Social Security Not Taking Claims In Columbus?

     From WCMH in Columbus, OH:

Kathleen McGovern’s husband, Gilbert, died in September. In October, McGovern began the process of settling his affairs, including finances.

“As I understood it, I was eligible to collect my husband’s social security because his was more than what mine was,” said McGovern.

About $600 more. So, McGovern called the social security office in Worthington, to apply for widow’s benefits. She spoke with a representative, who told McGovern that she couldn’t apply online. 

“And she said, ‘No, you can’t do it online either. You have to come in with an appointment to our office, and make your application here,'” said McGovern. “I can’t do it at any other office either. Just that one.”

But McGovern said the representative also told her that wouldn’t be possible, at least for a while, because as of that day, the office was not taking any more appointments. McGovern said she was told to call again, in case that changed. She did, but said she could never get through. ...

Unsure of what to do, McGovern called Better Call 4. We spoke on October 20. I reached out to the Social Security Administration on October 26, and that same afternoon, got a call from a representative, asking for McGovern’s contact information.

The next day, McGovern called Better Call 4 again, to tell us that the agency called her, and took her application over the phone — adding that a lump sum settlement would be deposited in her bank account the following day. ...

    I don't know whether there's a systems limitation that prevents filing a claim online in this situation. There shouldn't be but maybe there is. I don't think agency employees are ever supposed to say they can't make an appointment. She should have been able to take care of her business over the telephone at the least and she should be able to deal with any Social Security field office. 

    If you're a Social Security employee, don't say it couldn't have happened as this woman has described it. I've talked with too many Social Security employees who tried to BS me. It doesn't happen often but it happens and it probably happens a lot more frequently with claimants than it does with an attorney like me.

Florida Man Tries To Rob Bank After Social Security Benefits Cut

    From the Villages-News in Florida (where else?)

A 74-year-old Villager has been arrested after allegedly attempting to rob a local bank claiming he had been “cut off” by Social Security.

Joseph Vincent Albanese ... walked into the Wells Fargo bank on U.S. Hwy. 441 in Lady Lake at about noon Monday and slipped a pre-written note to a bank teller ... The bank teller removed $700 in cash from her drawer and placed it into a pillow case carried in by Albanese.

He “kept apologizing” and sat down in the main lobby area. Bank employees quickly evacuated customers out of the lobby.

When deputies arrived at the bank, Albanese was still sitting in the lobby. He said Social Security just “cut him off.”

They Wouldn't, Would They?

     From Michael Hiltzik writing for the Los Angeles Times:

You may have thought that the drubbing Republicans received in the recent election would have prompted party leaders to think more warily about promoting policies that nauseate the voting public.

You would be wrong. We know this from an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal under the name of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah). The piece appeared Nov. 10, two days after the vote, when congressional leadership was still up in the air. ...

Nevertheless, Romney again teed up the traditional, and discreditable, Republican shibboleth of attacking Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as “entitlements” that have been causing inflation.

With the Democrats having retained their Senate majority, the chances of wholesale hacking away at these programs’ benefits have receded, for the moment.  

But since Republicans have regained their majority in the House, the possibility that they will try to hold the U.S. economy hostage to force some sort of compromise on the programs, inimical as it might be for the general public, still looms. ...

[W]hat the GOP hopes will be its leverage in any debate over social insurance benefits [is]: the federal debt ceiling, which will need to be raised early next year to avert a possible shutdown of government functions or even an unprecedented default on treasury securities. ...

Kim Receives Award

     Grace Kim, Social Security's Deputy Commissioner for Operations, has been awarded the Presidential Rank for Distinguished Service. This award was given to 48 federal civil servants across all agencies.

    Kim is in charge of much of Social Security operations providing service to the public. The service is terrible. Why give her an award? I don't know enough about what Kim has done to say whether she deserves the award but poor service was inevitable given the serious underfunding of agency operations. It's possible to do a better or a worse job of dealing with a difficult situation. It's certainly stressful to do a better job of handling a disastrous situation that's not of your own making.

Kijakazi Calls For Greater Administrative Funding

    From Think Advisor:

On Wednesday, Acting Social Security Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi offered the opening remarks at a retirement equity forum held by the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis and the Economic Policy Institute. ...

Kijakazi says her focus is now squarely on advocating that Congress pass President Joe Biden’s proposed fiscal 2023 budget, which would direct about $14.8 billion to the Social Security Administration, an increase from the agency’s $13.3 billion budget for fiscal 2022.

According to Kijakazi, the SSA is currently operating with one of its lowest levels of staffing on record, and the SSA’s staff are grappling with significant backlogs and challenges, especially when it comes to the review and approval of Social Security disability claims. ...

New OHO Caseload Analysis Report

    Social Security has posted the Caseload Analysis Report for its Office of Hearings Operations for October 2022, the first month in the new federal fiscal year. These are basic operations statistics. Click on the image to view full size.

Why So Much Variation?

     Social Security has posted the allowance rates on disability claims at the initial and reconsideration levels for the 2022 federal fiscal year, which ended on September 30, 2022. Last year when these numbers were revealed, I asked why there was so much variation from state to state. I still have the same question. Sure, there are some demographic differences but why are 69.5% of disability claims approved at the initial level in Alaska but only 29.8% in D.C.? Demographics can't account for a difference that great. Closer to home for me, why did North Carolina have a 35.9% allowance rate at the initial level but in the neighboring states of Virginia and South Carolina the allowance rates were 41.3% and 42.8% respectively?

The ORS?

     I just saw that the National Association of Disability Representatives (NADR) has scheduled training on the Occupational Requirements Survey. They ask if it might be a replacement for the long outdated Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) that Social Security uses. This is the first I've heard of the ORS. Anyone else have info on it?

What Is The Incidence Of Severe Long Covid?

     From U.S. News & World Report:

... The Social Security Administration has identified about 40,000 disability claims that “include indication of a covid infection at some point,” spokesperson Nicole Tiggemann said. How many people with long covid are among the more than 1 million disability claims awaiting processing by Social Security is unknown.

In recent months, about 5% of new disability claims filed by Allsup, an Illinois-based firm that helps people apply for Social Security, involved people dealing with covid, said T.J. Geist, a director at the firm. Other firms report similar figures. ...

A recent report from the Brookings Institution estimates that 2 million to 4 million people are out of work because of long covid. A study published in September by the National Bureau of Economic Research puts the number at 500,000. ...

    By this point I'm sure that the majority of my disability clients have had Covid. That's because the majority of people in this country have had Covid. Merely having had Covid at some point doesn't mean that your disability claim is due to Covid. It's more likely your knee or your multiple sclerosis or something such. Of the few clients I've seen with disability related to Covid, their current diagnosis isn't so much long Covid as post-ICU syndrome, which was well known before Covid. That's post-ICU syndrome as in if you have to spend an extended period of time in the ICU your health may never be the same again regardless of why you were in the ICU so long.

Missed This Earlier — New Native Affairs Office

      From an October 4 press release:

Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi announced that the Social Security Administration (SSA) established an Office of Native American Partnerships within the Office of the Commissioner.

This office will elevate and centralize efforts to administer comprehensive programs and policies related to American Indians and Alaska Natives. It will enhance the agency’s relationship with Tribes and serve as the primary point of contact on Tribal affairs for all stakeholders. …