jobs.

Rebecca Ray, director of corporate public relations for Allsup, said employees were being notified Tuesday. She said the cuts affect jobs within different departments at the Belleville-based company. ...

Ray said the layoffs are coming as a result of federal budget constraints and changes in the Social Security Administration. She said the company is adjusting and focusing on new business opportunities. ...

[A]fter the employee reduction, the company will have a total of about 700 employees.

Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/2013/08/06/2730810/allsup-laying-off-65-employees.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/2013/08/06/2730810/allsup-laying-off-65-employees.html#storylink=cpy

Tough On Disability Claimants

The St. Augustine Record of Florida reports on the longer waits for appeals and tough standards affecting Social Security disability claimants. This appears to have been planted by Allsup but the reporter, for a change, removed Allsup's name from the piece. I don't know if that's good journalism but it's better than what most do. Of course, the piece is true. It is tougher to get claimants on disability benefits and appeals are starting to take longer.

Disability Claims Surging In Georgia

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Even suffering from neuropathy, arthritis, bone spurs and diabetes, Brenda Raines was determined to keep working as a secretary for a Douglasville hospital. Then she got laid off in 2009, and after six months of job searching she listened to family and friends and applied for Social Security Disability Insurance....

nitial claims in Georgia jumped from 86,973 in the 2008 fiscal year to 104,251 in 2009, and to 119,946 in the 2011 fiscal year, according to the Social Security Administration. Nationwide, the number of initial disability claims rose from about 2.6 million in the 2008 fiscal year to 3.16 million in the 2011 fiscal year.  

This, by the way, is another story planted by Allsup, as becomes clear in portions of the story I am not quoting.

GENEX Gets Into PR Game

     For years Allsup has been using public relations to promote their business of representing Social Security disability claimant. The efforts often take the form of getting a newspaper or television station to run a story about a Social Security disability claimant who has had a long struggle getting on Social Security disability benefits and finally won with Allsup's help. Two can play that game. GENEX has just gotten the "I-team" at WBAL in Baltimore to run a story promoting GENEX's services.

     Both Allsup and GENEX are primarily involved in working for large insurance companies who administer long term disability (LTD) plans. The LTD plans have an offset for Social Security disability benefits so the insurers have a big interest in getting the LTD recipients on Social Security disability. They employ Allsup or GENEX to "represent" their LTD recipients before Social Security. I put "represent" in quotes since there are reports that Allsup and Genex are quite willing to sell out the claimants they "represent" by providing the insurance companies with any medical evidence that comes into their possession that could be used to cut off the LTD benefits of the people "represented." I do not know whether anyone else thinks that is a problem but attorneys think that is an unconscionable conflict of interest. 

     Allsup and GENEX are also interested in the retail trade which is why they get into PR, apparently figuring that it is cheaper than advertising. It must have been working for Allsup since they have been doing it for years. 

     By the way, Allsup's website boasts of a 98% success rate. Assuming that number is not a complete fabrication, that tells me that Allsup really hates to fly someone in to represent a Social Security disability claimant at a hearing. They mostly have to fly someone in since they are nowhere near big enough to have offices all over the country. They won't fly someone in for a merely gold-plated case. It have to be solid 24 carat gold. The good thing about that, as far as I am concerned, is that it dramatically limits their potential for expansion into the retail business.

Driving Me Up The Wall In Two Ways

From Dave Lieber (who calls his column the Watchdog) writing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Ray Shuga, a retired truck driver in Fort Worth, twiddled his thumbs for about two years between the time he applied for Social Security Disability Insurance and the arrival of his first check.

"In Texas, there are so many people applying for disability, they are just way, way backed up," he says.

So he and his wife waited while the federal government tried to catch up with demand. Or at least catch up with them.

"We were counting pennies left and right," Shuga says. "We couldn’t buy anything, couldn’t do anything. My pickup had problems. My wife’s car had problems. But we got by."

In Texas, about 50,000 people are waiting to hear back about their initial application to get SSDI benefits, paid to people who are under retirement age but can no longer work because of a disability.

That number of applicants almost doubled in one year, the Social Security Administration says. ...

The Watchdog was alerted to the SSDI backlog by a representative of Allsup Inc., a third-party company that helps Americans file claims and in return takes a percentage of the initial retroactive payment if an applicant is successful.

Spokesman Dan Allsup says the Belleville, Ill., company has a 99 percent success rate when applicants stick with Allsup through the entire process ...

This drives me up the wall in two ways. First, I get many clients like this. They hear there are backlogs so they wait until they are destitute and desperate before filing a claim. These clients do not want to hear me telling them it will take another two to three years at best before they receive help. I suppose you can figure out the other part of this that drives me up the wall.

Waiting In West Virginia

From The State Journal of Charleston, WV:

According to Dan Allsup, director of communications for Allsup Inc., 13,700 West Virginians are awaiting hearings on claims, with a 490-day average nationwide for a hearing. ...

In West Virginia in September, the average wait for a hearing was 396 days at the Morgantown branch of the Social Security office. Charleston's wait was 317 days, and Huntington's was 299 -- an average of 337 for state residents waiting for a judgment hearing. ...

"Ninety-eight to 99 percent of the people we work with are approved because we cut the hassle and make the process easier," Allsup said.

Are there unfair trade practices laws in West Virginia?

New Forum For Social Security Disability Claimants

Allsup, which represents Social Security disability claimants mostly on behalf of long term disability insurers but which is also seeking individual cases, has just started a web forum for Social Security disability claimants.

One Down

From EM-09078 issued by Social Security last Friday:

Republic Bank and Trust (RBT) has notified SSA that it is discontinuing its Currency Connection Direct Deposit program. The program solicited SSA beneficiaries to have their payments deposited into an RBT master account, then distributed to various sub-accounts (check cashing services or other businesses). SSA has approximately 50,000 Title II and Title XVI beneficiaries that need to make alternative payment arrangements based on this change.

Now, if we could get rid of Allsup's ability to "Withdraw overpayment funds directly from claimant’s bank account using our patented electronic process."

Isn't PR Great

From what amounts to an ad for Allsup, Inc. that got published in the Salt Lake Tribune:

As the worst recession since the Great Depression appears to be ending, the Social Security Administration grapples with an unprecedented flood of disability applications due to aging baby-boomers and heavy job losses.

Pending claims are expected to jump 70 percent this year, said Dan Allsup, spokesman for Illinois-based Allsup Inc., which represents people applying for disability payments.

"We've seen a tremendous spike in our disability applications," [Social Security spokesperson Mark] Lassiter said, noting that a year ago, 2.6 million claims were forecast and 3 million were filed.

"This year we're expecting 3.3 million," he said. ...

"It's a much more complicated and lengthy process than filing taxes," Allsup said. "And that's a primary reason that SSA denies two-thirds of applications due to poor preparation of the forms."

Even so, Allsup Inc. also rejects two-thirds of those who seek its assistance -- but for different reasons, he said.

"We work on a contingency basis," Allsup said, 25 percent, up to $5,300, of the back payments awarded to applicants. "So for obvious reasons, we won't accept a fraudulent claim or one that we know won't be awarded."

About 98 percent of their accepted clients do ultimately gain government approval, Allsup added.

Not Proving What You Think

From a press release issued by Allsup:

The average time to process initial Social Security disability claims is increasing by 20 percent this year ... according to Allsup, which represents tens of thousands of people in the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) application and hearing process each year. ...

"Those who apply for benefits with Allsup's expert assistance may be more likely to bypass the long wait and get their SSDI benefits even earlier," Mr. Stein said. "Typically, 54 percent of those who use Allsup will be approved at the application level, but only 35 percent will be approved if they go it alone." ...

About 70 percent of Allsup customers do not have to attend a hearing because Allsup requests an on-the-record decision and presents the judge with a well-developed claim file prior to a hearing.

Actually, what this shows is that Allsup only takes on what it thinks are gold-plated, cannot lose cases. If you take on only this type of case, it does not matter quite as much that the person representing the claimant meets the claimant for the first time on the day of the hearing.

Shutting Down A Scam

From Emergency Message EM 09039, issued on May 15:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has advised SSA of an order against the Bank of Agriculture and Commerce in Stockton, CA to “cease and desist” their alleged unsafe and unsound bank practices involving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit payments.

The FDIC’s investigation uncovered that the Bank of Agriculture and Commerce maintained a relationship with a third party, Petz Enterprises, Inc. (PEI), to solicit SSA/SSI beneficiaries for direct deposit of their payments and to deposit the benefits into a master account in the name of PEI. PEI, in turn, contracted out with check cashers, payday lenders, and retail merchants to enroll beneficiaries in their direct deposit program and disburse payments to the beneficiaries using questionable practices.

The investigation discovered instances where these check cashers; payday lenders and small retail merchants withheld the whole amount or a significant amount of the beneficiary’s benefit payment (e.g., transaction fees, cashing fees, short-term loans, and financing secured by upcoming benefit payments, repayment of loans, etc.) These practices left some beneficiaries in need of further short-term loans in order to meet their basic living expenses. ...

In response to the order to cease and desist, the Bank, FDIC, and SSA are working closely to inform the affected individuals of the need to make alternative payment arrangements by August 1, 2009 for receipt of future benefit payments.

When will Social Security shut down Allsup's similar arrangement?

Waiting In Illinois

From the Northwest Herald in McHenry County in Illinois:

LuAnn McAuliffe ... realized that she couldn’t work anymore, so in summer 2005 she filed an online application for Social Security Disability Insurance.

It wasn’t until January 2008 that McAuliffe started receiving payments. ...

But industry experts say that’s not the only reason the system is so backlogged.

Many people are being denied after a first or second application because they don’t know how to complete the paperwork.

“If you don’t do this every day, you’re not going to be an expert,” said Rebecca Ray, corporate communication manager for Allsup, an SSDI representation company.

I am glad that Allsup is generating this sort of article. I do not mind them getting the publicity. I have been quoted in the press before and I never got much business out of it. Allsup probably does not either. But telling claimants that the problem is that they did not fill out their paperwork properly? Come on, that is a typical claimant misconception. Do not mislead people that way. The problem is not that simple and Allsup knows it.

Allsup Plans Large Expansion

The Belleville News-Democrat has a story on sewer service to Allsup, one of the largest, if not the largest, entity providing representation to Social Security disability claimants. The sewer story itself is of little consequence to anyone who does not live in the area, but the reason behind the story is of more consequence to those interested in Social Security. Allsup needs sewage service changes because it wants to make a $10 million expansion that will create hundreds of jobs. Allsup is seeking a promise of service to an unlimited number of additional buildings. Allsup is threatening to do the expansion elsewhere if it does not get what it wants.

Waiting In Minnesota

The Minneapolis Star Tribune ran an article Sunday on the terrible backlog of Social Security disability claims awaiting adjudication.

The article appears to have been generated by Allsup's public relations efforts. At least, the article reads almost like an infomercial for Allsup.

Waiting In Florida -- And A Little About Allsup's Screening Process

From the Bradenton (FL) Herald:

On good days, Michele Saber can get up, get dressed and move around her apartment, but she can't go far. Even on those good days, Saber frequently blacks out four to six times before lunch.

On bad days, the 29-year-old former Bradenton police officer can't get out of bed. ...

Yet Saber's efforts to collect Social Security disability benefits have been met with repeated denials.

Along with almost 15,000 people in the Tampa Bay area, Saber is waiting for a hearing before an administrative law judge who will hear her next appeal.

She has been waiting for that hearing date since April 2, 2007.

Her attorneys say she will likely be waiting a lot longer - perhaps more than two years - because of a backlog in appeals cases. ...

"Social Security has a very rigid definition of disability that has to be backed up by medical evidence and the tons of paperwork that has to be completed precisely," says Dan Allsup of Allsup, Inc., a national company that represents applicants. Most of the staff at Allsup are former Social Security employees.

"We can present a completed, properly documented case to Social Security where all they have to do is say yes or no. This is a tremendous time saver for the government and the applicants."

Nonetheless, Allsup only accepts 8 percent of the potential applicants who ask for help. Of those applicants, half get their benefits at the first step of the process.

Screening prospect calls so well that you take on only 8% of the people who call; screening so well that you win 50% at the initial level? Now that's cherry picking!

Disability Mentoring Day Again

It is hard to understand why a cash strapped agency would do this, but they do it every year. From a notice on FedBizOpps.gov:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) intends to award a sole source purchase order to the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), located at 1629 K Street NW, Suite 503, Washington, DC 20006-1634 to provide consultative services that will assist SSA in its outreach efforts during the 2008 Disability Mentoring Day (DMD). The DMD is commemorated on the third Wednesday of every October. DMD is a large-scale effort designed to promote career development for students and other job seekers with disabilities through hands-on career exploration, job shadowing, internship or employment opportunities, and matching of mentee/mentor relationships.

By the way, AAPD has a relationship with Allsup.