Agency Financial Report For FY 2013

     The Social Security Administration has issued its Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2013. The report identifies agency goals that have been met or not met. The most glaring unmet goal is wait time for a hearing before a Social Security Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). That went up substantially in 2013.

Big Surprise

     The user fee assessed on attorneys who represent Social Security claimants will remain at 6.3% in 2014.

Happy New Year

Does This Tell Us Anything Useful?

     The abstract of a Working Paper issued by Yonathan Ben-Shalom and Arif A. Mamun of Mathematica Policy Research, a big contractor for Social Security:

We follow a sample of working-age Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program beneficiaries for five years after their first benefit award to learn how certain factors help or hinder achievement of four return-to-work milestones: (1) enrollment for employment services provided by a state vocational rehabilitation agency or employment network, (2) start of trial work period (TWP), (3) completion of TWP, and (4) suspension or termination of benefits because of work. We find that younger beneficiaries are more likely than older beneficiaries to achieve the milestones and that substantial variation exists across impairment types. In addition, black beneficiaries and beneficiaries with higher levels of education have a greater probability of achieving the milestones, everything else equal. Also, such achievement is more probable if state unemployment is low at the time of the award. The probability of achieving the milestones is reduced by having a higher DI benefit amount at award, an award decision made at a higher adjudicative level, and by receiving Supplemental Security Income or Medicare benefits at the time of DI award. Finally, we find large variation in the relationships between state of residence and return-to-work outcomes and between award month and return-to-work outcomes. We attribute these variations to unobserved factors at the state level, policy changes over time, and trends in unobserved beneficiary characteristics.

Nice Try

     There's a new meme coming from the right. Sure, we ought to increase Social Security benefits, but only for the poor. We'll do it by means testing Social Security. Andrew Biggs started this but others are chiming in. I think it's a good idea to remind everyone that Social Security will not change in any fundamental way until one very determined party completely dominates the White House and the Congress. That's not coming anytime soon. Even if the Republicans did dominate the White House and the Congress I'd be amazed if they attempted this. If they did, they wouldn't control the White House and the Congress much longer.

The Last Drop

    Sue Regan died on November 5. The U.S. Treasury made a direct deposit to Ms. Regan's account at a credit union for one month's Social Security benefits on November 13. The money was supposed to have been paid since it was for October when Ms. Regan was still alive. However, the credit union made a mistake and sent the money back to the Treasury. A Dallas television station reports that this is a mistake commonly made by overly eager financial institutions. How long will it take for Ms. Regan's family to get the money back? How often do families fail to recognize the mistake? How often does Social Security or the Treasury correct this sort of mistake without prompting?

Social Security Employee Arrested For Routing Benefits To His Bank Account

     The Associated Press reports that Tabaris Archie Brown, an employee at a Social Security "telephone center" has been indicted on 14 counts of identity theft, theft of government property and wire fraud for changing records to route the Social Security benefits of 11 people into an account he controlled. The report comes from Birmingham, Alabama. My guess is that he worked at the Program Service Center in Birmingham but is there a teleservice center in Birmingham as well?

Better Than Living In A Tent

     Social Security disability benefits allows one man to move out of his tent and into a warm apartment.