Early Out Questions

     The Trump Administration is offering early outs to federal employees. If they accept, they will be paid through September. This brings up some questions in my mind.

• Was this deal offered to all Social Security employees?
• Early outs have certainly been offered in the past. Is this deal different than what has been offered in the past?
• If this deal is being offered to payment center employees, does the Trump Administration have any idea of the problems that will be created at an agency already facing a massive challenge to implement the implementation of the WEP/GPO bill? And I don’t mean to suggest that other agency employees aren’t also essential.
• Does Frank Bisignano have any idea of the disaster he may inherit if he’s confirmed as Commissioner?

     I hate what may happen at Social Security but the antigovernment incompetents running things in the Trump Administration richly deserve what’s heading their way.

A Year To Implement WEP/GPO Repeal

 

    The Social Security Administration posted questions and answers on the implementation of the bill ending the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision on January 24 — after Inauguration Day. Here’s an excerpt:

… SSA's ability to implement the law in a timely manner and without negatively affecting day-to-day customer service relies on funding. The Act did not provide money to implement the law. The law requires SSA to adjust benefits for over 3 million people. Since the law's effective date is retroactive, SSA must adjust people's past benefits as well as future benefits. Though SSA is helping some affected beneficiaries now, under SSA's current budget, SSA expects that it could take more than one year to adjust benefits and pay all retroactive benefits.

Callers to SSA's National 800 Number hear a message about the Act. This message has helped tens of thousands of people avoid holding for a representative. However, more than 7,000 people each day still choose to wait to speak to a representative about the Act. These calls, as well as visitors and appointments in local offices, will continue to increase over the coming weeks and months.

Helping people with this new and unfunded workload is made more difficult by SSA's ongoing staffing shortages, including operating under a hiring freeze since November 2024. This hiring freeze is likely to continue. All SSA customers, including those not affected by the Act, will face delays and increased wait times as SSA prioritizes this new workload. …

IG Fired

      Donald Trump has fired Social Security’s Inspector General along with at least 14 other IGs. It’s odd that the IG for Social Security was fired. She was only in an acting role anyway.

No, You’re The Dummy

      Read this piece in Forbes if you want to either laugh or become enraged. It is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read about Social Security and I’ve read a lot of dumb things about Social Security. The author thinks we can painlessly cut $10 trillion from Social Security but almost all of what he recommends is already in use!  He thinks we can totally eliminate overpayments at SSA. He doesn’t begin to understand the equation. You can go from 99% accuracy to 99.9% accuracy but you’ll spend more than you save getting there. He thinks Social Security engages in no data sharing but it actually engages in extensive data sharing.

     This piece is an example of what many people, especially on the right, think about government agencies, that they’re run by morons and that their performance could be dramatically improved in simple ways. While the people running Social Security may make a few mistakes, they’re not idiots. There are no simple low cost solutions. The idea that there’s $10 trillion out there to be saved is nuts.

Federal Student Loans And Social Security

     On January 8, 2025 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an "Issue Spotlight" on Social Security Offsets and Defaulted Student Loans. Here are some excerpts:

... Between2001 and 2019, the number of Social Security beneficiaries experiencing reduced benefits due to forced collection increased from approximately6,200 to 192,300. This exponential growth is likely driven by older borrowers who make up an increasingly large share of the federal student loan portfolio. The number of student loan borrowers ages 62 and older increased by 59 percent from 1.7 million in 2017 to 2.7 million in 2023,compared to a 1 percent decline among borrowers under the age of 62. ...

Despite the exponential increase in collections from Social Security, the majority of money the Department of Education has collected has been applied to interest and fees and has not affected borrowers’ principal amount owed. ...

Large shares of Social Security beneficiaries affected by forced collections may be eligible for relief or outright loan cancellation, yet they are unable to access these benefits, possibly due to insufficient automation or borrowers’ cognitive and physical decline. ...

 

     Does this seem like a partisan issue? Should it?

Trump Administration Plan Enjoined

     A federal District Court Judge has enjoined the Trump Administration plan to end citizenship to those born in the United States to those who are not in the country legally. The Judge said Trump's action was "blatantly unconstitutional" and he had "difficulty understanding how a member of the bar would state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It just boggles my mind.”

How Many Remember This?

 

    After Donald Trump’s first inauguration, things were a bit disorganized at the White House, so disorganized that it took nine months before Social Security offices displayed his portrait. MAGA types were quick to blame the dastardly Deep State for this indignity but the explanation was far simpler. The White House hadn’t given the General Services Administration an approved portrait for reproduction. The Trump White House may have had little idea what the GSA does. In case you don’t know, the GSA takes care of a lot of housekeeping for federal agencies such as leasing office space, buying office supplies and printing and distributing official Presidential portraits to hang in federal offices.

     Let’s keep an eye on how quickly Social Security offices display Trump’s portrait. It will be something of an indicator of how efficiently or inefficiently the Trump II White House is functioning.

For The Frustrated Social Security Disability Claimant

     My partner and I continue posting on our firm's separate blog directed at a different audience -- For The Frustrated Social Security Disability Claimant. Take a look at these recent posts on that blog:

• Non-Disability Social Security Appeals -- Overpayments

• Non-Disability Appeals -- Presumption Of Death

• Foot Problems And Social Security Disability

• Do I Have To Hire A Lawyer To Get Social Security Disability? And What Does This Have To Do With Marshmallows?

• Can I Be Found Disabled Because Of A Bad Knee?

• Why You Probably Can't Get Temporary Disability Benefits From Social Security

• Social Security Disability For Ankle Injuries

• Hip Pain And Social Security Disability

• Pain

• Tinnitus

• Neck Pain

  Social Security Disability And Child Support

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disability Examiners Getting Authority To Issue Allowances Without Medical Consultant Input

      From Emergency Message EM-25009 issued last Friday:

This emergency message (EM) provides the Disability Determination Services (DDS) and federal disability adjudicating components with disability case processing guidance for Disability Examiner Decisional Authority (DEDA). DEDA will temporarily allow qualifying disability examiners to make fully favorable disability determinations in adult cases based on physical impairments alone without medical review by medical consultants (MC), but with the flexibility to consult with an MC at the disability examiner’s discretion. 

These temporary instructions apply to initial level claims, including initial-level claims pending at the DDS and federal disability case processing sites (DPB, DPU, etc.).

The Social Security Administration (SSA) faces unprecedented initial disability claims backlogs surpassing the 1.12 million case mark, resulting in high average processing times and claimant wait times. A contributing factor to the increase in average processing time is the general requirement that qualified physicians, psychiatrists, and psychologists (referred to in our policy as medical consultants (MC) and psychological consultants (PC)) complete the medical review of all initial level disability determinations combined with an insufficient number of MCs and PCs. See Section 221(h).…. 

     If this issue comes up in your confirmation hearing, Frank Bisignano, what say you?

New Acting Commissioner

     Social Security’s organization chart now shows Michelle King as Acting Commissioner.