No COLA This Year?

     Very early numbers suggest that there may be little or no Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security benefits this year.

Every Other Social Security Attorney In The Country Digitized Their Records Years Ago But Not Eric Conn

     From WKYT:

He admitted to defrauding the federal government out of $550 million and is currently serving a 27 year prison sentence. However, Eric Conn's former clients and those helping them continue to deal with the aftermath of his social security scheme.

"A lot of people don't think about all of the impacts a situation like this causes," said Cary Howard, Jr.

As part of the court process Conn's well known law compound off of U.S. 23 in Floyd County ... . Inside those offices were thousands of client files. So what has happened with all of those files? Back in the fall Howard along with Barry Stilz were appointed by a federal judge as the receivers of those files. Howard and Stilz work at Lexington based law firm Kinkead and Stilz. ...

It took a couple of tractor trailer trucks and multiple box trucks to move the files to a secure space in Lexington. Howard recruiting some attorneys who aren't currently practicing and some University of Kentucky law students to organize and inventory what he now estimates is 15,000 to 18,000 client files. Howard says they were initially told there were about 8,000 files.

"There is nothing in digital form, everything is paper. There is about 60 tons of paper."  

Now that they have gotten a good amount of the files organized they are hoping to get them to the former clients. Howard says they have had about 800 files requested and have been able to locate around 600 of those. That obviously a small amount when looking at the grand total. ...

Social Security Subcommittee Members Announced

     House Ways and Means Committee Democrats and Republicans have announced the members of the Social Security Subcommittee for this Congress:

• Chair: Rep. John Larson (D-CT)
• Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)
• Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA)
• Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY)
• Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI)
• Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA)
• Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL)
• Ranking Member Tom Reed (R-NY)
• Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX)
• Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA)
• Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS)

OHO Processing Time Report

     This was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in their newsletter (which is not available online to the public). It concerns the processing of requests for hearing by the agency's Office of Hearings Operations.

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Social Security Headcount Declines By 3% To Lowest Number In More Than 10 Years

      The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has posted updated figures for the number of employees at the Social Security Administration:

• June 2018 60,898
• December 2017 62,777
• September 2017 62,297
• June 2017 61,592
• March 2017 62,183
• December 2016 63,364
• December 2015 65,518
• December 2014 65,430
• December 2013 61,957
• December 2012 64,538
• September 2011 67,136
• December 2010 70,270
• December 2009 67,486
• December 2008 63,733
• September 2008 63,990

A Real Winner Brought To Social Security By Donald Trump

     From Media Matters:

Before joining President Donald Trump's administration [as Acting Associate Commissioner at the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of Strategic and Digital Communications], right-wing commentator Robert W. Patterson argued against contraceptives because “condom use robs” women of the “remarkable chemicals” in semen; said married women in the workplace have undermined society; and suggested that homosexuality is a mental disorder and sexual orientation can be forcibly changed. ...

     There's a lot more detail in the Media Matters piece. Patterson is a real nutjob.

Attorney Fees Remain Level In 2018

     Total fees paid to attorneys and others who represent Social Security claimants came to $1.21 billion in 2018, the same as in 2017. The lack of change is itself surprising. Of course, there was 1.9% inflation in 2018, so, in effect, attorneys lost 1.9% in 2018.

Waiting In Syracuse

     From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

Jamie Crouse broke his skull in two places, his collarbone and six ribs, suffered a concussion and lost hearing in one ear in a 2016 motorcycle accident.

The injuries left the chef too dizzy to work anymore in restaurants.

Despite the extensive injuries, it took the federal Social Security Administration more than two years to approve his application for disability.

Crouse is not alone. More than 7,000 people in Syracuse are waiting for hearings to decide if they qualify for Social Security disability benefits. Syracuse’s 19-month wait is among the worst in the nation. After a hearing it can take up to another six months before a decision is issued. That means injured people often struggle to make ends meet or end up homeless as they spend two years awaiting benefits for which they may be entitled. ...

Before Social Security approved his application in November, Crouse was bouncing checks and running up credit card debt.

“I was definitely going under,” he said. “I don’t know if they are understaffed or they just try to bleed you dry." ...

People in Syracuse seeking hearings face some of the longest waits in the nation. The average wait time in November for a hearing was 19 months, the tenth longest in the US.

Federal budget cuts are to blame for the long waits. The Social Security Administration’s budget was cut 9 percent between 2010 and 2018. That reduction left the agency short staffed at the same time disability applications were increasing. To fix the problem, Congress increased the Social Security Administration’s funding by $480 million in 2018 to help ease the backlog and approved a $40 million increase for 2019.

But the extra money has yet to shorten the wait for hearings here. ...

Can Social Security Maintain Building Security During The Partial Government Shutdown?

     I've posted here that Social Security will be unaffected by the partial government shutdown. It occurs to me that I may have been overbroad. The problem is building security. That's mostly provided by the Federal Protective Service (FPS), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DHS is part of the shutdown. The FPS security guards at Social Security offices missed a paycheck today. They'll miss another in another two weeks. They're not going to continue working forever for free. Also, there are some Social Security offices that are located inside federal courthouses. While FPS may provide security guards within the Social Security offices inside federal courthouses, the U.S. Marshall Service provides security at the building entrances. The U.S. Marshall Service is part of the Department of Justice and it, too, is part of the partial government shutdown. The federal courts themselves are also part of the government shutdown and will close for routine business a week from today. Will the U.S. Marshall Service continue to provide building security for federal courthouses when the courts, themselves, are closed, especially given that the Marshall's Service has more urgent tasks to complete?

Form Fee Agreement

     While we knew it was coming, it still surprised me to see that Social Security had released a form fee agreement last month that attorneys representing Social Security claimants can use. This is not mandatory. Attorneys and others representing Social Security claimants can always draft their own forms. I guess I was expecting some announcement.

     Here's the key language from the form:

If SSA favorably decides my claim(s) and the decision results in past-due (retroactive) benefits, I agree to pay my representative(s) a fee that does not exceed the lesser of 25 percent of my past-due benefits or the maximum dollar amount allowed under the Social Security Act Section 206(a)(2), or such higher amount set by the Commissioner of Social Security based on the date Social Security Administration (SSA) authorizes my representative’s fee. 

Choose One:

I agree to pay the maximum fee as stated in the preceding paragraph. ($6000 as of 2018).

I agree to pay less than the maximum $________________ or  _____________%.

Read and acknowledge the following: I understand that I, my eligible spouse, any affected auxiliary beneficiary, my representative or the decision maker have the right to protest the fee authorized under this fee agreement, in writing, within 15 days from the authorization.

I understand that my representative may still request a fee even if my case does not result in past-due benefits, or the decision is not favorable. If the fee agreement cannot be approved because there are no past-due benefits or for other reasons, my representative may file a fee petition to request that SSA authorize a fee. I also understand that if there are no past-due benefits withheld, if not enough past-due benefits are withheld, or if my representative is not eligible for direct payment by SSA, I will be responsible to pay the authorized fee to my representative(s) directly. SSA does not authorize out-of-pocket costs and expenses for which I am responsible to pay directly to my representative.

Two-Tiered Fee Agreement

If SSA favorably decides my claim(s) above the ________________ administrative level, this fee agreement is void and my representative(s) may seek a higher fee by filing a fee petition. SSA must authorize this fee.

Escrow/Trust Accounts or Third-party Payments

With my consent my representative(s) has/have or will establish an escrow/trust account in the amount of $__________ 

My representative will receive a fee from another party (e.g., state, county, private entity) for $__________  and I will have no financial responsibility to pay any fee, unless SSA authorizes the total fee

     Note that this is written in fluent bureaucratese. Perhaps, because it is a Social Security form our clients will just accept it without giving us trouble but imagine the typical 10th grade dropout understanding it. Well, if you work at Social Security maybe you can't imagine that and maybe that's why this form is written in such stilted language.  The form is also flatly inaccurate because it indicates that only the Social Security Administration can authorize a fee in a two-tiered fee agreement situation. No, a federal court can also authorize a fee.