Federal Register Alert

The Social Security Administration has posted the following notice of an item to appear in the Federal Register on Monday:

PROPOSED RULES

Organization and procedures:

Administrative Law Judge, Appeals Council, and Decision Review Board appeals levels; amendments, E7-20690

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The GAO Report Seems So Inadequate

The report of the Government Accountability Office on withholding of fees for non-attorneys who represent Social Security claimants and in SSI cases was issued last week. The report was more than three years in the making. One would think that after this length of time that the report would be exhaustive. However, the report is only 55 pages long and does not report information on the following topics that I would have expected to be covered:

• Success rates of attorneys versus non-attorney representatives. The report says that Social Security cannot give meaningful data on this. I do not understand since Social Security has reported such data in the past. It is not that I was expecting dramatic differences. Older data showed only minor differences, but this is an important point and should have been covered if at all possible.
  
• Disciplinary actions against attorney versus non-attorney representatives. It should have been possible to contrast the gross number of such actions against attorneys as opposed to non-attorneys. I think there should have been a discussion of the problems that Social Security has in regulating the conduct of both attorneys and non-attorneys. The effect of this shortcoming is lessened for attorneys because of the regulation provided by state bar licensing agencies. There is no comparable agency for non-attorney representatives. If non-attorney representatives are to become a major part of Social Security representation, some better mechanism for regulating the conduct of non-attorney representatives is needed. There are significant issues regarding conflicts of interest since some non-attorney representatives have simultaneously worked as contractors for the Social Security Administration. At least one non-attorney group has offered "finder fees" to those referring clients to them, including physicians, a practice forbidden to attorneys. A large set of rules govern attorney conduct. These rules exist to serve to protect the public. The public may need similar protection when non-attorneys take on functions historically reserved for the legal profession.
  
• The sufficiency of the non-attorney examination. The report discusses the adequacy of the experience requirement for non-attorney withholding, but does not discuss the adequacy of the examination itself. Somehow, an exam consisting of 50 multiple choice questions does not seem like quite enough to me. My understanding is that a fair number of those who have taken the exam thought the same thing.

Tracking Immigration Judges

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University is using Freedom of Information Act requests to track various government functions, including Immigration Judges decisions. You have to wonder how long it will be before they start tracking Social Security Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) in the same way.

Republican Candidates And Social Security

USA Today reports that the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) held a forum on Social Security's future in Sioux City, Iowa yesterday and invited the Republican Presidential candidates. The only two Republican candidates who showed up were Mike Huckabee and John McCain. By contrast, a similar forum for Democratic candidates sponsored by AARP was attended by all the Democratic Presidential candidates other than Barack Obama.

The AARP Social Security forum for Republicans was notable for Mike Huckabee's proposal to offer retirees the option of a one-time Social Security payout in lieu of monthly benefits. Huckabee stated his opinion that the only reason President Bush's plan for Social Security failed was that people kept talking about "privatizing" Social Security when they should have been talking about "personalized accounts."

McNulty To Retire?

Mike McNulty is Chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. The second ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee is Sander Levin of Michigan. From CBS News:

Democratic Rep. Michael McNulty (N.Y.) will step down at the end of this Congress, according to the Albany Times Union. The N.Y. Daily News is reporting the same thing, although McNulty is not scheduled to make any public statement on his future until Monday.

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I think I have resolved the technical problems. We will see over the next few days.

Fraud In Granite City

From the Edwardsville [IL] Journal:

A Granite City man has been sentenced to five months in prison for defrauding the Social Security Administration.

Steven Ray Stevenson, 37, of the 2700 block of Mockingbird Lane, was convicted on federal charges of conspiracy to defraud the Social Security Administration, concealment of information from the Social Security Administration, and making false statements to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ...

In October 2002, Stevenson returned to work for an extermination company and received "payment under the table," the report stated.

Stevenson worked as an exterminator from 2002 through 2006. In June 2004, Stevenson lied on an application for food stamps, stating that he was unable to work, the report stated.

The case was investigated by SSA, Office of the Inspector General, The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Wednesday Closing Open Forum

I have just posted news articles about Social Security field offices either closing early or being closed altogether on Wednesdays in three areas of the country, but I guess that this is happening or will happen in other areas.

Let me set this up as an open forum. Do you know of other areas in the country where this is happening? Has some written directive been issued to Social Security's Regional Offices about this? What do you think about it, both in terms of the effect upon Social Security employees and the effect upon those doing business with the Social Security Administration.

Just hit the comment button below to chime in. You can do this anonymously.

COLAs, But Not For Attorneys

The Federal Register notice about Social Security cost of living adjustments is out and there is no increase in the fee cap for representing Social Security claimants. It has been stuck at $5,300 for more than five years. If it had been adjusted for inflation, it would be about $6,100 by now. However, the cap on the user fee for having fees withheld by the Social Security Administration went up to $79. Somehow it does not seem fair that attorney fees go down because of inflation. Here is the entire list:

(1) A 2.3 percent cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits under title II of the Social Security Act (the Act), effective for December 2007;
(2) An increase in the Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) monthly benefit amounts under title XVI of the Act for 2008 to $637 for an eligible individual, $956 for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse, and $319 for an essential person;
(3) The student earned income exclusion to be $1,550 per month in 2008 but not more than $6,240 in all of 2008;
(4) The dollar fee limit for services performed as a representative payee to be $35 per month ($68 per month in the case of a beneficiary who is disabled and has an alcoholism or drug addiction condition that leaves him or her incapable of managing benefits) in 2008;
(5) The dollar limit on the administrative-cost assessment charged to attorneys representing claimants to be $79 in 2008;
(6) The national average wage index for 2006 to be $38,651.41;
(7) The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) contribution and benefit base to be $102,000 for remuneration paid in 2008 and self-employment income earned in taxable years beginning in 2008;
(8) The monthly exempt amounts under the Social Security retirement earnings test for taxable years ending in calendar year 2008 to be $1,130 and $3,010;
(9) The dollar amounts (``bend points'') used in the primary insurance amount benefit formula for workers who become eligible for benefits, or who die before becoming eligible, in 2008 to be $711 and $4,288;
(10) The dollar amounts (``bend points'') used in the formula for computing maximum family benefits for workers who become eligible for benefits, or who die before becoming eligible, in 2008 to be $909, $1,312, and $1,711;
(11) The amount of taxable earnings a person must have to be credited with a quarter of coverage in 2008 to be $1,050;
(12) The ``old-law'' contribution and benefit base to be $75,900 for 2008;
(13) The monthly amount deemed to constitute substantial gainful activity for statutorily blind individuals in 2008 to be $1,570, and the corresponding amount for non-blind disabled persons to be $940;
(14) The earnings threshold establishing a month as a part of a trial work period to be $670 for 2008; and
(15) Coverage thresholds for 2008 to be $1,600 for domestic workers and $1,400 for election workers.