Reg Proposed On Waiver Of Some Overpayments During Pandemic

 

     Yesterday, the Social Security Administration has asked for Office of Management and Budget approval to publish an interim final rule on "Waiver of recovery of certain overpayments accruing during the COVID-19 pandemic period." The text of the proposal is not available to the public at this time.

     Update: Also yesterday, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee issued a press release calling on Social Security to give relief to Social Security recipients overpaid during the pandemic.

Deaths And Bankruptcies While Awaiting Action On Disability Claims

      From a press release:

... Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B Larson (D-CT) responded to new findings from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study they commissioned which found that thousands of American die or go bankrupt waiting to receive their disability benefits each year. ...

The study, “Social Security Disability: Information on Wait Times, Bankruptcies, and Deaths among Applicants Who Appealed Benefit Denials,” looked at people who appealed an initial denial of their application for Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. It found:

• More than 100,000 people died without receiving a final decision on their appeal for Social Security or SSI disability benefits, out of approximately 9 million who filed an appeal from Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 to FY 2019.
• Approximately 50,000 people filed for bankruptcy while appealing for Social Security or SSI disability benefits, out of approximately 3.6 million who filed an appeal from FY 2014 to FY 2019.
• From FY 2008 to FY 2019, most disability applicants who appealed an initial denial waited more than a year for a final decision. Median wait times reached a peak of 839 days – more than 2 years – for claims filed in FY 2015.  ...

 

Living Longer But Not Working Longer

    The argument is commonly made that Social Security's full retirement age should be increased because people live longer now than they used to. Actually, life expectancy has declined recently but it is still higher than it was in past decades.

     I doubt anyone's mind will be changed but there's a new study showing that increased life expectancy has only minimal effects on labor force participation.

     I submit that the main reason older people are less likely to work than young people is that their health has declined and they're no longer able to do the work they've done in the past. How many people do you see working in construction who are in their 60s or even 50s? Even those who work in offices usually have health problems that keep them out of work more frequently as they get older. People live longer but we have no way of preventing aging from having effects on health and ability to work. Younger people like to visualize themselves remaining vigorous until they suddenly get sick and die but that's not the way it works for most people.

Working From Home Poll

bike trails

What Clued You In That There Might Be A Problem?

     From the Herald-News:

A Klamath Falls man is facing federal charges for cashing more than $458,000 worth of social security checks issued in the name of his deceased aunt.

George Doumar, 76, has been charged with theft of public funds and mail theft.

According to court documents, in February 2020 the Social Security Administration identified a 114-year-old supercentenarian who appeared to be the second-oldest living person in the U.S. receiving Social Security retirement benefits.

SSA systems indicated that no updates had been made to the person’s benefit record in more than 30 years, leading staff to believe that the person may be deceased. ...

     The might also want to take a look at the oldest supposedly living person receiving Social Security benefits; maybe the top 10 or even 100.

 

Happy 85th Birthday!

OHO Receipts Down 17% From 1st Quarter to 2d Quarter Of 2020

      This was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in its newsletter, which is not available online to non-members. It is basic operating statistics for Social Security's Office of Hearings Operations. Click on the image to view full size.

More Tension Between SSA Management And ALJ Union

      From Government Executive:

The Association of Administrative Law Judges accused the Social Security Administration of breaking federal labor law when it implemented a partial union contract on Monday.

Union representatives said that the agency’s move flies in the face of the ground rules the parties reached earlier in the negotiation process, and that a decision by management to unilaterally rewrite one provision to implement a new rule on how it will withhold union dues is flatly illegal.

Negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement between Social Security and the administrative law judges date back over a year. During discussions last year, the parties reached agreement on 20 of 29 proposed contract articles, but went to impasse over the final nine. The Federal Service Impasses Panel issued a largely pro-management decision in April, prompting the union to sue the panel, arguing that the manner in which members were appointed violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.

In April, the agency indicated that it would implement a partial contract, arguing that provisions decided by the impasses panel are not subject to ratification. But it relented and indicated it would delay implementation pending the lawsuit after the Federal Labor Relations Authority took the rare step to stay the panel’s order. ...

But not even the impasses panel agrees with Social Security’s claim that panel orders are not subject to ratification. Last year, the panel removed language from a contract proposal offered by the Defense Department Education Activity in its dispute with the Federal Education Association seeking to exempt panel-imposed articles from the ratification process. ...

     This happened on Monday. Note that also on Monday, Social Security requested OMB approval for proposed final regulations to substitute Appeals Council Judges for ALJs. These two events might be connected.

Regs On AAJ Hearings Advance

      Yesterday, the Social Security Administration sent over to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposed final regulations on Hearings Held by Administrative Appeals Judges of the Appeals Council. If approved by OMB, these will be published in the Federal Register and go into effect.

     Under the Congressional Review Act, the incoming Congress could overturn these regulations by a simple majority vote in each House of Congress. In the alternative, should Joe Biden become President, his Administration could refuse to implement the regulations and go through the longer process to undo them administratively.

Work Is Changing -- More Cognitive Demands For Low-Skill Jobs Which Remain Just As Physically Demanding

     From The Changing Nature of Work by Italo Lopez-Garcia (RAND Corporation),Nicole Maestas (Harvard Medical School and NBER), and Kathleen Mullen (RAND Corporation):

... [F]rom 2003-2018, cognitive job demands increased from an average level of 2.63 to 2.90 (+9.3 percent), psychomotor demands decreased from 1.75 to 1.59 (-9.1 percent), physical demands decreased from 1.37 to 1.18 (-13.8 percent) and sensory demands increased from 1.72 to 1.88 (+8.5 percent). .

The increase in cognitive job demands ... is mostly concentrated among low-skill jobs, or those prevalent among individuals with less than a college degree. In contrast, the decrease in physical job demands is concentrated among high-skill jobs, or those prevalent among individuals with at least a college degree. These results suggest low-education workers have been penalized as their jobs have become more cognitively demanding without any alleviation of the physical burden of performing these jobs. ...

     Like I've been saying, it's nuts to talk about increasing the age categories in the grid regulations. It's become harder for individuals with low educational levels who have exertional limitations to find jobs they can do. What had been low skill jobs have remained just as strenuous while becoming more skilled. It's the high skill jobs that have become physically easier, not low skill jobs.

     In all likelihood, this is why Social Security keeps delaying introduction of a new occupational information system. They can't find a way to massage the data to come up with unskilled sedentary jobs. Their should be an Inspector General investigation of why Social Security's occupational information system keeps getting delayed.