Senior Attorney Decisions Resuming?

     My firm has received senior attorney decisions this month in two cases from two different hearing offices. These are the first we have seen since August 2013. 

     To what extent is the senior attorney program being resumed? Had it ever gone away completely? What about re-recon? Is that coming back?

     Given the backlog, both programs should be resumed in a big way, if there is enough staffing.

It's Not Just Overpayments

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General:

SSA [Social Security Administration] needs to improve its controls to ensure it properly pays underpayments due terminated beneficiaries. Based on our random sample, we estimate that 

• 55,925 terminated beneficiaries were due $122.6 million in underpayments that SSA should have paid to eligible beneficiaries, and
• 5,687 terminated beneficiaries had $5.2 million in erroneous underpayments that SSA should have removed from the [Social Security's records]

FBA Social Security Law Section Newsletter

     The Social Security Law Section of the Federal Bar Association has published its Winter 2015 newsletter. There's a great Federal Case Law Update, an article by Judge Robert Pratt, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa and a fine article on suicide among Social Security disability claimants.

Goodbye Christmas!

December 26

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Last Minute Shopping

     I was at a store this afternoon. I wasn't buying a Christmas gift. I was there for a more routine reason. There was a fellow ahead of me making quite a purchase. He said he was doing all his Christmas shopping then and there. From the looks of things he was buying presents for at least 25 people. It was a convenience store. He was buying lottery tickets.