Preach!

     From Kathleen Romig of the Center on Budget and  Policy Priorities (CBPP):

The bipartisan agreement to raise the caps on discretionary spending in 2018 and 2019 reportedly calls for higher funding for the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) operating budget, which is starved for resources after years of cuts, to improve customer service. SSA’s budget shrank by 11 percent between 2010 and 2017, after adjusting for inflation — even as SSA’s workload grew as baby boomers reached their peak years for retirement and disability. When lawmakers write agency funding bills based on the agreement, they need to fulfill their commitment and provide SSA with a significant increase to undo the damage from those cuts.

One consequence of the cuts is that over 1 million people await a final decision on their application for Social Security Disability Insurance — after paying into Social Security their entire career — or their application for Supplemental Security Income disability benefits. They wait an average of nearly two years for decisions on their appeals, a record delay. ...

They Call This The Waterfall Chart

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Field Office Wait Times Go Up As Staffing Level Goes Down

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

Conn Can No Longer Represent Social Security Claimants

     Social Security decided on February 7, 2018 that one Eric Christopher Conn was disqualified from representing claimants before the agency.

Not That It Matters But Here's The President's FY 2019 Social Security Budget Proposal

     Below is a table from the President's budget proposal for the Social Security Administration's operating budget for Fiscal Year 2019 (FY 2019). FY 2019 will begin on October 1, 2018. Note that this is a basically flat proposal, which means that it would be a budget cut when you consider inflation. That's why significant staffing cuts are predicted.

     However, because of the budget bill that was just approved, the President's entire FY 2019 budget is virtually meaningless. The budget bill that was just signed provides for significant budget increases for civilian agencies while the President's budget would call for cuts. The enacted budget bill governs. This budget proposal is nothing more than the pipe dream of Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, who is a noted budget hawk at least when it comes to civilian agencies.

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Poor Rural Areas Generate Disability Claims

     The Cadillac [MI] News reports on the incidence of Social Security disability receipt within the state of Michigan. Not surprisingly, to me at least, disability hits hardest in poorer rural areas with older populations. Many of the healthy young people leave those areas to take jobs where they can find them. The population left behind is older and sicker. Of course, a higher percentage of the remaining population files disability claims.

     By the way, what I've seen in North Carolina is that these poorer rural areas eventually generate fewer disability claims -- once the local population is greatly diminished, as it surely will be over time, since there aren't jobs to be had. The older, sicker population just dies off.

Emergency Message On Casey v. Berryhill

     The Social Security Administration has issued Emergency Message EM-18004 on the implementation of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Casey v. Berryhill which provides that a claimant may obtain judicial review of an Appeals Council order dismissing a request for review as untimely on the grounds that there was not good cause for a late request for review. However, at the moment they're only wanting to identify cases potentially affected rather than actually acting upon them.

Same Sex Marriage Finally Recognized

     Social Security is still sorting out same sex marriage issues. Here's a case where a marriage was finally recognized. The issue was whether the marriage was recognized at the time that one of the parties to the marriage died.