NCSSMA Newsletter -- TSCs Grow And Change

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, has issued its October 2009 newsletter, Frontline. Here are some excerpts from an article about Social Security Telecommunication Service Centers (TSCs):

In FY [Fiscal Year] 2010 the Agency will begin roll out of a new 800 number phone system called Citizen Access Routing Enterprise or CARE 2020. CARE 2020 will be an internet protocol based program designed for Web Call Back, Click to Talk, Web Chat and Web Collaboration. This will enable us to communicate with people using our internet services. ...

We will probably continue to see changes in the number and size of our TSCs in FY 2010. ... The Pittsburgh TSC has been restructured as a center with eight TSRs [Teleservice Representatives]. By the end of the year they will co-locate with a field office. Many TSCs around the country have greatly expanded. Some offices have grown by four times their size of a year or two ago! There is movement among the regions to create larger TSCs with about 200 TSRs while reducing the actual number of sites.

Big Contract Possible

From a "Sources Sought" notice posted by Social Security:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is conducting Market Research to determine if there are any sources that can provide alternative means by which printed notices can be provided to the public. SSA currently generates the vast majority of its printed notices in IBM's Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) in mixed mode and AFPDS in 12 point font, and a small portion in Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF formats.

SSA is seeking sources capable of converting its notices to Braille and/or Microsoft Word on a Data CD and mailing those notices to recipients within 5 business days (excluding government holidays) of receipt of the notice (files) from SSA. SSA anticipates the notices (files) will be provided daily, Monday through Friday, year round.

Press Release On Benefit Estimator

A Social Security press release:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that the online Retirement Estimator, available at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator, now can provide immediate and personalized benefit estimates to people who have enrolled in Medicare but have not yet filed for Social Security benefits. Previously, these “Medicare only” beneficiaries would need to contact a local office in order to obtain an estimate of their benefits. Currently, about a half-million people file for Medicare each year and delay filing for Social Security benefits.

“Social Security’s Retirement Estimator has been a huge success - with the agency providing over four million personalized retirement estimates to Americans since its launch last year,” Commissioner Astrue said. “With more people delaying retirement beyond the Medicare eligibility age, it is critical that they also have access to this easy-to-use online tool.”

The Retirement Estimator is interactive and allows users to compare different retirement options. For example, a person can change retirement dates or expected future earnings to better determine the impact on their future benefits and decide the best time to retire. The Retirement Estimator presently is the highest-rated government online service in customer satisfaction and, according to the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index, it exceeds the ratings of private sector online innovators like Netflix and Amazon.

"Extended Service Teams" And OIG Starts Telling It Like It Is

Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released a report with the title, Social Security Administration’s Major Management and Performance Challenges. There is not much in it that was news to me except a report that there are now "Extended Service Teams" in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Virginia that exist to help other state Disability Determination Services (DDS) make disability determinations at the intiial and reconsideration levels. I had heard of the team in Arkansas, but not the other states.

I also found this sentence from the report interesting: "SSA has less than 75 percent of the employees it had 25 years ago, despite core workloads increasing by 50 percent and new workloads being added." I do not remember OIG saying anything like this before the election of Barack Obama. When you put it like that, it is obvious why there are serious backlogs all over the place at Social Security. I wonder how aware Michael Astrue was of this reality when he was nominated to be Commissioner of Social Security.

Social Security Subcommittee Schedules Hearing

From a press release:

Congressman John S. Tanner (D-TN), Chairman, Subcommittee on Social Security of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced a hearing on Clearing the Disability Claims Backlogs: The Social Security Administration’s Progress and New Challenges Arising From the Recession. The hearing will take place on Thursday, November 19, 2009 in Room B-318, Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Social Security Subcommittee Calls For GAO Investigation Of Overpayments

From a press release issued by John Tanner, the Chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee:

U. S. Rep. John Tanner, Chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, has asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate reports that the Social Security Administration (SSA) often makes payments to disability insurance beneficiaries long after these payments should have stopped. Congressman Sam Johnson, ranking Republican for the Subcommittee, joined Congressman Tanner in his request. ...

When Social Security disability beneficiaries return to work and earn beyond a certain threshold, SSA is supposed to stop their benefits. But reports from a range of sources – including advocates for disability beneficiaries and the SSA Inspector General – say that SSA often does not stop benefit payments in time. According to recent testimony before the Subcommittee on Social Security, even beneficiaries who properly inform SSA that they are working can receive large overpayments; in one case cited, a beneficiary who had reported his earnings promptly was still overpaid by almost $64,000. ...

In addition, advocates state that beneficiaries are often unaware that they are being paid in error until they receive a large bill from SSA for benefits they are then expected to repay.

Here is a link to the letter to GAO.

I have represented quite a number of clients who notified Social Security that they had gone back to work but who kept receiving checks from Social Security. I would be representing many more of these folks if the lack of back benefits did not force me to to demand my fee upfront to go into escrow. I wish more attorneys were willing to handle overpayment cases. Most are unwilling to fool with having to petition for approval of a fee. (By the way, Social Security could simplify this for everyone by setting a flat maximum fee for all overpayment cases. There is clear statutory authority for doing so.)

Veterans Day

ALJ Register Already Closed

The opportunity to apply to become an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has already closed. The announcement said that they would only take applications until midnight of the day upon which they received the 900th application. The announcement that the register was open came Monday at about 4:00 p.m. EST. They closed the register at 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday.

Good luck to all who applied. To those who thought they would do their applications on Veteran's Day, all I can say is that I am sorry but you were warned here that the register might not stay open that long.