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?

 

 

This Is Going To Be A Trip For Those Of You Who Have Never Watched John Oliver Before

John Oliver On Social Security Disability

     I've found a video of that John Oliver piece on Social Security disability. I can't say whether this is an excerpt or the whole thing.

    By the way, I wish I could set this up so you click on the image on the left and you go directly to the video but Blogger doesn't make it that easy.

Benefits Come In After TV Station Gets Involved

     I guess this is a dog bites man story but a Virginia man has finally received his Social Security benefits after the intervention of a television station. 

    But Social Security has announced that it's stopped doing this sort of thing. No more expediting a case because of "adverse public relations potential." Of course, I didn't think they'd really stop. Did you? 

    I'm certainly not sorry the man finally got his benefits. He had been waiting far too long. It's just that he's not the only one. Getting media intervention is like winning the lottery. It has little to do with just how bad the delay is.

Real People

     From a Richmond, VA television station:

Earl Barry is frustrated with what he said has been a "demoralizing" experience navigating the process to apply for disability through the Social Security Administration (SSA). Barry told CBS 6 he has been going back and forth with the SSA on claims for more than a year.

"It's been very difficult and I am under-- I had to seek therapy because I was considering suicide," Barry said. ...

In October 2022, Berry applied for disability and was denied.

He reapplied in December 2023, but again was denied. ...

In March 2024, Barry said the company Premiere Disability filed a reconsideration request on his behalf. It's currently taking SSA seven months, on average, to respond to reconsideration requests.

Barry said Premier Disability recently informed him there could be a further delay.

"The representative found out that our appeal that we filed was not handled properly by SSA in March when they were supposed to have done it. They didn't transfer the file from the person who had it, the auditor, to the office for the appeal," Barry said.

But Barry said he can't afford to wait for assistance, should he get approved, any longer.

He said his savings have run dry and his Buckingham County house has now been foreclosed on. ...

Earlier this month, CBS 6 shared Ed Heavener's story, a Henrico County man who spent a year and a half waiting for disability and only got his money after our investigative reporters got involved. ...

After the story aired, CBS 6 newsroom was inundated with messages from people across Virginia and beyond, including Barry, complaining about customer service issues with SSA. ...

 

There's Enough Damn Problems Without This Crap!

@OMalleySSA [a tweet from the Commissioner]

SSA 800 # was slammed on June 3. Over 463,000 calls -- 140k more calls than a few days earlier. Why? In part because of a bogus news story about a $600 payment increase. This is FALSE: No COLA until January 2025. Big thanks to all SSA staff who helped customers with this rumor.

Where We’re At As A Nation

      From Reuters: 

Fact Check: Biden did not sign executive order to terminate Social Security.

News?

     When you look online now for news about Social Security, you mostly come across clickbait and "listicles" like those shown below. These pieces have little or no value to people who work in the field but they're indicative of what the public reads:

• Social Security update: Third round of February payments worth $4,873 goes out in five days
• 3 Things To Know About Social Security Payments If You’ve Ever Been on a Payroll
• Social Security Benefits for Spouses: 4 Things Retired Couples Need to Know
• Social Security update: March direct payment worth $943 goes out in seven days
• Social Security Recipients: Will You Get a March Check if the Government Shuts Down? 
• Goodbye to the $1,900 Social Security check: retirees will earn less money as of this date

NY Times Article On Service Problems At SSA

      The New York Times has a nice piece on the terrible service problems at the Social Security Administration. There’s nothing in it that would come as news to regular readers of this blog but it’s good to see any publicity given to the situation.

     There’s also a piece on Yahoo Finance dealing with the Commissioner nomination and service at S.S.A.

The Attacks On Social Security Never Stop

     Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times has quite the takedown of a ridiculous piece on Slate by Eric Boehm and Celeste Headlee titled “Social Security Doesn’t Make Sense Anymore.” Hiltzik describes the Slate piece as full of "misconceptions, inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and flat-out lies about" Social Security.

Write About What You Know

    Alessandra Malito has written a piece for Dow Jones that's supposed to be in response to a reader's question. After reading it, my response is "How much can one writer get so much wrong in one short column?"

    Click on the link above to read the article for yourself and see how many errors you come up with. Click on the image below to see the problems I found -- beyond the article's pathetic description of disability determination.

 

 

Sixty Minutes On Overpayments

     Sixty Minutes did a piece yesterday on overpayments at Social Security. The written description indicates that it gave a good description of the plight of those overpaid but gave little or no attention to the underlying problems -- the overpayment rules created by Congress are brutal and complicated, the agency is critically understaffed, and the claimants can't afford to hire attorneys. And, no, legal aid isn't the answer. They're also critically underfunded.

Unhappy ALJs

      Some of Social Security’s Administrative Law Judges really don’t like that Washington Post piece on all the federal court remands of their decisions. Take a look at what they have to say.

Gotta Get 7 On Your Side!

      Five trips to a Social Security field office didn’t solve a family’s Social Security problem but one call from a TV station does. Funny how that works.

You Know, Maybe We Should Do Something About This

      A Cleveland television station reports on the problems that Social Security claimants have getting the agency to work on their cases in Ohio. Hint: It’s not just Ohio. It’s everywhere.

Social Security Not Taking Claims In Columbus?

     From WCMH in Columbus, OH:

Kathleen McGovern’s husband, Gilbert, died in September. In October, McGovern began the process of settling his affairs, including finances.

“As I understood it, I was eligible to collect my husband’s social security because his was more than what mine was,” said McGovern.

About $600 more. So, McGovern called the social security office in Worthington, to apply for widow’s benefits. She spoke with a representative, who told McGovern that she couldn’t apply online. 

“And she said, ‘No, you can’t do it online either. You have to come in with an appointment to our office, and make your application here,'” said McGovern. “I can’t do it at any other office either. Just that one.”

But McGovern said the representative also told her that wouldn’t be possible, at least for a while, because as of that day, the office was not taking any more appointments. McGovern said she was told to call again, in case that changed. She did, but said she could never get through. ...

Unsure of what to do, McGovern called Better Call 4. We spoke on October 20. I reached out to the Social Security Administration on October 26, and that same afternoon, got a call from a representative, asking for McGovern’s contact information.

The next day, McGovern called Better Call 4 again, to tell us that the agency called her, and took her application over the phone — adding that a lump sum settlement would be deposited in her bank account the following day. ...

    I don't know whether there's a systems limitation that prevents filing a claim online in this situation. There shouldn't be but maybe there is. I don't think agency employees are ever supposed to say they can't make an appointment. She should have been able to take care of her business over the telephone at the least and she should be able to deal with any Social Security field office. 

    If you're a Social Security employee, don't say it couldn't have happened as this woman has described it. I've talked with too many Social Security employees who tried to BS me. It doesn't happen often but it happens and it probably happens a lot more frequently with claimants than it does with an attorney like me.

Purely Coincidental -- Would Have Happened Anyway

     Woman applies for Social Security disability benefits. After more than a year there's still no determination on her claim. She contacts a newspaper reporter who sends an e-mail to Social Security on a Friday inquiring about the case. The following Monday the woman gets a call from Social Security saying her claim had been approved.

    By the way, Social Security doesn't normally call you to tell you that your disability claim has been approved unless there's an SSI claim involved and the description in the article of the woman's family income suggests that there wasn't an SSI claim involved.

Kafkaesque Indeed

 

Kafka

    Mark Betancourt has written a piece for Mother Jones magazine titled Inside The Kafkaesque Process For Determining Who Gets Federal Disability Benefits.

     The use of the term “Kafkaesque” may be more apt that Mr. Betancourt realizes. Frans Kafka’s day job was in the related field of what would today be called workers compensation claims.

Waiting In The Heat In Louisiana

     KNOE in Monroe, LA has a report on the lines outside their local Social Security field office. Note that the TV station displays the then current temperature in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

It Just Took 30 Minutes After A Reporter Contacted SSA To Get This Widow's Problem Solved

     From WSET:

... Dolores Roake's husband passed away on Jan. 1, 2002 [2022?]. It's been nearly five months, and she still does not have her widow's social security fund in her pocket. ...

Roakes reached out on Jan. 10 to let social security know about the changes. Roakes had a phone call appointment on February 14, where they told her to file her paperwork at the local office.

She filed her paperwork at the local office on March 1.

"I kept waiting and waiting to hear something. Never did. Never got anything in the mail."

That's when she started to call the social security office. On April 26, she finally got ahold of someone.

"She said she would push it through and she would process it that day, and I'd get something in five days. Well, I never heard anything. I would go online to try to check this progress, but no results," Roakes said. 

That's when she reached out to ABC13 for help.

ABC13 emailed the Social Security Administration, asking about Roakes' benefits.

Only half an hour after ABC13 reached out, Roakes got some answers.

"After you sent the email, I got a phone call. She finally found where everything was processed on Friday. She just apologized, and that was about it," Roakes said. ...