Who's Being Unreasonable -- These Parents Or Social Security?

     From the Los Angeles Times: 

When Azul Ruelas-Brissette was born in the summer of 2018, the baby’s parents were resolute: They did not want “male” or “female” spelled out on their child’s birth certificate.

Jay Brissette and Miguel Ruelas had weighed their decision carefully. They are part of a small but burgeoning cohort of parents who are raising their children in what they call a “gender creative” or “gender expansive” way.

In the couple’s Los Angeles social network alone, several of their friends have chosen not to reveal the gender of their children until the kids are old enough to articulate their identities on their own. ...

Hence Azul’s birth certificate, which shows two dashes where gender is typically indicated. In January 2018, the state of California began issuing birth certificates that mark a gender of female, male, non-binary (those whose gender identities fall outside the categories of male or female) or nothing at all. At least 10 other states allow gender-neutral markers on identity documents.

But Brissette and Ruelas soon learned that federal agencies still adhere to traditional ways of designating gender.

Last November, the couple contacted the Social Security Administration to inquire about registering Azul for a Social Security number. They asked how they should handle the application form, which has just two options in the “sex” category: male and female.

“They went into this whole thing. That we had to pick a gender, that a baby is not a person without a gender,” Brissette said. ...

So they went to the SSA office in downtown L.A. with Azul, who wore a jean jacket and sparkly boots. They filled out the paperwork but left the “sex” category blank, and showed an employee Azul’s birth certificate.

A few minutes later, the employee handed the parents Azul’s Social Security card and a copy of the paperwork. On it, Azul was listed as male. The couple asked how, and why, the agency made that choice for them.

“They told us Azul did have a gender and closed the window,” Brissette said. ...

Problems For Social Security 2100 Act in CBO Projections

     The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has analyzed the effects of the Social Security 2100 Act currently pending before the House Ways and Means Committee. They find that it doesn't quite stabilize the Social Security Trust Funds until the year 2100 as the bill's sponsors have believed. More important, the CBO finds that along the way the bill would cause the Trust Funds to run out of money in 2041. In other words, in the long run if the bill would be adopted would come pretty close to solving the funding problem but there would be a crisis in 2041. This conflicts with the projections of Social Security's Office of Chief Actuary that under the bill the Trust Funds would be fully solvent until at least the year 2100.

     I think the Trust Fund problem- brought up by the CBO could probably be addressed fairly simply by modestly speeding up the tax increase included in the Social Security 2100 Act.

     Another problem, though, is that while the CBO projects that the bill would decrease the overall federal deficit, it would increase on-budget deficits by hundreds of billions of dollars in each decade "because a portion of income taxes paid on Social Security benefits would no longer be allocated to the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund (which is on-budget) and because of the reductions in income tax revenues that would result from the increase in payroll taxes." I don't understand this. My guess is that it's an conceptual problem in the byzantine world of federal budgeting rather than a real world problem.

AFGE-SSA Agreement In Principle

     Below is a signed memorandum of an "Agreement in Principle" between the Social Security Administration and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union that represents more Social Security employees. Click on each page to view full size. This would be a big step forward for Commissioner Saul.  Without this sort of agreement, he would have faced serious difficulties with Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Ways And Means Chairman Introduces WEP Legislation

     From a press release issued Friday:

Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal introduced the Public Servants Protection and Fairness Act, H.R. 4540, legislation to fix the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) for future retirees and provide meaningful relief to current WEP retirees. The bill ensures that public servants across the nation can retire with the security and dignity they deserve.

The legislation establishes a new, fairer formula that will pay Social Security benefits in proportion to the share of a worker’s earnings that were covered for Social Security purposes. This provision is coupled with a benefit guarantee ensuring no benefit cuts relative to current law for all current and future retirees. Current WEP retirees will receive $150 a month in relief payments. ...

“The WEP negatively affects nearly 2 million retired public servants across the country, including about 73,000 in Massachusetts,” said Chairman Neal. “Public employees like firefighters, teachers, and police officers should not miss out on the Social Security benefits they earned over decades of hard work. With this legislation, these valued members of our communities will have greater retirement security and peace of mind.”

Originally, the WEP was intended to equalize the Social Security benefit formula for workers with similar earnings histories, both inside and outside of the Social Security system. However, in practice, it unfairly penalizes many public employees. ...

my Social Security Fraud Coming Under Control?

     Social Security Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a report on direct deposit fraud, that is, cases where Social Security benefits were misdirected because of unauthorized bank account information changes made through "my Social Security". Below is a chart from the brief stub of the report that was issued to the public. Apparently, OIG regards this as too sensitive to release to the public because it discusses methods the agency is using to deter and detect fraud.

Click on image to view full size

A Moment Of Grace At A Social Security Office

     Kathryn Taylor writes about finding a moment of grace, of social security actually, at a Social Security field office.

A Chair Covered In Borax?

     From USA Today:

A Wisconsin woman is accused of hiding her mother's corpse to live off her Social Security money. ...

Officers arrived at [the mother's] home last Wednesday to do a welfare check after a neighbor called police. "She knew the lady and didn't see her for some time," ...

Officers found a note taped on Ruby's home that said, "Ruby has gone out of town to visit some friends of ours. Paula." Inside, they found a chair covered in Borax, as well as boxes of ammonia and bleach.

Days later, Paula Bergold confessed to her mother's death and that her body was in the home. Bergold said she found her mother dead in a chair — the one later covered in Borax — and didn't call authorities because she was worried about her finances. She told police she was living off her mother's Social Security income and investment.

When the body began to smell, Bergold placed her mother's body inside the tub. ...

Agency Failed To Cut Off Benefits For Some Aliens -- Also, What's RETAP?

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

... If a family member of a wage earner is eligible for OASDI [Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance] benefits and is not a U.S. citizen, he/she may need to meet a 5-year residency requirement. To fulfill the residency requirement, the beneficiary must establish a physical residence in the United States, while in a qualifying relationship with the wage earner, with the intent to reside for a cumulative period of at least 5 years. SSA uses the automated Regular Transcript Attainment and Selection Pass (RETAP) process to prompt benefit suspension for non-citizen beneficiaries who have not meet their 5-year residency requirement and have been outside the United States for longer than 6 consecutive months. ... 

Of the 200 non-citizen beneficiaries we reviewed, SSA did not properly suspend benefits to 26 (13 percent). SSA should have suspended these beneficiaries because they had not met their 5-year residency requirement and lived outside the United States for longer than 6 consecutive months. Of the 26 beneficiaries, 23 met the criteria for the RETAP process to prompt benefit suspension. However, RETAP did not identify these beneficiaries for suspension. According to SSA, a RETAP programming limitation prevented these beneficiaries from being identified for benefit suspension. SSA employees omitted information from the remaining three beneficiaries’ Master Beneficiary Records required for RETAP to prompt benefit suspensions. 

By not appropriately suspending benefits, SSA overpaid these 26 beneficiaries approximately $332,000. Accordingly, we project SSA overpaid nearly $29 million to approximately 2,300 non-citizen OASDI beneficiaries. ...

     Is RETAP a State Department database?

Black Confirmed As Deputy Commissioner

     David Black was confirmed by the Senate as Deputy Commissioner of Social Security yesterday. The vote was 68-26.

Social Security's Predictions Of Hearings Pending And Hearing Processing Time

 Click on images to view full size.

From a Social Security report to the White House