SSA Needs Adequate Operating Funds To Prevent Improper Payments

     From Dean Baker writing for Huffington Post:

The media have been rightly focusing their attention on the long waiting lists for veterans seeking medical care, and even worse, the Department of Veteran's Affairs cover-up. ...

Unfortunately the VA system is not the only part of the government where essential services may be threatened by cutbacks. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has recently disclosed plans for a major downsizing that will result in the closing of many more of its field offices. The goal is to handle the bulk of Social Security's requests, questions, and complaints through the Internet....

Last year, the Washington Post ran a major front-page article over the fact that 0.006 percent of Social Security benefits in the prior three years had been paid out to dead people. Of course the Post never told readers that the amount in question amounted to less than one hundredth of one percent of benefit payments. Instead it highlighted the size of the mistaken benefits, $133 million, as though it had uncovered a momentous sum that the program was paying out in error. 

There is no reason to expect the opponents of Social Security to be any more honest in the future. Every mistake that the program makes will be highlighted. For this reason, it is not only essential that we minimize the instances where people don't get the benefits to which they are entitled; we should also be concerned that the SSA has the capacity to keep a lid on improper payments.

SSA is already tremendously efficient compared to its private sector counterparts. Administrative costs for the system as whole are just 0.9 percent of benefits. The administrative costs for just the retirement and survivors' portion of the program are 0.5 percent of benefits. Privatized systems in places like the United Kingdom or Chile have costs that are twenty times as high.

Ruling On Endocrine Disorders

     Last week in my haste to get out of town for a long weekend, I missed the fact that there was a second Social Security Ruling, this one on evaluating endocrine disorders other than diabetes.

Thank You, OMB!

     Social Security has withdrawn its proposal that would have required claimants to decide shortly after asking for a hearing whether they would demand an in-person hearing rather than accept a video hearing. The proposal would also have denied an in-person hearing if a claimant moved after filing a request for a hearing. Almost certainly, this was withdrawn because of opposition at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a part of the White House. OMB approval is required before regulations may be published in the Federal Register.

Trouble In Social Security's Backyard

     The Baltimore Sun is running a story on the huge backlog of cases awaiting a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in the Baltimore, Maryland hearing office. The backlog is now up to 17 months. This has led to bankruptcies, people losing their homes and people dying before being approved. Social Security's headquarters are just outside Baltimore.

Emergency Message On Radford v. Colvin

     Social Security has issued an Emergency Message concerning the decision of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Radford v. Colvin. Emergency Messages generally don't address real emergencies. They're just the agency's way of issuing instructions to its staff. Apparently, an Acquiescence Ruling on Radford is forthcoming. I'm proud to say that Charlotte Hall of my firm represented the claimant in Radford. By the way, despite the similarities in our names, Charlotte and I are not related.

Glad To Have One Champion In The Media

     Michael Hiltzik takes on a conservative who tries to prove that paying Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits to children displays "contempt for the underprivileged" and that cutting these children off disability benefits is the "compassionate" thing to do.

Where Service Is Headed At ODAR

     It's 109 miles from Deland, the county seat of Volusia County, Florida to Jacksonville, FL yet some of Social Security's Administrative Law Judges have thought that was a reasonable distance to ask a claimant to drive for a hearing. The claimants have been willing to travel to Orlando which is much closer for them but, apparently not for Social Security.

What A Blindingly Obvious And Blindingly Stupid Idea

     From the Washington Post's Wonkblog:

Reps. Tom Cole (R-Okla) and John Delaney (D-Md) introduced a bill Friday that would create a bipartisan commission to improve Social Security. 

Cole, a senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, is partnering with Delaney, a junior member of the House elected in 2012, to propose a 13-member Social Security Commission that would have a year to come up with a list of recommendations for improving the program. As it stands, the Social Security Administration has enough funds to pay full benefits through 2033, according to the latest trustees report.

     I call this a blindingly stupid idea because there is zero chance any such commission could reach a consensus and zero chance that this Congress would approve the recommendations of a divided commission. All this could produce is pointless controversy. No Democrat will vote for benefits cuts. No Republican will vote for either tax increases or benefits cuts. And that includes these two Congressmen who apparently believe some magician can come up with another way. They may even be dumb enough to think that private accounts will save Social Security! Any diversion of Social Security revenues to private accounts just makes whatever funding problems there are worse. Anyone who studies the matter for more than 30 seconds realizes that.