Video CEs To Continue On Limited Basis

     Prior to the Covid pandemic, the Social Security Administration used video technology to perform consultative medical examinations (CEs) -- to help evaluate disability claims -- on a very limited basis. For understandable reasons, the agency has made much more extensive use of video technology for CEs during the pandemic but the pandemic is waning. The President has declared that the Public Health Emergency will end on May 11, 2023. Social Security has just issued an Emergency Message detailing how it will use video technology for CEs after May 11. They will use video technology only for psychiatric CEs, psychological CEs without standardized testing and speech and language CEs. The claimant must agree to the video CE.

I Don't Vouch For This

     There's a video posted on Facebook that allegedly shows a security guard physically abusing a visitor to a Social Security field office. I hesitate to post this since I don't know the person who recorded it or what happened before this video was recorded. I am pretty sure, at least, that this did transpire at a Social Security office. You can see what appears to be the obverse side of a Social Security logo in the window. I don't know where this was recorded but the Facebook account belongs to a woman who lives in Phoenix.

Merry Christmas

Charlotte's Story: A Video Posted By Social Security

The Faces and Facts of Disability: Charlotte's Story
When Charlotte suffered two strokes in 2007, she was no longer able to work and quickly found herself facing #homelessness. Thankfully, she had earned #SocialSecurity insurance coverage by contributing into the program throughout her working life. Without Social Security payments to replace a portion of her lost income, Charlotte is sure she would be homeless today.Visit http://ow.ly/MqCSK to learn more about the faces and facts of Social Security #disability.
Posted by Social Security Administration on Thursday, May 7, 2015

CDI Investigations In Kansas City

Do We Need Those Field Offices?

     Take a look at Social Security's video on the history of the agency's field offices. And now, we're going to shut them down?

Why Did Social Security Seize The Tax Refunds Of The Children Of People Who Had Been Overpaid Decades Earlier?

     I think that conflating overpayments with fraud had more than a little to do with this. Fraud usually creates an overpayment but most overpayments aren't the result of fraud.

RJ Eskow On Invisible Cuts To Social Security

     It's nice to hear other people talking about these problems

Social Security Works Getting Weird

Now That's What I'm Talking About!

We're Movin' In!

     From Social Security Works:

Oh, the sweet irony.

Pete Peterson is the conservative billionaire who is a major financier in the effort to dismantle, cut and privatize Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Recently he and his foundation held a contest asking folks to submit videos on why it is important to “fix” the national debt of which, he and his foundation falsely claim, Social Security is a major contributor.

Sometimes the best-laid plans for a propaganda campaign can go awry. The winner of the $500 grand prize determined by popular vote on the website came from the completely opposite side of Peterson’s cut Social Security argument.

I Feel So Bland And Colorless After Watching This

Your Moment Of Zen

For Californians Who Snigger At East Coast Reactions To Yesterday's Earthquake

Strange Stuff

There have been accusations, or perhaps intimations, of some poorly defined impropriety concerning attorney Eric Conn. Maybe there is something there, but I have seen nothing that seemed substantive to me. Conn is fighting back with an ad that must be seen to be believed. By the way, that woman at the end of the ad, what is she supposed to represent?

     Update: A reader in West Virginia wants to make it clear that while Conn may practice before a West Virginia hearing office that he is based in Kentucky.
     I have an idea about that woman at the end of the ad. If my guess is correct, this adds an incredibly lurid aspect to this ad.
     If bad taste were a crime, Mr. Conn would deserve drawing and quartering.

Happy New Year!

For Unto Us A Child Is Born

The Christmas Spirit

Not Feeling The Excitement

From Federal Computer Week:

The Social Security Administration’s recent video competition generated fewer than 10 entries, and is the latest in a string of federal video-production promotions with lackluster participation.

The contests to create original videos are part of open government/innovation programs at several agencies. In April, a video contest at the Environmental Protection Agency drew in about 20 entries, and another one at the General Services Administration attracted about 30 entries. Both those competitions offered $2,500 prizes.

The SSA contest to create a publicity video for the agency offered no cash prize, yet generated high hopes. “We anticipated selecting the winner – or even several – from a sizable collection of contest entries," Frank Baitman, SSA chief information officer, wrote on the White House Open Government Blog on Oct. 1. "Well, we didn’t get as much participation as we’d hoped. Fewer than ten solid entries came in.”

Happy 75th Anniversary!