It's A Big Country

     I live in Raleigh. It's a prosperous, urban place. People here are mostly well educated and mostly work in white collar jobs. Raleigh produces disability claims but many of my firm's clients live in places like Roanoke Rapids, where I took this picture on May 2. Roanoke Rapids has a population of about 17,000. The town's name comes from the extensive rapids on the Roanoke River which lie just North of town. The shop shown above is on the main street of Roanoke Rapids.
     Social Security is a national program. It must serve this country's entire population and that includes cities like Raleigh and towns like Roanoke Rapids but it also includes many other types of communities, big and small, rich and poor. When thinking about policies that Social Security should apply and the mechanisms by which the agency delivers service to this country's population, everyone should keep this wide diversity in mind.

I Think This Problem Is Just Going To Get Worse And Worse

     From a TV station that wants to be known as "6 South Florida":

As Maria Elena Ruiz was getting ready to pay her father's medical bills for the month, she realized there was a big problem.

"There was no money!" she said.

Federico Ruiz's monthly Social Security check should have been deposited directly into his bank account. But it looks like a payday came for a crook instead.

"Somebody just went on the Internet, and it just got paid," Maria Elena Ruiz remarked.

With some key pieces of the senior citizen's personal information and a few clicks on ssa.gov, the thief was able to create an online account. It redirected Mr. Ruiz's benefits to a bank account controlled by the thief. ...

According to the agency’s inspector general, there have been just over 600 such allegations made nationwide between February and April 29.

     Social Security has to do something about this. It's just irresponsible to leave this gap. It's hundreds of cases now but it may be tens of thousands in a few months.

New SSA Mobile Optimized Website

     From a Social Security press release:

Carolyn W. Colvin, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, today announced the agency is offering a new mobile optimized website, specifically aimed at smartphone users across the country.  People visiting the agency’s website, www.socialsecurity.gov, via smartphone (Android, Blackberry, iPhone, and Windows devices) will be redirected to the agency’s new mobile-friendly site. Once there, visitors can access a mobile version of Social Security’s Frequently Asked Questions, an interactive Social Security number (SSN) decision tree to help people identify documents needed for a new/replacement SSN card, and mobile publications which they can listen to in both English and Spanish right on their phone. ...

In addition, visitors to the new mobile site can learn how to create a personal my Social Security account to get an online Social Security Statement, learn more about Social Security’s award-winning online services, and connect with Social Security on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest. For people unable to complete their Social Security business online or over the telephone, the agency also unveiled a new mobile field office locator. The new mobile office locator has the capability to provide turn-by-turn directions to the nearest Social Security office based on information entered by the person.

“With significant budget cuts of nearly a billion dollars each year over the last few years, we must continue to leverage technology and find more innovative ways to meet the evolving needs of the American public without compromising service,” said Acting Commissioner Colvin.

Each year, more than 35 million Social Security web page views come via smartphones.

Is This A Good Idea?

     From the Montgomery Advertiser:

Michelle Clampit expected financial relief to arrive soon in the form of an income tax refund check. She was counting on it, in fact. ...

But no deposit was made, and when she checked the IRS website to find out what happened, she was referred to the Social Security Administration.

The Wetumpka resident said she had no idea she possibly could have owed money to the SSA. After all, she had never received a single Social Security check in her life. ...

Eventually, however, the actual reason for the debt became clear: Social Security payments made to her now-deceased mother 29 years ago. ...

The tax refund was diverted by way of the Treasury Offset Program, which until recently was not authorized to collect on debts that were more than 10 years old, SSA spokesman BJ Jarrett said.

A law passed in 2008 eliminated the 10-year statute of limitations, and in June 2012, the SSA began to inform people about its intention to collect those older debts, Jarrett said. ...

The agency has sent about 185,000 notices to people with debts that are more than 10 years old, Jarrett said.

Dilsability Recipients Fight Stigma

     From the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser:

When he looks in the mirror each morning, the man staring back at Steven Ladner looks healthy. There are no outward signs of disability, certainly nothing that would prevent the 42-year-old from heading off to a full-time job and normal life.But underneath the skin, it’s a different story. Ladner suffers from debilitating migraines and diabetes. The diabetes has caused neuropathy, resulting in his consistently losing feeling in his hands and feet. A brain scan a few years ago turned up a benign tumor. ...

Because of these problems, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has deemed Ladner to be disabled. This month he will begin receiving a check for about $1,300 per month, and his health care will be provided by the federal government through Medicaid.

He is not alone.

Over the past three decades, the number of people on disability across the nation, and especially in Alabama, has skyrocketed. Some counties in this state have more than 20 percent of their working-age citizens drawing disability payments. ...

Those high numbers, along with sometimes tall tales of scams and fraud — and a number of misconceptions and misinformation, some perpetuated by those NPR stories — have left recipients like Ladner and the workers who service the disability programs battling an increasingly bad perception.“I do know how people think of folks on disability, and it’s not good,” Ladner said. “I know some people look at me and think, ‘Why ain’t he at work? He looks fine to me.’ I’d probably think the same thing, because there are some people I know who shouldn’t be on it. It does affect you. But for someone like me, who really needs it, it’s really a blessing.” ...

For Ladner, it took nearly two years before he was approved for payments. And then came a five-month waiting period between that approval and receiving his first payment.“It really put me in a tough spot financially,” Ladner said. “We burned through our savings and cut back as much as possible. It put such a strain on us — this whole process — that me and my wife are separated right now. It’s just a really tough thing to go through.”

Payments Down Sharply In April

Social Security has issued updated numbers on payments of fees to attorneys and some others for representing Social Security claimants. These fees are withheld and paid by Social Security but come out of the back benefits of the claimants involved. The attorneys and others who have their fees withheld pay a user fee for this privilege. Since these fees are usually paid at the same time that the claimant is paid, these numbers show how quickly or slowly Social Security is able to get claimants paid after a favorable determination on their claims.

Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-13	32,663	$96,690,734.65
Feb-13	35,508	$102,242,540.93
Mar-13	45,189	$130,690,281.94
Apr-13	33,178	$92,566,832.32

Who Is Behind Planet Money?

      The Citizens Journalists Exchange blog thinks that the critics of the NPR hit piece on Social Security disability need to take off the kid gloves:

Just over a week ago,  my Twitter feed started getting bombarded with links to the latest — and quite possibly the scummiest — Planet Money/This American Life propaganda piece on NPR for the financial industry, disguised as highbrow progressive journalism.

The piece was called “Unfit For Work: The Startling Rise of Disability in America” and it essentially argued — using wildly flawed research and straight-up lies — that our Social Security program is burdened by a glut of freeloader disability queens, faking their disabilities in order to live high on the Social Security disability insurance hog.

Why would NPR run such a flawed, biased story? The answer takes us right to the heart of Wall Street’s plans to privatize government benefits, which Wall Street bond holders want to slash for their own profits. This battle pits powerful Wall Street interests and their media and political lackeys on the one side, versus an overwhelming majority of Americans — Republicans and Democrats both — on the other. ... 

Planet Money has a serious conflict-of-interest problem when it reports on anything involving the banking sector. Planet Money’s sole sponsor, as of late last year, is Ally Bank (formerly GMAC), one of the world’s most toxic subprime lenders. Ally/GMAC preyed on Americans on the upside, then plundered taxpayers for over $17 billion in TARP bailout funds when their fraud schemes came crashing down. As we showed, the disturbing overlap between GMAC’s lobbying efforts against bank regulation bills, and Planet Money programs attacking that legislation and its promoters, means that Planet Money has essentially doubled as a sophisticated PR vessel targeting a key audience unaware of the Planet Money/NPR financial arrangement with the banking industry.

The corrupt arrangement caught the attention of the New York Observer, Fairness and Accuracy in Media, and others. Planet Money, This American Life and NPR have all been party to journalistic fraud against their audience, and they’re laughing all the way to the bailed-out bank with the help of your NPR donation.

When you know that Planet Money’s sole sponsor is a predatory lender, this hit-piece on Social Security “disability queens” makes an appalling sort of sense. ...

Philadelphia Office Closed

     From KYW:

Some North Philadelphia residents were surprised today to find their local Social Security Administration office shuttered, the result of a tighter federal budget and sequestration.

Since October, the Social Security Administration has closed three of its offices in the Philadelphia region. ...

The office served about 100 people a day, roughly 26,000 a year ...

The Social Security Administration responded to KYW Newsradio‘s request for information today with a written statement saying, “Tighter budget, including cuts due to sequestration, have exacerbated our ability to serve members of the public who need our services, resulting in longer waiting times.”