Benefit Cards Coming

From American Banker, although I do not have a link to the article:

The Treasury Department wants to convert millions of Social Security benefit payments currently made by checks into prepaid debit cards.The department's Financial Management Service began soliciting bids Sept. 4 from banks to administer the prepaid card program, which would begin in January and take no more than six months to roll out nationwide. ...

The cards would act like a typical debit card with PIN and signature capacities. They would carry a Visa or MasterCard logo on the front and the bank's logo likely on the back. The payments would occur automatically each month, and recipients could access their funds through automated teller machines and point of sale terminals.

The recipients would decide for themselves whether to shift their payments from checks to cards. "Since we're just introducing this product we don't want to make it mandatory right away," she said. "We don't necessarily want people to use a card if they don't want a bank account." ...

$120.4 Million In Underpayments To SSI Claimants

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

The majority of SSI underpayments occur because of changes in recipients' non-medical eligibility factors such as income (earned or unearned) or living arrangements. As changes in these factors occur, recipients' SSI eligibility and payment amounts can change from month-to-month. An underpayment occurs when the amount due to a recipient is greater than the amount paid to a recipient during a period of eligibility. ...

When a claimant files for SSI, a supplemental security income record (SSR) is created. The SSR typically remains open as long as the claimant is in current pay status and for up to 12 months when in nonpayment status. SSA terminates SSRs for a variety of reasons such as after the recipient has been ineligible to receive payments for over 12 months or when changes in the recipient's eligibility factors require a new SSR to be established. These terminated SSRs are considered current until a new SSR is established. Once a new SSR is established, the terminated SSR is considered a prior SSR. ...

We reviewed a random sample of 250 SSRs that contained underpayments between $250 and $24,999. In addition, we reviewed a random sample of 33 SSRs with underpayments $25,000 and greater. ...

We found SSA's internal control of relying on FO staff to manually identify and resolve SSI underpayments on prior SSRs is not adequate. The control is not adequate because FO staff did not always perform the necessary actions to identify and resolve the underpayments. Specifically, for our population of 90,497 prior SSRs that contained underpayments between $250 and $24,999 totaling $120.4 million, we project:

79.3 percent of prior SSRs have underpayments totaling $92.3 million that should have been paid to recipients or offset to existing overpayments, and

23.1 percent of prior SSRs have underpayments totaling $27.9 million that are not due to the recipients and need to be removed from the prior SSRs to avoid improper payments or improper offsets to recipients' overpayments.

Fraud Alleged In Pennsylvania

From the Associated Press:

Authorities say a Berks County [PA] man illegally received nearly $40,000 in Social Security disability payments since 2001.

Berks County detectives and Social Security Administration investigators have accused 46-year-old Heriberto Pagan, of Reading, of working at five different companies and three temporary employment agencies during that time, using stolen identities for which he obtained papers including state ID cards and a Social Security card.

Bill Introduced On Five Month Waiting Period

Thanks to My Disability Blog for alerting me to this article in Ohio.com:

Even though Arthur Woolweaver Jr. contributed to Social Security his whole life, when he became terminally ill with metastatic lung cancer, he was unable to receive any disability benefits.

Three months after the death of the Cuyahoga Falls man, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, has introduced a bill named for Woolweaver that aims to solve the problem encountered by the 58-year-old in his final months.

The Arthur Woolweaver Jr. Social Security Improvements For the Terminally Ill Act would waive the five-month waiting period in the Social Security Disability program (SSD) [for those who are terminally ill], Brown said.

"Social Security" Sues, But Who Is Social Security?

Can someone explain this one to me? From the Alice Echo-News Journal:

The Alice Social Security Administration has filed a lawsuit against the Jim Wells County [Texas] Appraisal District, alleging the district set unreasonably high property valuations for the administration’s Alice facility. The lawsuit, which was made public Tuesday, was filed by the Alice Social Security Administration, L.L.C and Ronel, L.L.C., a Delaware company against the appraisal district. ... "The fair market value of the plaintiff’s property, as described above on Jan. 1, 2006 is $600,000," the lawsuit states. "The fair market value of the plaintiff’s property as described above on Jan. 1, 2007 was $620,000. The levying of a tax on plaintiff’s property based on a higher valuation is an unlawful levy, creates an illegal lien on plaintiff’s property, and is a cloud on plaintiff’s title to the property." The SSA and Ronel seek through the lawsuit that the court assess the value of the property at $600,000 for the 2006 calendar year and $620,000 for the 2007 calendar year, and that the district be required to pay all attorneys fees incurred while filing the suit. The SSA and Ronel are represented by attorney Christopher Smitherman of Bryan, Texas.

Is this a private company named the Alice Social Security Administration, L.L.C.? If so, I think the Social Security Administration that is a federal agency might have something to say about the use of that name.

New Psychiatric Listings In The Works

Shrinkrap on the Social Security Perspectives blog associated with this blog is reporting that the Social Security Administration is hard at work on new psychiatric Listings. Shrinkrap should know since he is part of the group working on the new Listings. Any hints you can give us, Shrinkrap?

By the way, Social Security Perspectives is supposed to be a group blog, but so far it is a group of one. Use the feedback button on the right to let me know if you want to join.

Witness List For Senate Finance Committee Hearing

For the Senate Finance Committee Hearing on September 20 on "Frozen Out: A Review of Bank Treatment of Social Security Benefits":

Waverly Taliaferro, Social Security beneficiary, New York, NY

Sara Kelsey, General Counsel, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Washington, DC

Montrice Goddard Yakimov, Managing Director of Compliance and Consumer Protection, Office of Thrift Supervision, Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC

Julie L. Williams, First Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Counsel, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC

Margot Saunders, Counsel, National Consumer Law Center, Washington, DC

Social Security Treaty With Czech Republic

The Prague Post reports that the United States and the Czech Republic have signed a Social Security treaty. The treaty does not come into effect until ratified by both countries.