Why Service At Social Security Has Gone To Hell

Service has gone to hell at Social Security since the Bush Administration took office. Why? It is all a matter of budget priorities.

Social Security's operating budget for the 2001 fiscal year (FY) was $7, 223 million. That was the operating budget for the year in which the Bush Administration took office. For the current FY Social Security's operating budget is $9,864 million, which is a 36.6% increase. Of course, you have to allow for inflation. Between October 2000 and July 2008 the inflation rate was 26.4%. This means that there was a net gain in Social Security's operating budget during the Bush Administration after inflation of about 10.2%.

As of September 2000, the closest date to when the Bush Administration took office for which I can find figures, Social Security had 64,521 employees. As of March 2008, the most recent date for which figures are available, Social Security had 60,465 employees, a 6.3% decrease.

After inflation Social Security's operating budget increased by 10.2% over about eight years, while the number of employees decreased by 6.3% over about the same time period.

The extra money appropriated to Social Security plus the money saved by not replacing employees must have gone to contractors. If that money had not gone to contractors I can make a rough guess that the Social Security Administration would now have about 10,000 to 15,000 more employees than it has and I can say with certainty that Social Security would be giving much better service to the public.

It is all a matter of priorities.

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White House Rates Social Security Administration

You have to consider who is doing the rating, but the White House rates the Social Security Administration pretty highly on its "Executive Branch Management Scorecard."

Video Service Delivery

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management employees, included an article about video service delivery in its July 2008 newsletter. Here is more detail on video service delivery from the minutes of the August 7 teleconference meeting of the NCSSMA's Executive Committee:

Video service delivery [VSD], a new way of conducting SSA business, is being piloted in Wyoming. The public can conduct business with SSA at their local libraries. Equipment provided by two different vendors is being utilized. The public can file applications or conduct SR [Service Representative] type actions via VSD.

The first month of the pilot, 250 people utilized the SR VSD window, and 80% of claims that were scheduled were filed compared to the higher no show rate at a field office. One of the service options is to have a private reading room, which affords even greater privacy than in the FO [Field Office]. A future enhancement could allow documents viewed through the camera to be considered similar to viewing in person. Some of these VSD centers are within close proximity to actual FOs so that if the process fails, the public can still conduct business at the actual FO.

The Division of International Operations (DIO) is considering a VSD pilot in London, which can be set up for a fraction of the cost in foreign embassies. VSD is pretty much behind SSA firewalls so it is more secure and information is encrypted. It currently appears that there is no possibility of PII being compromised. VSD with DSL connections is good enough to see markings on drivers' licenses.

... The pilot is deemed an outstanding success. The Regional Commissioners all seemed to like it, and there is talk in the regions about which states will pilot VSD. It has also been very successful on Native American Reservations. The agency sees the value of VSD as being another form of face- to- face service and an alternative to internet usage. ...

I have written before about the problems that Social Security has with international claims. This would be an enormous improvement over the messy situation now, with untrained or poorly trained State Department employees taking claims. I am sure this will help improve service in sparsely populated areas of the United States as well. Unfortunately, it could also be used to justification for shutting down Social Security's field offices, which would be a terrible idea.

GAO Report On Withholding Of Medicare Premiums

I had missed it, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on July 15, 2008 on the withholding of Medicare premiums from Social Security checks. The report indicates that despite work, problems remain.

Debit Cards For Claimants Without Bank Accounts

Social Security is now going national with the program to allow claimants without bank accounts to receive their benefits by direct deposit to an account they can access through a debit card. Comerica Bank is managing the program. To sign up for this, a claimant is supposed to call Comerica, a detail which I find mildly jarring.

AALJ Press Release On "Laptop Law"

From a press release issued by the National Executive Board of the Association of Administrative Law Judges (AALJ), a labor union that represents many of Social Security's Administrative Law Judges (ALJs):

Currently the nation´s Social Security disability insurance program is struggling under a severe case backlog. In some parts of the country, claimants can wait more than two years for a hearing. According to the Government Accountability Office the backlog results primarily from increased applications, staffing shortages and management weaknesses.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has tried a number of fixes to speed the process including video hearings. In recent years, these hearings have been conducted in special chambers located in government buildings where federal administrative law judges control the camera and where claimants can discuss the most intimate details of their lives and disability, without worrying others will hear. ...

Now, SSA´s management has begun testing a new and until now unpublicized form of video hearing where judges are not in control of the camera, where hearings originate from the offices of private disability lawyers and where no federal employee is present to monitor the hearing and oversee operation of the camera or protect the privacy of claimants.

Judges would like to see steps taken to reduce the backlog and more quickly settle claims, however the use of video hearings originating from claimants´ lawyers laptops is not the solution. Claimants who have paid into the Social Security system throughout their working lives have a right to a fair hearing before a judge in a dignified setting. The new "laptop law" video forum has no provision for the judge to position or move the camera during the hearing. It deprives the judge of control of the hearing process and creates too many opportunities to game the system. It is not hard to imagine a claimant testifying from his lawyer´s office reading testimony from a teleprompter or being coached by another lawyer in the background.

Don't Tell Anyone! It's A Secret!

Bender's Immigration Bulletin has obtained a Program Operations Manual Series (POMS) issuance on Social Security's implementation of the Ensign Amendment, concerning the crediting of earnings when a person was working under a false Social Security number with intent to deceive. The issuance is marked "Sensitive -- Not To Be Shared With The Public."

This POMS issuance is small potatoes. The larger issue is the preposterous secretiveness. What is truly "sensitive" about this? This is the public's business that Social Security is transacting. Those of us who do business with the agency deserve to know the policies the agency is applying. Trying to keep this sort of thing secret indicates an improper desire to avoid public scrutiny. I am appalled.