CCD Endorsed increase In Fee Cap

     The Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), the major umbrella organization of disability organizations in the U.S. has sent a letter to the Acting Commissioner of Social Security endorsing an increase in the cap on fees that attorneys may charge for representing disability claimants and for a change in the regulations to require an annual cost of living adjustment on the cap. The cap has been stuck at $6,000 since 2009. If it were adjusted for inflation since the statute was first passed, the cap would be over $7,000. However, CCD only endorsed adjusting the cap to $6,904, basing the adjustment on the increase in the cost of living since 2009.

     Despite what you may hear from some people who have never represented a Social Security claimant, either the cap is raised in the not too distant future or there will be no further representation of Social Security disability claimants because it won't be economically feasible. Already, the number of attorneys representing Social Security claimants has declined significantly. The rest of us are struggling to hang on. Anyone who thinks it's easy to make money representing Social Security claimants  is encouraged to start doing it themselves. It may be ten years or more since I've heard of a Social Security employee leaving the agency to start representing claimants.

A Three Year Battle Ends With Success

      The parents of four year old Maziah Mills-Sorrells have been trying to get Supplemental Security Income disability benefits for her for three years. A District Court has finally approved her claim. Maziah was born with Klumpke's palsy which causes paralysis of her left arm. He parents both work and are trying to support a family of four on their minimum wage fast food jobs.

Social Security Isn't Fair

     Neil Irwin at the New York Times thinks Social Security isn't fair. The rich get a much better deal than the poor. 

     I hate to point it out but Irwin's analysis like every other analysis that attempts to compute a rate of return on Social Security is deeply flawed since it fails to take into consideration dependent and survivor benefits. However, in this case I don't know that this flaw necessarily detracts from his point. Both rich and poor receive dependent and survivor benefits. I don't know that either gets a better return on dependent and survivor benefits. Just don't take the rates of return that Irwin is giving literally. They're useful in making comparisons but in absolute terms they're meaningless.

They Read The Writing On The Wall

     That graffiti covered men's room at the Social Security field office in Las Vegas? They're going to fix it.

Underpayments To Widows And Widowers

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

SSA needs to improve its controls to ensure it establishes the correct PIA [Primary Insurance Amount, the basis for computing how much a claimant is to be paid] for widow(er)s when deceased wage earners die before age 62. Based on our random sample, we estimated that SSA underpaid approximately $224 million to 25,309 widow(er)s....

     Social Security agreed that they need to do something about this problem.
     The thing that gets me is that if this report had said that claimants were being overpaid by $224 million, the House Social Security Subcommittee would hold a hearing and grill Social Security officials. They would insinuate that fraud must be involved. However, when it's $224 million in underpayments I'm sure the reaction will be "Meh."
     Overpayments and underpayments are both important. They deserve equal treatment.

Florida ALJ Arrested

     From the Tampa Tribune:

An administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration in Tampa was arrested late Sunday and charged with driving under the influence, police said. Two witnesses saw Glen H. Watkins, 42, strike a parked car while driving a 2014 Honda Pilot on Davis Boulevard at 11:14 p.m., Tampa police said. Watkins’ blood-alcohol content was later measured at 0.151 and 0.163, records show. The legal limit for Florida drivers is 0.08.

Eanes Nomination Advances

     The Senate Finance Committee has favorably reported the nomination of Andrew Lamont Eanes to become Deputy Commissioner of Social Security. Senator Crapo cast the only vote against Eanes.

Sanitizing The File

     Let's say you're an attorney and you have evidence that a particular Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) is prejudiced against a certain group of people. I'm not talking about suspicion or an opinion or belief. I'm talking about specific evidence. I'm not talking about a specific case but let's say you make a Freedom of Information Act request for statistics on the rate at which an ALJ is approving claims depending upon the race of the claimant. You fight the agency for months, if not years, but eventually get the statistics showing a huge disparity. You get a hearing scheduled before this ALJ with a person whose disability claims the agency rarely approves. You file a motion asking for the ALJ to recuse himself or herself attaching the evidence showing the pattern of discrimination. The ALJ refuses. The ALJ goes on to deny the claim but makes sure to remove from the file all the evidence that you submitted showing the pattern of discrimination so the Appeals Council and a federal court can't see it. Can an ALJ do this? Sure, under a recent change to Social Security's HALLEX manual, the ALJ is supposed to remove from the file any evidence you submit concerning the ALJ. If the attorney submits an affidavit to the Appeals Council concerning the ALJ's behavior in the case, that must also be removed from the file.