Will This Help Colvin's Nomination Move Through The Senate?

     Senate Democrats plan to go into a full court press to confirm as many of President Obam's nominees as possible during its lame duck session after the election. This could include Carolyn Colvin, whose nomination for a term as Social Security Commissioner has been favorably reported out of the Senate Finance Committee. There are currently 156 pending nominations and not all will get confirmed during the lame duck session. Colvin's nomination isn't controversial but it's not clear whether that helps or hurts. She'll still be Acting Commissioner even if she's not confirmed.

The Other Cost Of Living Adjustments

     From Social Security's press office:

2015 SOCIAL SECURITY CHANGES

(Printer friendly version)

Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA):
Based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) from the third quarter of 2013 through the third quarter of 2014, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries will receive a 1.7 percent COLA for 2015. Other important 2015 Social Security information is as follows:

Tax Rate:	2014	2015
Employee	7.65%	7.65%
Self-Employed	15.30%	15.30%
NOTE:  The 7.65% tax rate is the combined rate for Social Security and Medicare.  The Social Security portion (OASDI) is 6.20% on earnings up to the applicable taxable maximum amount (see below).  The Medicare portion (HI) is 1.45% on all earnings. Also, as of January 2013, individuals with earned income of more than $200,000 ($250,000 for married couples filing jointly) pay an additional 0.9 percent in Medicare taxes. The tax rates shown above do not include the 0.9 percent.
Maximum Taxable Earnings:	2014	2015
Social Security (OASDI only)	$117,000	$118,500
Medicare (HI only)	N o   L i m i t
Quarter of Coverage:	2014	2015
	$1,200	$1,220
Retirement Earnings Test Exempt Amounts:	2014	2015
Under full retirement age NOTE: One dollar in benefits will be withheld for every $2 in earnings above the limit.	$15,480/yr. ($1,290/mo.)	$15,720/yr. ($1,310/mo.)
The year an individual reaches full retirement age NOTE: Applies only to earnings for months prior to attaining full retirement age. One dollar in benefits will be withheld for every $3 in earnings above the limit. There is no limit on earnings beginning the month an individual attains full retirement age.	$41,400/yr. ($3,450/mo.)	$41,880/yr. ($3,490/mo.)
Social Security Disability Thresholds:	2014	2015
Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA)      Non-Blind      Blind	$1,070/mo. $1,800/mo.	$1,090/mo. $1,820/mo.
Trial Work Period (TWP)	$770/mo.	$   780/mo.
Maximum Social Security Benefit:	2014	2015
Worker Retiring at Full Retirement Age	$2,642/mo.	$2,663/mo.
SSI Federal Payment Standard:	2014	2015
Individual	$721/mo.	$  733/mo.
Couple	$1,082/mo.	$1,100/mo.
SSI Resources Limits:	2014	2015
Individual	$2,000	$2,000
Couple	$3,000	$3,000
SSI Student Exclusion:

Same Sex Marriage Battle Continues At Social Security

     If you thought that the issue of same sex marriage was decided and that Social Security was recognizing the marriages throughout the country you'd be wrong. The Social Security Administration is refusing to accept same sex marriages until states finish all their last ditch efforts to delay the inevitable.

1.7% COLA

     From a Social Security press release:

Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for nearly 64 million Americans will increase 1.7 percent in 2015, the Social Security Administration announced today.

The 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits that more than 58 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2015.  Increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 31, 2014. The Social Security Act ties the annual COLA to the increase in the Consumer Price Index as determined by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

NADE Newsletter

     The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE) has posted its Fall 2014 newsletter. NADE's members adjudicate disability claims for Social Security at the initial and reconsideration levels.

COLA Announcement Due On Wednesday

     The announcement of this year's Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security benefits is due out on Wednesday. It will probably be 1.7%.

Nazis On Social Security

     The Associated Press is reporting that there is a "loophole" that allows people who are suspected of having been Nazi war criminals to collect U.S. Social Security benefits after fleeing the U.S. According to the AP at least 38 suspects are involved. Apparently, these are people who left the U.S. after being threatened with formal expulsion.

     I would not call this a "loophole." There is no provision in the Social Security Act that would deny benefits to these people even if they had been convicted of war crimes unless they were actually in prison. 

     The article is sloppily written or edited. For instance, it keeps using the abbreviation "OSI" without once saying what it means. Apparently, OSI is the Office of Special Investigations at the Department of Justice which seeks out Nazi war criminals living in the U.S. The article talks of "a bitter back-and-forth between the two agencies with each accusing the other of being un-American." However, the article doesn't identify the two agencies. I don't think Social Security was one of those agencies but I can't tell for sure.

     By this point, this is mostly of historical interest. The handful of former Nazis involved who are still alive are at least 90. The evidence against them couldn't have been all that strong at the time they left the U.S. or they would have been prosecuted. By this point virtually all witnesses who could testify against them are dead. If some process was created to strip them of their Social Security benefits, they'd be dead before the process could be completed.

Washington Post's Bleak Take On Social Security Hearings

     The Washington Post has an article on Social Security's huge backlog of disability hearings. Here are a couple of excerpts to give an idea of the article's bleak, despairing tone:

In this case, the [disability hearing] system became, in effect, too big to fix: Reforms were hugely expensive and so logistically complicated that they often stalled, unfinished. What’s left now is an office that costs taxpayers billions and still forces applicants to wait more than a year — often, without a paycheck — before delivering an answer about their benefits. ... 

“I really wonder if what we’re doing is effective at all. If it helps at all,” [Social Security Administrative a Law Judge] Pennock said, after a day of hearing cases and trying to reduce her share of the backlog. “If, based on the amount of evidence we get, my decision is any better than flipping a coin.”

     A reader could only come to the conclusion that not only is the Social Security disability hearing process broken but that it is unfixable. The only solution would be to abolish Social Security hearings and maybe to abolish Social Security disability benefits themselves. It is the right wing view of government as hopeless, something to be largely eliminated since it can't be reformed. 

     Disability determination is a messy business but many worthwhile things in life are messy, including mankind itself. Disability benefits are an essential lifeline for millions. Without hearings Sovial Security disability would lack legitimacy. If the hearings were abolished, they would have to be restarted almost immediately. There would be too many horrible injustices that couldn't be righted.                      
     There is a simple solution for Social Security's hearing backlog -- more resources. That's been done before. We know it works. It was working until tea party Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in 2010. Everything else has been tried without success. 

Don't You Know The Department Of Justice Has To Study This For Another Year Or Two?

     From USA Today:

When the U.S. Supreme Court reopened the door for same-sex marriages in Indiana last week, Ryan Selby and Barry Cox thought their battle for recognition was over. ... 

[W]hen Selby called the Social Security Administration the same day the Supreme Court let stand federal court rulings striking down Indiana's ban on same-sex marriage, he thought they'd be able to honor his request to change his last name to his husband's.Instead, he was met with uncertainty. 

"They said they didn't have any process in place," Selby said.

What I Spend A Lot Of Time Doing

     If you wonder what attorneys who represent Social Security claimants do, let me tell you about one client I recently met with. He's a young man with a congenital health problem. In addition to helping him file a request for reconsideration of his disability denial and telling him how ridiculously long it will take for him to get a hearing after he's denied at recon, I advised him on the help available to him under the Affordable Care Act (not much since NC declined additional Medicaid benefits), advised him on local free or lost cost health care (which will be an enormous help to him), advised him on prescription assistance plans to help with his very high drug costs (which again will be an enormous help to him and his parents) and advised him on filing for Medicaid. I also talked with him about applying for Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefits once one of his parents dies or goes on Social Security, making sure to warn him that he wouldn't be able to get DAC if he's married.
     This client needed more non-Social Security advice than most but an attorney must know all this and a lot more to effectively advise Social Security disability claimants. 

     Most Social Security employees have no idea how much help Social Security claimants need from their lawyers and how much of that help is only indirectly related to Social Security benefits.

     And to lawyers who don't do this sort of counseling because they never meet with their clients until the day of the hearing, real lawyering is a fulfilling career. You ought to try it.

OIG Explains Its Need For Ammo

     Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) tries once again to explain why it needs to buy large quantities of ammunition. I think the issue that OIG is avoiding is whether it is classifying too many of its employees as law enforcement officers. Law enforcement officers get to retire at an earlier age than other employees.

Why Social Security Is Lagging In IT

     From Federal Times:

The “next generation” of the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Program (T4NG) — the Department of Veterans Affairs’ contract to manage its IT [Information Technology] systems — will almost double in scope from the current T4 contract, with the projected value rising from a ceiling of $12 billion to $22.3 billion.

     Has Social Security spent $22.3 billion on managing its IT systems in the last ten years? Twenty years? In its entire history?

"Very Unlike" The Way Things Normally Happen At Social Security?

     From Harry Gross' column in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

DEAR HARRY: Many years ago, my husband had heart failure. He applied for Social Security disability, which took three years to get.... 

About five years ago, Social Security sent us a letter saying that the payments to the children were incorrect and demanded a return of $12,000. We asked for a review of this, and the reviewer then sent us another letter now demanding an additional $8,000 with no explanation as to where it came from.

We paid back the money, but I can't see any reason for any overpayment. I cannot reach that reviewer or anyone else who is willing to explain this to me. Don't we have any recourse?

WHAT HARRY SAYS: This is very unlike the way things are normally checked out at Social Security. Try going to your local Social Security office with all your info. That visit will get you all the data on that refund and quite likely a resolution of the problem.

     No, this is actually normal behavior at Social Security. It's extremely difficult to get an explanation for an alleged overpayment and the amount usually changes if you file an appeal, although my experience is that when you file an appeal the amount goes down more often than it goes up. I've had several cases where an alleged overpayment turned into a large underpayment by the time we got through!
     The easiest way for the widow to have resolved these overpayments, at least for the children, would have been to request waiver. The children certainly weren't at fault and it's unlikely they had the means to pay back the money. Waiver would have been close to automatic for the children. Probably, the widow could also get a waiver.
     Unfortunately, even most attorneys who do Social Security work aren't familiar with overpayment cases. It's hard to hire an attorney for a Social Security overpayment case anyway because there's no way to charge a contingent fee in these cases and the claimants usually can't afford to pay a fee in any other way. It's a shame since there's so much an attorney can do to help a claimant with an overpayment.

Doing As Little As Possible On Same Sex Marriages

     It appears that the Department of Justice is still telling the Social Security Administration to do as little as possible on same sex marriage. The approach is still state by state, waiting for each frivolous appeal to end. This could drag on for months.

Mass Mailing To Some Workers Compensation Recipients

     This is an Administrative Message (AM) sent out recently to Social Security field offices:

Instruction

Identification Number AM-14066 Effective Date: 10/07/2014 Intended Audience: All RCs/ARCs/ADs/FOs/TSCs/PSCs/OCO/OCO-CSTs

Originating Office: DCO OPSOS

Title: Workers' Compensation (WC) or Public Disability Benefits (PDB) Offset Pending Mass Mailings

Type: AM - Admin Messages

 

Program: Disability

Link To Reference: See References at the end of this AM.

 

Retention Date: April 7, 2015

 

A. Purpose

 

This administrative message (AM) advises you of the mass mailing project for the Workers' Compensation Pending Cleanup workload.

B. Background

 

Disability (DIB) beneficiaries are subject to possible offset if they receive WC [Workers Compensation] or PDB [Public Disability Benefits] payments. When SSA [Social Security Administration] adjudicates a disability award and the claimant's WC or PDB claim is still pending, or under appeal, the Modernized Claims System (MCS) posts limited WC or PDB claim data to the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) with an alert "WC Type OFFSET PENDING."

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) discovered that beneficiaries often do not report when their WC or PDB claims are approved and, prior to March 2011, SSA did not have an effective systems control to ensure processing center (PC) technicians follow up and resolve OFFSET PENDING cases. As a result, SSA has a backlog of OFFSET PENDING cases that the PCs must review and resolve.

 

C. Mass mailings to solicit information on pending WC or PDB claims

 

Effective October 2014 through December 2014, the PCs will send mass mailing letters to a group of DIB beneficiaries for whom:

 

We first processed the claims in 2001-2003; and MBR [Master Beneficiary Record] data indicate a WC or PDB claim is still "pending." The letters solicit information about the outcome of the WC or PDB claim. Based on the MBR language indicator, we will print the mass mailing letters in English or in Spanish. When the PCs release the letter, a special message will post to the MBR indicating that the PC sent the letter and includes a reference to this AM.

Example of Special Message Text:

 

" PROGRAM CENTER MASS MAILING DIRECT CONTACT LETTER SENT TO BIC A FOR STATUS OF WC/PDB CLAIM--SEE AM-14066".

 

The letter provides and requests the following information:

 

Reminds the beneficiary that "you told us you filed or intended to file for workers'

compensation or public disability benefit payments or that you were appealing the decision made on your workers' compensation or public disability benefit claim" and "we are writing to update the information;" Asks the beneficiary to answer the questions in the letter by checking each item that applies, to fill in any requested information, to sign and date the letter, and return it in the enclosed envelope; Requests the beneficiary to enclose proof of any workers' compensation or public disability benefit payments received; Includes SSA's 800# (including TTY) for any questions; and Includes a return envelope addressed to:

Social Security Administration

Western Program Service Center

P.O. Box 4213

Richmond, CA 94804-0213

 

NOTE: Although the beneficiary should return the letter to the Richmond CA address, the Richmond office dispatches the returned letters to the PC [Payment Center] of jurisdiction for final action.

See the attached facsimile of the English language mass mailing letter.

 

WCPE FY15 MASS MAILING ATTACHMENT (ENGLISH).doc

 

D. Handling inquiries from beneficiaries

 

The following instructions provide guidance for handling inquiries from beneficiaries regarding the mass mailing letters.

 

1. Field Office (FO) instructions

 

If the beneficiary:

misplaced the return envelope enclosure, ask him or her to send the completed and signed letter to the Richmond CA address shown in section C.; brings proof of WC or PDB payments into the FO instead of mailing it to the PC address, the claims representative should promptly input the information into the Interactive Computation Facility (ICF) system. After update to ICF, fax the proof into NDRED [Non-Disability Repository for Evidentiary Documents]; and states he or she already provided SSA with proof of the WC or PDB claim or appeal status, check eView, NDRED, and PCACS [Processing Center Action Control System] to determine whether SSA has received the documents. Advise the beneficiary if the FO or PC has already input the information or if it is still under review. If the documents are not in eView, NDRED, or PCACS, ask the beneficiary to resubmit the proof to the FO and input the information when receive

2. 800 Number instructions

 

If the beneficiary:

 

misplaced the return envelope enclosure, ask him or her to send the completed and signed letter to the Richmond CA address shown in Section C.; and states he or she already provided SSA with proof of the WC or PDB claim or appeal status, send an MDW to the servicing FO. On the MDW, indicate WC Pending Cleanup workload and that the beneficiary alleges providing SSA with proof of WC or PDB claim. Advise the beneficiary that someone from the FO will contact him or her.

 

Direct all program-related and technical questions to your Regional Office support staff or Processing Center Operations Analysis staff.

RO [Regional Office] support staff may refer questions or problems to their Central Office contacts.

 

Reference:

 

DI 52140.010 Processing Center (PC)

Responsibilities for Processing Workers'

Fee Petition Process Problems

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

Our control testing of 50 fee petition payments that exceeded $6,000 in Fiscal Year 2012 found controls were not always working as intended. Specifically, while we found sufficient support authorizing the fee payments, SSA did not always (1) pay fees in accordance with SSA policies and the petition specifications, (2) maintain required documentation for the fee petition process, or (3) adequately track fee petitions in its management information systems. For example, we identified payment processing errors in 16 (32 percent) of the 50 cases we reviewed. In seven instances, SSA incorrectly issued direct fee payments to former claimant representatives who withdrew or, had been discharged, before the favorable decision.

Risk Of Unauthorized Access To Social Security Computers

     Sometimes, Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) completes a report but doesn't want to release it to the public. In these cases OIG issues a "Limited Distribution" report. All that is available to the public is a brief blurb. Here are some excerpts from one of these recent "Limited Distribution" blurbs:

The National Institute of Standards and Technology recommends that security issues be patched timely to maintain the operational availability, confidentiality, and integrity of information technology systems. ...

SSA [Social Security Administration] did not have a comprehensive server patch management program. Consequently, the Agency did not always address known vulnerabilities timely. Specifically, we found that the Agency did not always : 

• patch Windows servers according to its patch management policies ; 
• have effective policies and procedures to ensure UNIX servers were patched timely; or 
• address software vulnerabilities on the Windows servers. 

Without an effective patch management process in place, systems are at risk of unauthorized access

Report On Federal Employee Unions

     After repeated requests from a Congressman, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has put together a report on federal employee unions. The report shows that as of 2012 Social Security had 50,815 bargaining unit employees. Union leaders get official time to attend to union business. This official time amount to 247,563 hours in 2012 at Social Security, which is the equivalent of 119 full time positions or one for every 427 bargaining unit employees.

New Genitourinary Listing

     The Social Security Administration has posted new final rules in the Federal Register revising its listing of Impairments for genitourinary disorders.

Advisory Council For "McCrery-Pomeroy SSDI Initiative"

     I've already written about my concern that the "McCrery-Pomeroy SSDI Initiative" which is supposedly going to come up with bipartisan solutions for the fact that the Social Security Disability Trust Fund will probably run out of money in the not too distant future, is sponsored by The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), which has a long association with Pete Peterson's crusade against Social Security.
     I've now seen a list of individuals who have agreed to be part of the Advisory Council for this project. Here's the list:

•  Michael Astrue
•  Lawrence Atkins
•  Andrew G. Biggs
•  Barbara Butz
•  Mary C. Daly
•  Marty Ford
•  Steve Goss
•  Ron Haskins
•  Andrew Houtenville
•  Andrew Imparato
•  Neil Jacobson
•  Stanford Ross
•  C. Eugene Steuerle
•  William Taylor
•  Rebecca Vallas

      You can read the biographical blurbs on the Advisory Council members. No person, including members of this group, can be accurately described in the shorthand way that I'm about to, so I won't describe them individually, but I still think it's useful to break these Advisory Council members into several rough groups. You could certainly argue with my groupings. Here's a rough guide to how I think these Council members break down based upon past positions held or views publicly expressed:

• Very favorable to Social Security Disability claimants -- 3
• Moderately favorable to Social Security Disability claimants -- 2
• Neutral or unknown -- 4
• Moderately hostile to Social Security Disability claimants -- 2
• Very hostile to Social Security Disability claimants -- 3
• Mostly interested in Social Security spending as much money as possible on rehabilitation -- 2

     In a sense this is a balanced group. Some of the members of this Advisory Council have actually met Social Security disability claimants. I wish more had. The main thing about this group is that a unanimous recommendation is pretty much out of the question. There's just too big a spread of viewpoints. Bipartisanship in Washington? Get real.
     I hope this group wastes lots of Pete Peterson's money on something that may not matter once it becomes clear that the Disability Trust Fund is going to last at least into 2017. Please, hold public hearings at expensive hotels all over the country. Travel to other countries to see what's happening abroad. Demand huge per diems. Commission lots of expensive studies. Pete Peterson can afford it.
     For those Advisory Council members who care about such things, remember that when I and others talk about Social Security disability claimants who have been denied becoming homeless or committing suicide, we've not making it up. It happens all the time. These are not abstract issues. Real people's lives are affected in horrific ways when Social Security disability claims are denied.
     From where I stand, it would be far better to let the Disability Trust Fund run out of money and have Social Security disability benefits cut by a certain percentage than to agree to something that reduces the number of people granted Social Security disability benefits. Lowered benefits would hurt but SSI puts a floor under the income of disability recipients. Medicare and/or Medicaid wouldn't be cut. Reduced benefits wouldn't last. A change in the definition of disability would be permanent