Saul Officially Commissioner

     Andrew Saul has been sworn in as Commissioner of Social Security.

GAO Criticizes SSA Online Verification

     From a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report:

Remote identity proofing is the process federal agencies and other entities use to verify that the individuals who apply online for benefits and services are who they claim to be. To perform remote identity proofing, agencies that GAO reviewed rely on consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) to conduct a procedure known as knowledge-based verification. This type of verification involves asking applicants seeking federal benefits or services personal questions derived from information found in their credit files, with the assumption that only the true owner of the identity would know the answers. If the applicant responds correctly, their identity is considered to be verified. For example, the Social Security Administration (SSA) uses this technique to verify the identities of individuals seeking access to the “My Social Security” service, which allows them to check the status of benefit applications, request a replacement Social Security or Medicare card, and request other services. 

However, data stolen in recent breaches, such as the 2017 Equifax breach, could be used fraudulently to respond to knowledge-based verification questions. The risk that an attacker could obtain and use an individual’s personal information to answer knowledge-based verification questions and impersonate that individual led the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to issue guidance in 2017 that effectively prohibits agencies from using knowledge- based verification for sensitive applications. Alternative methods are available that provide stronger security, as shown in Figure 1. However, these methods may have limitations in cost, convenience, and technological maturity, and they may not be viable for all segments of the public. ...

Social Security Reform Proposal Draws Widespread Protests In Brazil

     From Xinhua:

Brazilians took to the streets on Friday for a nationwide massive protest against the social security reform proposed by the government. 

According to local media, there were protests in at least 190 towns in all Brazilian states.

As a full strike was called, buses halted in 19 state capitals, subway and urban train workers in several cities joined the strike, classes were cancelled in public schools and many private schools in at least 23 state capitals, and road blockades were seen in the country. ...

Government Health Care Has Been Around For A While And It's Still Part Of The Social Security Act

Signed by Harry Truman, the first President to propose Medicare

Still Missing The Fee Payment Stats

     Back in April I posted the news that Social Security had taken down its website where it posted the stats on payments of fees to attorneys and others who represent claimants before the agency. Soon thereafter the website reappeared.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the problem. Now, they're stopped updating the stats. Nothing has been posted since the March stats. In the past, the website was updated in the first week of each month.

More On DDS Backlogs

     I had posted recently about the increasing backlogs I was seeing on Social Security disability claims at the initial and reconsideration levels. A friend was able to find the data from North Carolina, where I practice, and put it into a chart.

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     You can see why I would be concerned.
     My friend also charted the nationwide data but it doesn't paint the same picture:

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     Don't think that this means there's not a growing backlog problem at the initial and reconsideration levels nationally. The number of disability claims filed has gone down dramatically. With the number of claims filed having gone down dramatically, you would expect to see dramatic reductions in the number of cases pending in the backlog. That hasn't happened. The only way the cases pending holds steady is if the time it's taking to get initial and reconsideration determinations is increasing. It's not happening nationwide so dramatically as in North Carolina but it's happening.

eCBSV Coming

     From a notice posted in the Federal Register by the Social Security Administration (footnotes omitted):

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is announcing the initial enrollment period for a new electronic Consent Based Social Security Number (SSN) Verification (eCBSV) service. SSA will roll out the service to a limited number of users in June 2020, and plans on expanding the number of users within six months of the initial rollout. ... 

Section 215 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (the Banking Bill) directs SSA to modify or develop a database for accepting and comparing fraud protection data provided electronically by a permitted entity. In response to this statutory directive, SSA is creating eCBSV, a fee-based Social Security number (SSN) verification service. eCBSV will allow permitted entities to verify an individual's SSN based on the SSN holder's signed consent. ...

Washington Post On Proposed Regs On Inability To Speak English

     The Washington Post has an article out on the proposal to eliminate consideration of inability to speak English in determining disability under Social Security's grid regulations.

     I don't see why anyone would think that English proficiency has no effect on one's ability to hold down a job. Sure, people who can't speak English hold down jobs in the U.S. but they can't be cashiers or bank tellers or bus drivers. Even in Puerto Rico, you can't work in the tourism industry or many other jobs if you can't speak English. Also, there are far, far more job opportunities for those who only speak Spanish than there are for those who only speak Russian or Yoruba or Greek.

     One thing that needs to be said about this proposal, however, is that it won't affect that many people. The regulations in question matter in only a few borderline cases.

     It's rich that the Trump Administration is protesting criticism of this proposal by saying it isn't intended to be anti-immigrant. We all know why this proposal is coming forward during the Trump Administration.

The Trump Administration Never Ceases To Amaze

     From The Hill:

President Trump has quietly appointed his Social Security Administration (SSA) Inspector General to also oversee a much different agency: the Interior Department. 

On May 28 Gail Ennis began her second job overseeing the Interior Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), a role she will keep for the foreseeable future, an OIG office source confirmed to The Hill.

The Trump administration is still awaiting the confirmation of Mark Greenblatt, the former Commerce Department Inspector General (IG), to formally head the Interior’s OIG office. ...

Ennis is the second Trump political appointee who the administration has attempted to put in the Interior OIG role.

Earlier this year, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson announced to staff that Assistant HUD Secretary Suzanne Tufts would replace Kendall. Because Tufts had been previously confirmed by the Senate, she would not have to go through another confirmation process for the role. 

However, following backlash to that announcement, the Interior Department later said the announcement was a misunderstanding and Carson reversed the move. Tufts resigned not long after. ...

     There's the obvious problem here of one person trying to do two jobs but there's the less obvious problem that even though the Inspectors General are appointed by the President, they're supposed to act in a non-partisan way. This indicates to me that Ennis is involved with the White House more than I think appropriate.

The Kentucky Bar Association's Shameful Role In The Eric Conn Debacle

     There is one part of the debacle left behind by Eric Conn that has received little attention and that is the irresponsible behavior of the Kentucky Bar Association (KBA). Ned Pillersdorf has written an op ed for the Louisville Courier Journal on this aspect of the case.

     After Social Security started its highly dubious effort to cut off benefits for thousands of Conn's former clients you would expect that the KBA would try to organize or at least assist pro bono legal representation for the claimants involved but the KBA did nothing. While individual Kentucky attorneys, including most prominently Ned Pillersdorf, did pro bono work to help those affected, most of the representation of Conn's former clients has been done by out of state attorneys in an effort organized by AppalReD Legal Aid.  The KBA has been nowhere to be seen while this effort has been going on.

     The biggest failing by the KBA has been its refusal to appoint a receiver for the files that Conn had on his clients. Yes, Conn did keep files. I've seen some. They weren't nearly as disorganized as I expected. Yes, he did request some medical records and certainly received some others from clients. However, his office did not always file medical records they received with Social Security. It wasn't that the records not submitted were harmful to the cases. Conn's office just never got around to submitting them. Getting access to Conn's files was an obvious step in representing his former clients. Some of the doctors involved are no longer in practice. Some of the claimants have forgotten which doctors they saw. I am representing one of Conn's former clients who is now in the early stages of Alzheimer's but you don't have to have dementia to have forgotten some of the details of your medical treatment history. Once it became clear that there were client files left behind by Conn, you would expect that the KBA would step in to appoint a receiver for the files. since their own rules give them this authority. Occasionally, an attorney gets arrested or suddenly dies. That's why there are rules for this sort of thing in Kentucky and other states. As the agency that regulates Kentucky attorneys you would expect the KBA to step up to help out with Conn's files but to the amazement and dismay of everyone involved, including the U.S. Department of Justice and federal judges, the KBA refused to do anything.

     I hate to be critical of another state's bar but I cannot comprehend the KBA's behavior. I find it shameful. I would be up in arms about it if the the KBA's counterpart in North Carolina where I practice behaved like this but I cannot imagine that happening.