Nobody Is Even Talking About "World Class Service" Any More

     From the New York Times:

... Social Security has closed 67 field offices since fiscal 2010 in rural and urban areas alike. For the public, the cuts have meant less access to field offices, and ballooning wait times in the remaining 1,229 offices and on the agency’s toll-free line. It also has meant long delays in hearings on disability insurance appeals and in resolving benefit errors. ...

From 2010 to 2018, Congress reduced the agency’s operating budget 9 percent in inflation-adjusted terms; at the same time, the number of beneficiaries rose 17 percent, according to agency data. ...

In March, Congress made a down payment on reversing years of cuts. Lawmakers ignored the Trump administration’s request for a small increase in fiscal 2018, instead raising the agency’s administrative budget by $480 million, or 4.6 percent. And in September, Congress overrode the administration again, approving a $40 million increase in Social Security’s operating budget for 2019 [which isn't enough to cover the agency's increased expenses due to inflation], rather than the cut of over $400 million proposed by the White House. For fiscal 2019, the agency’s operating budget is $11.1 billion. ...

The average wait time to see a claims agent in field offices was 26.5 minutes in fiscal 2018 — 37 percent higher than in 2010, according to the National Council of Social Security Management Associations, an organization composed of field office and telecommunications service center managers.

And the wait times can be much longer.

“People line up early at Social Security offices around the country,” said Christopher Detzler, who manages a field office in Vancouver, Wash., and is the council’s immediate past president. “Sometimes the lines wrap around the building, even for offices with more reasonable wait times.”

Contacting Social Security through its toll-free number can be difficult, and 15 percent of callers heard a busy signal when calling during fiscal 2018, according to the council.  ...

“Hot Women And A Respectable Life”

     I had missed this one. From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

Hot women and a respectable life. 

That was the prospect disgraced disability attorney Eric C. Conn dangled in front of a former employee as he urged the man to join Conn’s flight to Central America to avoid prison. 

The former employee, Curtis Lee Wyatt, was facing charges for helping Conn escape when Conn sent him an email last October, according to documents filed this week in federal court. 

Conn said he was saddened by the charges against Wyatt and tried to persuade him to sneak away and meet Conn. 

“Here you will have a respectable life and live well,” Conn told Wyatt. “Further, the women here are hot, hot.”

More Same Sex Marriage Litigation

     From YubaNet.com:

Lambda Legal today filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) on behalf of a 65-year-old gay man seeking spousal survivor’s benefits based on his 43-year relationship with his husband, who died seven months after Arizona began allowing same-sex couples to marry. The lawsuit filed on behalf of Michael Ely in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona argues that SSA’s imposition of a nine-month marriage requirement for social security survivor’s benefits is unconstitutional where same-sex couples were not able to be married for nine months because of discriminatory marriage laws.

They Don't Give Up; Neither Can We

     It won't surprise anyone familiar with the publication but the National Review has posted a piece calling for Social Security disability "reform." The "reform" they have in mind is ending Social Security disability and letting the states handle disability benefits, if they choose. You know the same people arguing for letting the states handle it would then argue that the states shouldn't handle it.

     Don't worry. This wouldn't have happened even with Republicans in control of Congress and it's definitely not happening with Democrats gaining control of the House of Representatives in a few weeks but the right wing doesn't give up. They keep coming back with the same bad, hugely unpopular ideas.

Expect To Hear More About This Once The New Congress Convenes

     From the New York Times:

.. The average wait time to see a claims agent in [Social Security] field offices was 26.5 minutes in fiscal 2018 — 37 percent higher than in 2010, according to the National Council of Social Security Management Associations, an organization composed of field office and telecommunications service center managers. 

And the wait times can be much longer. 

“People line up early at Social Security offices around the country,” said Christopher Detzler, who manages a field office in Vancouver, Wash., and is the council’s immediate past president. “Sometimes the lines wrap around the building, even for offices with more reasonable wait times.” 

Contacting Social Security through its toll-free number can be difficult, and 15 percent of callers heard a busy signal when calling during fiscal 2018, according to the council. (Appointments for phone conversations or in-person visits can be scheduled in advance by calling the toll-free number or a local field office.) 

Most of the workers who have departed were among Social Security’s longest-serving employees. All 3,400 field office staff reductions since 2010 have come through attrition, Mr. Hinkle [a Social Security spokesperson] said. 

“It’s not just lost head count, but lost institutional knowledge,” says Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group, and a member of the Social Security Advisory Board, a bipartisan, independent federal agency that advises the government on Social Security policy and its administration. ... 

Social Security serves one million more beneficiaries each year. If its budget had kept pace with the Consumer Price Index since fiscal 2010, it would be $1.3 billion higher in fiscal 2019 than the $11.1 billion that has just been allocated, Ms. Romig [of the Center on Budget and Policy Prioritied] said. And that is a conservative figure, because costs for big items, like office rent and health care, tend to rise more quickly than the C.P.I. [Consumer Price Index]...

Have A Great Thanksgiving Feast!

Happy Thanksgiving

Good News For Eric Conn's Former Clients

     There as finally been a decision in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in a case concerning the serious legal and constitutional issues presented by Social Security's reviews of prior decisions made in cases where Eric Conn had represented the claimant. This requires study but it appears to be good news for these claimants.

     The 6th Circuit is, by a wide measure, the most conservative of the Courts of Appeals. If Social Security can't win there, they can't win. However, I would expect that the agency will ask that the case be reheard en banc, that is by all members of the Court, rather than by a three member panel as is usually the case.