Merry Christmas

What A Surprise

     The user fee -- really a tax -- on attorneys and others who receive direct payment of fees for representing Social Security claimants will remain at 6.3% in 2018.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

This is the White House. Melania says they look beautiful in person.

Merry Christmas!

Social Security Seeking Comments On Consideration Of Pain

     From an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which Social Security will publish in Monday's Federal Register:

We are soliciting public input to ensure that the manner in which we consider pain in adult and child disability claims under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act) remains aligned with contemporary medicine and health care delivery practices. Specifically, w e are requesting public comment s and supporting data related to the consideration of pain and documentation of pain in the medical evidence we use in connection with claims for benefits . We will use the responses to the questions below and any relevant research and data we obtain or receive to determine whether and how we should propose revisions to our current policy regarding the evaluation of pain.

     Remember, Democrats will control the House of Representatives in three weeks. Could the Social Security Administration go ahead with something terrible? Sure, but don't bet on it. Even if they try, they probably can't complete action on it before January 20, 2021.

SSA Seeking Comments On Rep Payees

     From a request for comments posted by Social Security in today's Federal Register:

We are requesting information on the appropriateness of our order of preference lists for selecting representative payees (payees) and the effectiveness of our policy and operational procedures in determining when to change a payee. We are seeking this information to determine whether and how we should make any changes to our representative payee program to help  ensure that we select suitable payees for our beneficiaries.