Just Ignore The Claimant's Wishes?

     I'm seeing and hearing of instances where Social Security is trying to schedule video hearings or assigning cases to remote hearing offices which could only hear a case by video despite the claimant's previously expressed desire not to have a video hearing. Is this just happening around here or is it happening in other parts of the country as well? Is this just a series of mistakes or the result of deliberate decisions made at higher levels? I wonder if trying to ignore the claimant's wishes is the agency's way of dealing with the fact that its effort to discourage resistance to video hearings is actually encouraging resistance.

OMB Clears Proposed Rule On Submission Of Evidence

     Just in time for tomorrow's hearing before the Senate Budget Committee, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has cleared Social Security's proposed rule requiring the submission of all evidence in Social Security disability claims. We can only hope that the agency made dramatic changes after this was originally published because the original proposal was completely unworkable.

     After OMB clears a regulatory proposal, the Commissioner has to sign off on it before it is published in the Federal Register. Typically, the Acting Commissioner has been taking a few weeks to review these before signing off on them. However, she can sign off immediately if she chooses. So far, the Office of Federal Register doesn't show the receipt of the final regulations. After publication, new regulations typically go into effect in 30 days. 

     I cannot emphasize too much how unworkable the original proposal was. Requiring the submission of "everything" sounds great but imposing this requirement without defining what "everything" means could bring about the collapse of representation of claimants. That would not just be bad for attorneys or their clients. The Social Security Administration is not prepared to cope with hundreds of thousands of unrepresented claimants, nor, for that matter, is Congress since that's where claimants turned before attorney representation of Social Security claimants became widely available. I speak from experience. I was around when there were few other attorneys doing this kind of work.

Senate Budget Committee Hearing

     The Senate Budget Committee has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday on "The Coming Crisis: Social Security Disability Trust Fund Insolvency.” Here's the witness list:

• Carolyn W. Colvin, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, Social Security Administration
• Dr. Mark Duggan, Wayne and Jodi Cooperman Professor of Economics, Stanford University
• Dr. Philip de Jong, Professor of Economics, University of Amsterdam - Amsterdam School of Economics
• Kate Lang, Staff Attorney, National Senior Citizens Law Center

Prospects For Disability Trust Fund Looking Up

     The Baltimore Sun is running an article claiming that "The number of people receiving disability insurance payments from the Social Security Administration declined last year for the first time since 1983 ..." I'm not sure how they figured that since the website of the Office of Chief Actuary at Social Security shows an increase of about 12,000 rather than a decrease. However the article is correct in showing that the number of claims filed and applications approved is down sharply over the last four years. The number drawing benefits has actually declined over the last four months and there's a good chance that this decline is a trend that will continue for several years as baby boomers who went on disability benefits a few years ago age into retirement benefits. Interestingly, Stephen Goss, Social Security's Chief Actuary, is quoted in the article as saying that "The disability applications we have coming in now are even lower than we were assuming", suggesting the possibility of some change in the next projection for the Disability Trust Fund, due out sometime later this year.

Social Security In 1940

Social Security Underpaying Some Older Disabled People

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

SSA needs to improve its controls to ensure it notifies disabled beneficiaries when they are eligible for higher retirement benefits. Based on our random sample, we estimate that 17,137 disabled beneficiaries were eligible for higher retirement benefits totaling approximately $105.6 million. This occurred because SSA employees did not inform disabled beneficiaries when they were eligible for the higher retirement benefits or document the reasons beneficiaries did not elect higher retirement benefits, as required.

Number Of People Drawing Disability Benefits Declines For Fourth Straight Month

     Social Security has released an updated table which shows that the number of people drawing Disability Insurance Benefits declined in January. This is the fourth straight month of decline. Here is the number of people drawing the disability benefits for the last four months and from a year ago: 

• Jan 2014      8,930,246
• Sep 2014     8,958,415
• Oct 2014     8,957,699
• Nov 2014    8,956,269
• Dec 2014    8,954,518
• Jan 2015     8,943,579

2014 Waterfall Chart