Telephone Answering Problems At Social Security

Some excerpts from a report of a recent conference call between Social Security officials and the National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, on answering the telephones at Social Security:

From FY 05 to FY 06 there were 1 1/2 million more calls coming in to the agents[at Social Security teleservice centers that answer Social Security's 800 number calls]. ...

Rick [Warsinskey, president of NCSSMA] reported how FO [Field Office] managers report that many calls go unanswered in the FOs. The most recent report states FO’s got 67.8 million business related calls in FY 2005. He asked if there was any possibility of getting more FO calls routed to the 800# either by Forward on Busy (FOB) or publishing the phone number in the phone book. Do the TSCs [teleservice centers] have the capacity for handling these additional calls?

OTS [Office of Telephone Services?] responded that the TSCs are beyond capacity. The targets are at 330 seconds to answer a call. The target busy rate is 10%. If we sent more calls to the TSC we could seriously degrade the service we are giving now. There is no capacity for that work in the TSC nor is there any capacity to handle it in the FO. The TSC targets are way higher than the private sector. One difference is that SSA will busy you out. Private sector will not busy you out.

Companies in the private sector have goals like: answer 80% of the calls within 20 seconds. They are competition and profit driven and that adds to their drive. SSA is no where near that. Even our 10% and 330 second targets are hard to meet. Since the beginning of FY 07, we haven’t met our target more than 20 days.

Stink Bomb At Gulfport Social Security Office

According to the South Mississippi Sun Herald, the Gulfport, MS Social Security District Office had to be evacuated yesterday because a stink bomb that created an sulfur like smell had been set off.

Draft US-Mexico Totalization Agreement Released

Back in 2004 the heads of the U.S. and Mexican Social Security agencies signed a Social Security totalization agreement. The agreement is not effective until ratified in both countries. The agreement has proven controversial in the U.S. and has never been signed by the President or submitted to Congress. The controversy in the U.S. has been more than a little peculiar since the agreement had not been released to the public. No one knew for sure what was in the agreement.

The TREA Senior Citizens League sued under the Freedom of Information Act to get the agreement released. After three and a half years of litigation, the U.S. government finally relented and the U.S.-Mexico Totalization agreement was released, apparently just before or after Christmas. One has to wonder if the timing of the release was designed to lower public attention to the agreement, but then one also has to wonder why there was any hesitancy about releasing a copy of the agreement.

The agreement appears to be similar to totalization agreements signed with other countries, which have been routinely ratified by the Senate. The controversy over this agreement has little to do with the actual agreement and much to do with the number of Mexican immigrant in the U.S. and public attitudes towards these immigrants.

NY Times On Social Security Reform

From a New York Times editorial on Social Security reform:

Everyone who followed the debate about privatizing Social Security back in 2005 has vivid memories of the Chilean model. Sometimes it seemed impossible to get through any discussion of fixing Social Security without hearing a free-market paean to the way Chile had given its workers control over their own retirement investments, followed by a demand that the United States get on the same boat.

Therefore, it seems worthwhile to note that the Chileans are now bailing water.

The Chilean government recently announced that in 2007 it plans to pursue far-reaching reforms aimed at creating a larger government role in Chileans’ old-age security. The reforms are urgently needed. It has been nearly a generation since the regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet began to supplant Chile’s government-supported retirement system with a plan for Chilean workers to save 10 percent of their salaries in private accounts. Today, roughly half of Chile’s labor force has either not participated or has not accumulated enough to generate what the government considers a minimum payout of about $140 a month.

The overarching problem for Chile — and the real lesson for the United States — is that private savings are not a substitute for a guaranteed core tier of old-age support. The first measure of success of a retirement system is not how much certain individuals manage to sock away, but whether the system as a whole provides basic dignity for all. By that measure, Chile’s privatized system has failed and Social Security has succeeded.

Social Security does need some changes to protect it over the long term. The best solution would involve a combination of modest benefit cuts and modest tax increases, which could be phased in gradually over decades and could guarantee a government benefit that replaces about 30 percent of preretirement income on average, compared with a replacement rate of about 35 percent today.

Getting there would require sacrifices from both political parties. Republicans would have to give up on their privatization efforts. And the Democrats would have to control their knee-jerk tendency to preface any discussion of Social Security with a pledge never to cut anyone’s future retirement benefits. President Bush will also have to go further if there is to be any chance of progress while he is still in office. Tax increases must be a part of any plausible Social Security reform mix. Unfortunately, the president appears unalterably opposed even to something as overdue as raising the cap on earnings that are subject to Social Security tax.

Upcoming Meetings and CLE

• February 2, 2007, State Bar of Michigan Social Security Section Meeting, Lansing, MI
• February 13, 2007, Social Security Advisory Board Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  

• March 1-3, 2007, NADE Mid-Year Board Meeting, Washington, DC
  
• March 9, 2007 Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers CLE, Columbus, OH
• March 25-28, 2007, NADR Conference, Albuquerque, NM
  
• April 18-20 2007, NADE Regional Training Conference, Albuquerque, NM
  
• April 18-21 2007, NOSSCR CLE, Baltimore, MD
• April 27, 2007, Cincinnati Bar Association Social Security Committee CLE, Cincinnati, OH
  
• May 2-4, 2007, NADE Regional Training Conference, Seattle, WA
  
• May 7-10 2007, NADE Regional Training Conference, Atlanta, GA
• May 18, 2007, State Bar of Michigan Social Security Section Meeting, Lansing, MI
  
• May 20-23, 2007, National Association of Disability Examiners Meeting, Stowe, VE
• September 15-20, 2007, NADE National Conference, Sioux Falls, SD
  
• October 17-20, 2007, NOSSCR CLE, St. Louis, MO
• April 8-11, 2008 NADE Regional Conference, Austin, TX
• June 4-7, 2008 NOSSCR CLE, Miami, FL
• October 15-18, 2008 NOSSCR CLE, Century City, CA

If you know of one that I have missed, please e-mail me at charles[at]charleshallfirm.com.

Happy New Year!

Does This Make Sense?

See the notice below, recently posted by Social Security. Perhaps there is some good explanation, but it is hard to understand why this contractor is moving so slowly on something that does not sound all that complicated -- or why they even need to have "a conference of expert consultants" at a time when Social Security is so short of money that it may furlough staff. And who are these "expert consultants?" Indeed, why did Social Security need a contractor for this to begin with? If the whole idea is to change to something simple, would it not be simple to set up a test? Why does Social Security's Inspector General spend a lot of time chasing down penny ante claimant fraud while ignoring wasteful expenditures for contractors?

The Social Security Administration (SSA) intends to modify its contract with Abt Associates, Inc. (contract #SS00-04-60110), $1 for $2 Benefit Offset Demonstration in accordance with FAR 6.302-1, to include the contractor?s work to facilitate a conference of expert consultants from the Four State Benefit Offset Pilot programs that will serve to complement pre-implementation tasks under the contract. BACKGROUND: On September 30, 2004 SSA awarded a 2-year contract to Abt Associates for design of a multi-site, demonstration project that tests alternate methods of treating work activity in the Title II disability program. After the design is completed, subsequent phases of this demonstration will be awarded to the same contractor on a sole source basis for the implementation, data collection and evaluation and management of the project, conditional upon successful performance of the design phase. REQUIREMENTS: Abt will be responsible for arranging all necessary activities related to planning and facilitating the aforementioned conference. Interested sources that believe they have the capability to perform the services required should submit a capability statement to Daniel Walker via email at daniel.walker@ssa.gov. Responses shall be marked CONF - CAPABILITY STATEMENT, and shall be received no later than January 12, 2007, 2:30PM EST. All responsible sources will be considered. If no responses are received by the cutoff date, a modification will be effected against the Abt contract referenced above. All questions must be submitted in writing to Daniel Walker via the email address listed above. Telephone calls will NOT be accepted.

Retirement Of Social Security Employee Illustrates Social Security's Problems

This short and seemingly unimportant article from The Express-Times, a Pennsylvania newspaper, contains themes which reflect widespread problems at Social Security. A long time Social Security employee who is well regarded by those with whom he has dealt is retiring. Social Security has many long time employees nearing retirement. This is because the number of Social Security employees has declined dramatically over the last 25 years or so, which means that relatively few new employees have been hired at Social Security over the last 25 years. As these long term employees retire, the agency is rapidly becoming less experienced. This retiring employee is not being replaced, which is indicative of Social Security's terrible budget problems. The retiring employee is concerned that Social Security is rapidly phasing out face to face service in favor of toll free number service, which he knows is much less satisfactory.

EASTON | Ray J. Little had job offers from two federal agencies after passing the civil service examination.

He initially planned to work for the Internal Revenue Service, but a friend steered him to his second choice -- Social Security.

At the IRS, the friend told Little, his job involved trying to collect money from people.

"That's no fun," the friend told Little. "With Social Security, you have people coming in, and you're trying to give them money, and it's a lot easier."

So Little took a position with the Social Security Administration -- in 1960.

The Palmer Township resident will retire today after 46 years. He spent much of that time working out of Easton, acting as the unofficial face in this area of the agency that is charged with disbursing benefits to millions of Americans, including thousands in Northampton, Warren and Hunterdon counties.

Little's job -- public affairs representative or field specialist -- included duties such as speaking before area groups and generally getting the word out about Social Security programs.

Grateful representatives of area agencies say Little went beyond the call of duty.

"We share many clients, so he's been helpful," said Elsie Luciano, executive director of Easton Area Neighborhood Centers Inc.

"He did so much and helped so many people that we know of in our chamber," added Bill Brackbill, former president of the Nazareth Area Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber recognized Little in May 2005 when the agency opened its Downtown Easton office at 134 S. Fourth St.

Little's job essentially will be eliminated, according to John J. McCann, the Easton office's district manager, who hopes to provide fill-in speakers either through his office or through regional public affairs officials.

The retiring Little believes face-to-face contact helps beneficiaries, but it's something he said Social Security is doing less of in recent years, with the agency providing a toll-free telephone number and Internet access.

Little said he has helped some people receive benefits earlier than they realized. Some widows still send him Christmas cards every year, he said, after they learned from him years earlier about being able to apply for benefits sooner than they had thought.

"You can't file for Social Security until you're 62," said Little, repeating an oft-cited government phrase. "But a widow can file as early as age 60."

"He does a tremendous job developing relationships with people," said Brackbill of Little. "You call Ray and you might get his answering machine, but you get an answer back He's always quick to respond."

For now, Little said he has no definite retirement plans. He intends to take a few months to relax then explore possible part-time offers from area agencies to become a resource for Social Security.

He'll also be able to fine tune his monthly benefit check, though Little added a surprising twist: Part of the reason he took retirement now is that he would lose money by working full-time.

It's in part because of cuts approved by the government in recent years involving government workers who held other positions for which they could collect Social Security, and to help ensure Social Security's solvency.

"Really, I'm going to miss it, because I enjoy it," said Little, who participated in some lighthearted banter with McCann while the two looked at old photographs and articles about Little's early career.

"I enjoy dealing with people. That's why of all the jobs I've had the best job as far as I'm concerned is the job I have now."

McCann, who has been Little's boss since 1999, said Little worked hard at chasing down fraud referrals and deciphering the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, which has been in effect more than one year.

"He also brought a lot of humor in the office," added McCann.

The impeccably dressed Little, who on this day sported a Social Security button on his jacket lapel, indeed was always quick with a quip.

"You wouldn't dare put my age in," he said when the question arose. "Just put down there good looking, intelligent and humble."