Saul Nomination Advances

     Andrew Saul’s nomination to become Commissioner of Social Security was reported out favorably by the Senate Finance Committee. It was a unanimous vote.

Ticket To Work Not Working

     From the Washington Free Beacon:

The Social Security Administration has spent $3 billion on programs designed to incentivize disability recipients to go back to work over the past 16 years. So far, less than 3 percent of beneficiaries have signed up, with "no consistent evidence" the program has helped participants find a job. 

The inspector general for the agency released an audit last week calling for Congress to evaluate the "viability" of the programs 

including Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency (TTW) and Achieve Self-Support (PASS)."SSA has spent about $3 billion administering two ongoing congressionally mandated return-to-work programs and a time-limited demonstration project designed to determine whether a policy change would help beneficiaries return to work," the inspector general said. "However, these programs and demonstration project enticed a small percentage of disabled individuals to return to work." ...

Since it began in 2000, the TTW program has cost $2.8 billion and enrolled 1.2 million disabled welfare recipients, a participation rate of only 2.6 percent. Those beneficiaries have saved the government approximately $5.9 billion. For each beneficiary served, the government spent $2,300 through the program, as opposed to the average $5,000 benefits forgone. ...

      You might say that this shows that even though TTW is only minimally successful that it still more than pays for itself but the problem is that it is more than possible that the vast majority of those “helped” by TTW would have gone back to work on their own. To what extent are TTW providers helping people who wouldn’t otherwise get back to work and to what extend are TTW providers just profiting from people who don’t need their help? We just don’t know. Any advantage from TTW is, at best, unproven. The problem with all the efforts to get Social Security disability recipients back to work is that they are premised upon a deep seated belief that it’s easy to get on benefits. It’s not. It’s terribly difficult to get on disability benefits. As sick as people have to be to get on Social Security disability benefits, we shouldn’t expect many to go back to work.

Social Security Proposing Mandatory Video Hearings

     From a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) that the Social Security Administration will publish in the Federal Register tomorrow:

We propose to revise our rules to explain that the agency retains the right 

to determine how parties and witnesses will appear at a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ) at the hearing level of our administrative review process, and we will set the time and place for the hearing accordingly. ... 

We propose that parties to a hearing will not have the option to opt out of appearing by the manner of hearing we choose.  ...

     This is a proposal. The public can comment on it. Congress can’t prevent its adoption but can certainly weigh in on it. The new Democratic  majority in the House could make Andrew Saul pay a price for going ahead with it. Expect a House Social Security Subcommittee hearing on this issue next year.

Saul Nomination To Get Committee Vote Tomorrow

     The Senate Finance Committe has scheduled a vote on Andrew Saul’s nomination for Social Security Commissioner for tomorrow.

20 Injured At Social Security Field Office In Egg Harbor, N.J.

     From NBC:

Twenty people were injured, two of them seriously, Tuesday morning after a car crashed into a Social Security building in New Jersey, At least one person was critically injured and another in serious condition after a 1998 Nissan Sentra smashed into the lobby of the building in Egg Harbor Township about 9:50 a.m. ET, police said. 

At least one person was critically injured and another in serious condition after a 1998 Nissan Sentra smashed into the lobby of the building in Egg Harbor Township about 9:50 a.m. ET, police said.

Anybody Want To Guess What Happened Here?

     From the Des Moines Register:

One need only glance at Marla Del Carmen’s small, gnarled hands to begin to understand how rheumatoid arthritis has crippled her since 19.  

 The 62-year-old works some, but she relies heavily on Social Security disability to get by.  

 Or, she did.  

 This month, Del Carmen received an odd letter from the Social Security Administration informing her that her disability benefit would increase to $687 a month. But then the letter said those payments were being suspended because “you were not a United States citizen or lawfully present in the U.S.” 

That was news to Del Carmen. She was born in Des Moines with a Hebrew maiden name and has spent all her life on the east side. 

 

 She is married to a Hispanic man, Mateo Del Carmen Hernandez, a permanent resident of the United States, for more than 22 years.  ... 

 With immigration the chief focus of President Donald Trump’s administration, Del Carmen says she can’t help but feel targeted by the federal government. She said it appeared she was disqualified from federal benefits solely because of her married name.  

“I’ve never been to another country. I don’t even have a passport,” she said. “I have to take chemo for my arthritis and I have COPD, so I can’t travel.” Del Carmen said she checked with the Des Moines Social Security office, and no one had applied fraudulently for her benefits. ...

The Election Results: Effects On Proposed Regulations

     On October 29 the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the publication of proposed new regulations that would allow the Social Security Administration to force video hearings on claimants who don't want them. Normally, once OMB approves the publication of proposed regulations, Social Security publishes them in the Federal Register within a week or two. It hasn't been that long but this one hasn't yet been published.

     I wonder whether the Acting Commissioner of Social Security will sign off on publishing this proposal now. The incoming Democratic majority on the House Social Security Subcommittee is likely to be strongly opposed to this proposal. In my experience, the Social Security Administration has always been highly responsive to the House Social Security Subcommittee, far more responsive than to the White House or the Senate, neither of which is interested in getting down in the weeds of Social Security issues. Perhaps the Acting Commissioner would prefer to leave this hanging until there's a confirmed Commissioner to make the decision. We’ll see.

     For that matter, there's a proposal to remove inability to communicate in English as an education category in the grid regulations that's pending OMB review. Assuming OMB approves it, will Social Security ever publish it? More important, proposed changes to the musculoskeletal listings have already been published. The comments to that proposal may get much more serious consideration now.

Report On Culbertson v. Berryhill Oral Argument

     SCOTUSblog reports on this past week’s oral argument before the Supreme Court in Culbertson v. Berryhill, a case concerning the cap or caps on attorney fees for representing Social Security claimants in federal court.