Guilty Plea In New York Case

     From the New York Times:

A former New York City police officer accused of playing a major role in a scheme to defraud the Social Security Administration pleaded guilty on Wednesday and agreed to testify against his co-defendants.

Prosecutors said that the former officer, Joseph Esposito, was one of four people who concocted a scheme that bilked the federal government out of more than $27 million. ...

Under the terms of the agreement, if his testimony is satisfactory, he will be allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree grand larceny and prosecutors will recommend a sentence of one and a half to four and a half years in prison. ...

Mr. Esposito and Mr. Hale, court papers say, referred most of the applicants to two psychiatrists for treatment and to establish a year’s worth of medical records. On several telephone calls recorded by the authorities, Mr. Esposito was captured coaching applicants on how to mimic the symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress when being examined by doctors. ...

It was also Mr. Esposito’s job, court papers say, to collect a large cash fee from the applicants — usually more than $28,000 per person — after they received the first lump-sum check from the government, prosecutors said. Mr. Esposito would bring the money to Mr. Hale’s house, where it would be split among the four men, according to court papers.

Obamacare May Be Reducing Number Of Disability Claims In Arkansas

     From Modern Healthcare:

The number of Arkansas residents signing up for federal disability benefits has dropped 19% since October 2013, which some state officials are attributing to expanded Medicaid eligibility....

Arkansas is providing subsidies to individuals with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty threshold to purchase private health plans through the exchange, a model of expansion that several other Republican-controlled states are following. More than 190,000 Arkansas residents qualified for the expanded coverage through the end of July.  

State Sen. Jonathan Dismang, a Republican who was one of the architects of the “private option” plan, said that he and his colleagues had hoped that expanding Medicaid would reduce the disability rolls. “It's too early to say with any certainty that that's the case,” Dismang said. “I think that there's an indication that there has been an impact.”

Union Schedules Rally To Oppose Field Office Cuts

     From a press release issued by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union that represents most employees of the Social Security Administration:

Hundreds of union activists from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) will rally at the Minneapolis Social Security Field Office Wednesday, Aug. 27 to shed light on the Social Security Administration’s plan to close virtually every field office in Minnesota and across the country ...
When: 3:00 p.m. CDT Wednesday, August 27
Where: Minneapolis SSA Field Office; 1811 Chicago Ave, Minneapolis, Minn.
Speakers:

• AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr.
• House Democratic Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer
• Senator Al Franken (Invited)
• U.S. Representative Rick Nolan
• U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (Invited)
• U.S. Representative Betty McCollum (Invited)
• Minneapolis Social Security Beneficiary Marie Milsten-Fiedler
• Labor activists and Social Security employees who provide vital public services

Initial And Reconsideration Allowance Rates

This is from the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) which got it, I'm sure, from the Social Security Administration.

Top Ten List

     Monique Morrissey of the Economic Policy Institute posts her list of top ten myths about Social Security.

The Irony

Maybe someday we'll laugh at the irony — SSA cuts staff and office hours, just as the Boomers arrive and workload skyrockets.

--Andy Landis, the author of a book on Social Security, quoted in USA Today 

Update On Prosecutions In New York

     The New York Times has an update on the prosecutions in the alleged scheme by 136 people to defraud Social Security by feigning mental disability.  None of these cases have gone to trial. Eighty-seven of the accused have pleaded guilty to grand larceny and most of those were given probation in return for promising to return the money. Charges against eight were recently dismissed at the request of the District Attorney since those individuals might actually have been mentally ill.

Union Concerned About Online Services

     From a press release issued by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a union which represents most Social Security employees:

The Social Security Administration has launched a new social media campaign that asks beneficiaries to plan for their ‘#Someday’ retirement dreams by registering for an account on the mySocialSecurity website but neglects to disclose that the website comes at the expense of face-to-face customer service and that it may open users to fraud.

“According to the Social Security Administration, fully one-third of the people attempting to access the website fail to successfully register,” said Witold Skwierczynski, President of the National Council of Social Security Field Operations Locals. “However, the website’s issues are more troubling than simply a poor customer experience.”

Skwierczynski attributed the high failure rate on the website to Experian Credit Corporation which is responsible for providing security for transactions on the site. Users must answer a series of complicated questions about their personal finances, distinguish between real and fake information, recall minute details of their credit history and have knowledge of their astrological sign.

It’s an overly cumbersome and difficult process to navigate and is also vulnerable to identity theft and fraud. An Experian subsidiary, as recently as 2013, was being investigated for either having lost or sold the same type of login information to a Vietnamese crime ring. Skwierczynski said that there is already evidence of identity theft and fraud at SSA, as the Office of Inspector General stated it received 37,000 reports from various sources concerning questionable changes to a beneficiary’s record.