An Exit Interview With Carolyn Colvin

     Before leaving office, then Acting Commisioner Carolyn Colvin sat down for an interview with McKinsey and Company, a huge and highly influential consulting company. 

     Colvin has had a long and distinguished career as a public servant. She made the best of a bad funding situation at Social Security. She has a lot to be proud of. However, this interview does not improve my opinion of her. It's crammed with endless Dilbertesque management buzzwords. If you're touting Vision 2025 as a major achievement, one that truly effected change, you've lost touch with reality. Vision 2025 was of no consequence at the time it was issued and has already been forgotten because it was nothing more than vapid generalities.
     I'll say this for her. If she kept a listed landline after becoming Commissioner, I don't know whether to be impressed or just amazed.

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Trump Budget To Call For Social Security Disability Cuts

     Roll Call is reporting that the White House budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2018, which begins on October 1, 2017, will call for cuts in Social Security disability benefits. The cuts are not specified in the article. 

But sources said the budget will include proposals to reduce the cost of the Social Security Disability Insurance program, which is not means-tested. - See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/policy/trump-wants-800-billion-10-year-cut-entitlement-programs#sthash.YV839krT.dpuf

White House officials are crafting a fiscal 2018 budget proposal for President Donald Trump that aims to wipe out the deficit through a combination of robust economic growth, steep cuts in certain means-tested entitlement programs and other savings. - See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/policy/trump-wants-800-billion-10-year-cut-entitlement-programs#sthash.YV839krT.dpuf

White House officials are crafting a fiscal 2018 budget proposal for President Donald Trump that aims to wipe out the deficit through a combination of robust economic growth, steep cuts in certain means-tested entitlement programs and other savings. - See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/policy/trump-wants-800-billion-10-year-cut-entitlement-programs#sthash.YQqJR9St.dpuf

White House officials are crafting a fiscal 2018 budget proposal for President Donald Trump that aims to wipe out the deficit through a combination of robust economic growth, steep cuts in certain means-tested entitlement programs and other savings. - See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/policy/trump-wants-800-billion-10-year-cut-entitlement-programs#sthash.YQqJR9St.dpuf

Social Security Wants Case Processing System For ODAR Pronto

     From a contracting notice posted by the Social Security Administration:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is seeking a Case Management Software System inclusive of a correspondence system; scheduling system; invoicing system and a provider repository that will move cases along the Office of Disability and Adjudication Review’s (ODAR) business process to the closure of the case. The purpose of this RFI [Request for Information] is to identify potential vendors capable of providing a solution for this Case Management Software System....

The solution must be able to do the following: 

• Be a commercial off the shelf (COTS) product; 
• Be commercially available as of May 31, 2017;  ... 

Responses must be received by 12:00 noon EST on May 17, 2017. ...

     A response by May 17? Sounds like they already know what product they intend to buy. But how will an off the shelf product do everything they want it to do and work with Social Security's other systems?
     I'm probably wrong but what they're describing sounds a lot like the case management systems used by law firms. They're not going to use one of those, are they? One of those wouldn't be this scalable, would it? That wouldn't work with the agency's other systems, would it? But what other type of off the shelf system could it be?

Back To Two Factor Authentication

     In August 2016, Social Security introduced two factor authentication for claimants using its online systems. It was a fiasco. The public hated it. The agency quickly backed away.

     They're not letting that set them back. They're now planning to again require two factor authentication as of June 10. Users will have the choice of receiving the second factor either by text message or e-mail message.

     Will the public find this any more acceptable? Will it actually improve security?

Why Disability Benefits Are Especially Important Fro Less-Educated Workers

     The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has a report up on 4 Reasons Why Disability Insurance Is Especially Important to Less-Educated Workers.

     Let me be less diplomatic than the folks at CBPP. Less-educated workers are frequently people with lower cognitive abilities. We do not live in Lake Woebegone. All the children are not above average. Some are born with lower cognitive abilities. The cognitive abilities of others are permanently stunted by difficult childhood circumstances. Lower cognitive abilities lead to lower educational achievements. Adult education is of only limited use for people with low cognitive abilities. They lack the ability to profit from it. People with lower cognitive ability are at a huge disadvantage when they develop medical or psychiatric problems. All they are suited to do is to work at jobs with low skill requirements and those jobs aren't in offices. Those jobs generally involve significant exertional requirements and offer limited tolerance for psychiatric issues. If all you ever had to offer an employer was a strong back and a good attitude you're in big trouble if your back loses its strength or your good attitude isn't so good.

DCPS Fight Going Into Extra Innings

     Social Security is now planning to hire MITRE, a consulting company, to do a "Build Versus Buy" analysis of its plan to build a new Disability Case Processing System (DCPS) in-house rather than buying it from an external vendor. The vendor of the DCPS now in use is vigorously promoting a new system it wants to sell Social Security but to this point the agency has been convinced that it can build a better system in-house. A good new DCPS is of great importance to Social Security.

I Know! Let's Just Be Harsher!

     Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) did a study on collection of overpayments through long term repayment plans. Social Security deducts amounts from current benefits to repay the debt. The amount of the deduction depends upon the claimant's income. OIG found that some claimants were so poor that their monthly repayment amount wereso low that they would die before their overpayments were recouped. OIG's response: Stop worrying about whether the claimants have enough money to live on; just recoup more each month. Social Security's response is that they agree. They want to go to collecting at least 10% of monthly benefits without regard to whether this leaves the claimant with enough money to live on. They're not sure if they can just change their regulations or whether they need new legislation.

     And by the way, many, perhaps most, of these overpayments are due to mistakes made by the Social Security Administration. Few are due to fraud.