Green Card Woes

From CBS News - Dallas Forth Worth:

Thumbing through old photos Tuesday, Henry Kamnick  often stopped to point out some of his favorite ones with his family.

The Azle father says he’s built a lifetime of memories in North Texas. His family moved to the area from Germany when he was 12-years-old. ...

The 65-year-old has even served his country. He was in the Army and stationed at Fort Hood, but now he says his country is not helping him. ...

Kamnick was approved for social security benefits, but he can’t access the money. He says the Social Security Administration told him he needs to prove permanent residency in the country.

Kamnick says he lost his green card and has been told it could take up to a year to get another one. He admits he should have gotten his citizenship decades ago and still plans to. ...

I have had a nearly identical case. It's not easy to misplace a green card if you haven't needed to show it to anyone for 40 years. Replacing a green card can take a long time.

Death Master File Changes May Mean Multi-Billion Bonus For Life Insurers

From Fox Business:

For years, the Death Master File of the Social Security Administration (SSA) was a valuable resource for life insurance companies when they needed it, and ignored when they did not. ...

Insurers can use the list to find out if a life insurance policyholder has died, at which point they must pay the beneficiaries. According to Florida, California and New York regulators investigating the insurance industry, many insurers have not consulted the file, leaving it up to beneficiaries to track down the policies and claim their money. ...

In 2011, this came to light when Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty asserted that life insurers had held back $1 billion that could have gone to beneficiaries if insurers had only checked the Death Master File to learn whether their policyholders had died. Other insurance regulators quickly followed up. Life insurers already have paid nearly $53 million as a result, according to a statement released by New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky. ...

But it looks like there will be a reversal in beneficiaries' good fortune. As of Nov. 1, the SSA no longer discloses what it calls "protected state records" of deaths -- essentially any records it acquires from the states, to insurance companies or the public. The decline in the size of the Death Master File is substantial; 4.2 million of its 89 million records will be excised from the public files and made available only to federal agencies.


And of the 2.8 million deaths reported to the file each year, only 1 million will be available to the public. In other words, most recent deaths won't be reported.

No Comment Department

     From a press release titled Kia Hampton, Miss Congeniality USA 2011, Joins Eric C. Conn Law Firm:

The Eric C. Conn Law Firm, a Social Security Disability Law Firm which focuses on spreading the understanding of Social Security Disability as well as hosting events for individuals in need, today announced the appointment of Kia Hampton as the official Public Information Director. Hampton will focus on strategic programs designed to provide the public with information about Social Security Disability Benefits. She will also be at the forefront as the official spokesperson where she will be spreading awareness about the different events and services the Eric C. Conn Law Firm provides to the community.    ...

Kia Hampton and Eric C. Conn began a unique friendship that culminated in Miss Hampton joining the Eric C. Conn Law Firm.

     For more on Eric Conn, see here and here.

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