Ennis Confirmation Hearing Postponed

     The Senate Finance Committee hearing that had been scheduled for today on the nomination of Gail Ennis to become Inspector General at Social Security has been postponed. No new date is given. There could be another reason but Hurricane Florence strikes me as the likely cause. It’s not hitting Washington but it’s certainly snarling air traffic.

Hurricane Florence Already Closing Offices

     The Social Security Administration has already closed many of its offices in North and South Carolina because of the looming threat of Hurricane Florence. Probably more office closures further North are coming. Stay tuned.

Proposed Regs Sent To OMB

     Social Security has sent over to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a batch of proposed regulations on redeterminations when there is reason to believe that fraud or similar fault was involved in an individual’s claim for benefits. The agency needs OMB approval before these can be published in the Federal Registerfor public comment. There is no way now to know what is in the proposal.

Hearing On IG Nomination

     The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a hearing for 2:00 on Thursday, September 13 on the nomination of Gail S. Ennis to become Social Security’s Inspector General. She was nominated almost 11 months ago.

SSI Income Deeming Problems

     From a recent study by Social Security’s Office of Inspector General:

From a sample of 100 recipients we reviewed who had manually deemed income, SSA [Social Security Administration] did not correctly compute SSI [Supplemental Security Income] payments for 46. This occurred because SSA did not correctly develop all income information when the deemors reported it or it became available from other sources if the deemors did not report it timely, did not consider the correct family members in the household, or made various other errors. Further, SSA’s policy did not require that a second employee review manually deemed computations. 

SSA improperly paid the 46 recipients $136,569. Specifically, SSA overpaid 12 recipients $33,375, underpaid 9 recipients $7,734, and both over- and underpaid 25 recipients $95,460. Accordingly, we project SSA improperly paid approximately $105 million in SSI payments to 35,200 SSI recipients with manually deemed income.

Won’t Be Seeing Eric Again Anytime Soon

     Eric Conn has been sentenced to 15 years for his pathetic attempt to escape justice by fleeing to Latin America. This is on top of the 12 year sentence he received for the underlying crime.

Senators Object To Reinstating Recon

     Ten Senators have written the Acting Commissioner of Social Security to urge that she not reinstate the reconsideration step in the disability appeals process. If they’re successful, I hope they’ll also urge that recon be ended in those states where it remains in effect. I think it’s time for the process to be the same in  all states using.

OIG Study Of CDR Recons

     Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) did a recent study of delays in processing requests for reconsideration for disability claimants who are being threatened with benefit termination due to medical improvement. Generally, the claimants receive continuing benefits as their appeals continue through the hearing level so delays cost the agency money. 

     The thing about this is that almost all the causes of delay discussed in this report also apply to those applying for benefits and have the same underlying cause, lack of sufficient personnel to get the work done in a timely manner. The OIG report discusses these delays as if they have been caused by bungling, when for the most part, the fault lies Congress and the White House, which have failed to give the Social Security Administration adequate administrative funding.

     I hope that OIG isn't implying that Social Security should prioritize cutting people off benefits over processing new claims for disability benefits but that does seem to be the attitude of Congressional Republicans.