The Future?

From the Huron Daily Tribune of Michigan:

BAD AXE — The Social Security Administration’s real-time video conference system is set to officially go online next week. ...

It’s been about nine months since the SSA has had a representative available in Bad Axe to meet with local residents. ...

The county entered into an agreement letting SSA set up a real-time video conference system that will be available at the county building.

Social Security claimants will approach a screen featuring a SSA representative who will immediately help them with their business.

FPS To The Rescue

     According to one blogger, the Federal Protective Service (FPS) sent something like a SWAT team, with a semiautomatic weapon and a bomb sniffing dog, to the Leesburg, VA Social Security field office this past week with no advance warning and for no reason other than training.

Is This How You Attract Republican Voters?

From the Huffington Post:

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum called Friday for immediate cuts to Social Security benefits ...

"We can't wait 10 years," even though "everybody wants to," Santorum told a crowd while campaigning in New Hampshire and looking to set himself apart from his Republican rivals four days before the New Hampshire primary. ...

He argued that he is being courageous and honest by telling Americans they can't afford to wait to rein in Social Security's growing costs.

What Explains Variation In Disability Application Rates Across States

From What Explains Variation In Disability Application Rates Across States, a report by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (see below for an illustration from the report):

This brief has examined why SSDI [Social Security Disability Insurance] application rates vary so much between states. Not surprisingly, health, demographic, and employment characteristics are the major determinants of this state variation, explaining over 70 percent of the variation in total SSDI application rates. In addition, having state-mandated private TDI [Temporary Disability Insurance] is associated with lower application rates, and the governor’s political party [slightly fewer claims in states with Republican governors] is also correlated with the application rate. In short, the health, demographic, and employment characteristics of a state – not state policies or politics – explain most of the variation across states.

Updated Fee Payment Stats

Social Security has released the following final numbers for 2011 on payments of fees to attorneys and others who represent Social Security claimants:

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-11	34,467	$113,459,847.04
Feb-11	33,305	$107,796,771.38
Mar-11	34,885	$112,463,768.46
Apr-11	48,033	$153,893,755.37
May-11	36,479	$115,159012.77
June-11	33,568	$104,782,743.07
July-11	40,451	$123,981,011.36
Aug-11	35,575	$109,778,785.74
Sept-11	36,159	$109,990,042.36
Oct-11	27,269	$79,526,149.33
Nov-11	32,677	$100,272,851.46
Dec-11	38,447	$116,455,779.92

Not Out Of The Woods

     From Scott Hochberg writing in Huffington Post:

For Social Security’s advocates, this past year has been all about defense. Fortunately, the defense outplayed the offense. Those of us playing defense were backed by the overwhelming majority of the American people who across both party line and virtually every demographic are clear that they do not want to see Social Security benefits weakened by benefit cuts. ...

The journey has not been easy thus far, and the path ahead will be just as formidable. Despite the successes all year in preventing cuts to Social Security, as long as there are many in Congress intent on cutting the program, it will not be out of the woods.

2012 will be a crucial year for Social Security.The extension of the two percentage point cut in employee payroll tax contributions, is moving the program’s financing into unchartered waters.

The GOP presidential candidates are even more radical than Congress has been, with all the major candidates supporting partially privatizing Social Security and at least four calling for the retirement age to be raised (Bachmann, Perry, Romney, Santorum). Remarkably, four are also on record for calling Social Security a “fraud” or “Ponzi scheme” (Bachmann, Gingrich, Perry, Romney).

      Hochberg did not write about the attacks on Social Security disability benefits. Social Security's enemies realize that they are a long way from serious reductions in retirement benefits but believe that they can use the upcoming temporary disability trust fund problem as a pretext for gutting disability benefits. That is the biggest immediate threat to Social Security.

Separating Payment To The Attorney From Payment To The Claimant

     Quite a few years ago Social Security would authorize payment of back benefits to a claimant at one time and then later come back and authorize payment of the attorney fee. (This is so long ago there were no fees being paid to non-attorney representatives at the time.) This was felt to be necessary because the claimant had the right to object under the fee agreement process to the fee. 

     Eventually, Social Security decided this was both inefficient and unnecessary since claimant objections to attorney fees were so rare.

    It's happening again. The authorization of the back benefits to the claimant is being done at one time and the authorization of the attorney fee is coming later. I cannot say how widespread this is but I am starting to see this in most cases.

    This is inefficient. It seems particularly objectionable to me since I am paying a user fee for this service. I cannot understand why this is happening even under the extreme pressures that Social Security's payment centers are facing. It seems so inefficient. Why is this happening?

The Truth

     "We can no longer do more with less. We will do less with less ..." 
     --Carolyn Colvin, Social Security's Deputy Commissioner, speaking to the National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA)