No COLA This Year

From the Associated Press:

Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise.

The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. ...

More than 32 million people are in the Medicare prescription drug program. Average monthly premiums are set to go from $28 this year to $30 next year, though they vary by plan. About 6 million people in the program have premiums deducted from their monthly Social Security payments, according to the Social Security Administration.

Millions of people with Medicare Part B coverage for doctors' visits also have their premiums deducted from Social Security payments. Part B premiums are expected to rise as well. But under the law, the increase cannot be larger than the increase in Social Security benefits for most recipients.

There is no such hold-harmless provision for drug premiums.

[Barbara] Kennelly's group [the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare] wants Congress to increase Social Security benefits next year, even though the formula doesn't call for it. She would like to see either a 1 percent increase in monthly payments or a one-time payment of $150. ...

"Seniors may perceive that they are being hurt because there is no COLA, but they are in fact not getting hurt," said Andrew G. Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. "Congress has to be able to tell people they are not getting everything they want."

A New Term -- Mega Disability Agencies

From the Texarcana Gazette:

A $9 million boost in federal funding will result in 150 new permanent jobs for an Arkansas state agency to process other states’ Social Security disability claims.

A legislative panel on Friday approved receiving the funds for the state Disability Determination for Social Security Administration.

“It’s manna from heaven,” said Sen. Steve Bryeles, D-Blytheville, before the request was granted without dissent.

Agency director Arthur Boutiette said Arkansas is one of five states to be designated as “Mega Disability Agencies” to handle other states’ claims.

“In the negotiations the last month or so, we told the federal government that we had some requirements of them,” Boutiette told lawmakers Friday. “This morning they did meet those requirements. These are new jobs for Arkansas, permanent jobs.” ...

The minimum salaries for the jobs will range from about $26,500 to more than $117,000. Typical starting salaries will be about $29,000. Boutiette said those will increase to $32,000 with satisfactory performance.

The agency currently has 281 employees.

Boutiette said the Social Security Administration asked Arkansas for help because nationwide, it is behind in processing about 750,000 claims.

“We’ve been No. 1 in the country the last four years in a row in quality,” Boutiette said. “We have one of the cheapest costs per case.”

Good thinking by Social Security and the state of Arkansas -- profiting from the foolishness of other states which have pointlessly furloughed disability determination employees during state budget crises even though the furloughs do nothing to help state budgets.

Probably Depends On How You Phrase The Question

From rasmussenreports.com:

Forty-nine percent (49%) of U.S. voters say working Americans should be allowed to opt out of Social Security and provide for their own retirement planning.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% disagree and do not believe Americans should be able to opt out of Social Security. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure.

A majority of voters under 50 say workers should be allowed to opt out. A plurality of those over 50 disagree.

Finding A Loophole

From Social Security Emergency Message 09-050:

The Social Security Protection Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-203) amended the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provisions to require that State and local government employees be covered by Social Security throughout their last 60 months of employment to be exempt from GPO. Prior to July 1, 2004, GPO did not apply if an individual’s last day of employment was in a position that was covered by both Social Security (under a Section 218 agreement) and a State or local government pension system.

The Educational Resource Center, Inc. (also known as John Wood Charter School or JWCS), located in San Antonio TX, hired 633 individuals to work for one day in order to meet the “last day” GPO exemption. SSA determined that work at JWCS did not qualify for Social Security coverage because JWCS had not entered into an approved 218 agreement between the State of Texas and SSA. Therefore, individuals who applied for their spouse’s or widow’s benefit after completing their “last day” at JWCS had GPO applied to their records.

The Attorney General of Texas was consulted and determined that an open-enrollment charter school, such as JWCS, is a governmental entity under Texas law. Since the Attorney General of Texas has rendered this decision, the State of Texas has taken the necessary steps to include JWCS in a Section 218 agreement that allows the entity to be covered by Social Security.

As an attorney, I have some appreciation for loopholes, but the involvement of the state of Texas in creating this loophole seems questionable to me.

I Understand The Target Practice But That's Still A Lot Of Ammo -- And Why Does OIG Need Shotguns?

From a contracting notice posted by Social Security on FedBizOpps:

Social Security Administration seeks to purchase ammunition for 39 Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General’s locations. ...

Item: 357 sig bonded 125 grain jacketed hollow point pistol ammunition for law enforcement

Quantity: 209,000 rounds ...

Item: 12 gauge 00 9 pellet buckshot 2 ¾” for law enforcement (250 rounds per case)

Quantity: 25 cases ...

Item: 12 gauge rifled slug 2 ¾” low recoil for law enforcement (250 rounds per case)

Quantity: 31 cases

New Building At Reisterstown To Replace Metro West

From the Baltimore Sun:

Nearly 30 years after the Social Security Administration opened its $92 million Metro West complex on Baltimore's west side, federal officials are planning to move 1,600 employees from there to an office building to be constructed near the Reisterstown Plaza Metro station in Northwest Baltimore.

The GSA is seeking a private developer to construct a 538,000-square-foot office building and 1,076-space garage and lease it to the Social Security Administration.

According to state and federal officials, the building is needed by 2012 to accommodate 1,600 SSA employees who work in "functionally obsolete" space at the Metro West complex at 300 N. Greene St. About 400 more Metro West employees will be relocated to the Social Security Administration headquarters complex in Woodlawn, leaving none at Metro West.

The Reisterstown Plaza project will be one of the largest and most expensive federal office buildings to rise in Baltimore in years. The GSA has not disclosed a construction price, but using an industry standard of $200 per square foot, it would cost more than $100 million to build. It is expected to result in the creation of hundreds of construction jobs and to bring federal employees to a section of Baltimore that has been hard hit by the recession.

"This is not a stimulus project, but it will do exactly what stimulus money is meant to do," said City Councilwoman Rochelle "Rikki" Spector, whose district includes 6100 Wabash Ave. "It is really an economic generator for the next 40 years." ...

According to public officials, the 15-story tower and two five-story wings no longer meet the needs of the Social Security Administration for a variety of reasons, including technological inadequacy and the security risk posed by a sky bridge over a major highway. According to Gilliam, the GSA's goal is to "dispose of" the Metro West facility after the SSA moves out. One potential user is the University of Maryland, whose Baltimore campus is several blocks to the south.

What do those of you who work at Metro West think?

Social Security Number Issues

The Associated Press is reporting on an odd Social Security number problem. The Federated States of Micronesia is an independent nation. It has its own Social Security system and assigns its own Social Security numbers to Micronesians. The Micronesian Social Security numbers have only eight digits while U.S. Social Security numbers have nine digits. The United States has a treaty with Micronesia which gives the U.S. certain defense rights but gives Micronesia certain rights, such as receiving loans and grants from the U.S. after disasters. U.S. federal agencies collect Social Security numbers from loan recipients. When working in Micronesia they collected the Micronesian Social Security numbers. Some computer programs automatically assigned a "0" an the end of the Micronesian Social Security number to make it nine digits. Some of the Micronesians defaulted on their loans and then U.S. federal agencies started using debt collectors who tried to use the Micronesian Social Security numbers as if it were U.S. Social Security numbers. The debt collectors started trying to collect the debt from the U.S. citizen whose Social Security number was the same as the Micronesian Social Security number with a "0" added to the end. Credit reporting agencies were also notified. Apparently, there are 200 or so of these cases already. The problem has been around for years and no one seems to be doing anything about it.

Social Networking At Social Security?

I am curious about Social Security's policies on social networking sites. Are agency employees blocked from accessing sites such as Facebook and Twitter through agency computers? What websites, if any, are blocked on Social Security's network?

I realize that severe workload pressures at Social Security have to hold down the usage of these sites anyway, but there is still lunchtime and breaktime.