No COLA This Year?

     Very early numbers suggest that there may be little or no Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security benefits this year.

Every Other Social Security Attorney In The Country Digitized Their Records Years Ago But Not Eric Conn

     From WKYT:

He admitted to defrauding the federal government out of $550 million and is currently serving a 27 year prison sentence. However, Eric Conn's former clients and those helping them continue to deal with the aftermath of his social security scheme.

"A lot of people don't think about all of the impacts a situation like this causes," said Cary Howard, Jr.

As part of the court process Conn's well known law compound off of U.S. 23 in Floyd County ... . Inside those offices were thousands of client files. So what has happened with all of those files? Back in the fall Howard along with Barry Stilz were appointed by a federal judge as the receivers of those files. Howard and Stilz work at Lexington based law firm Kinkead and Stilz. ...

It took a couple of tractor trailer trucks and multiple box trucks to move the files to a secure space in Lexington. Howard recruiting some attorneys who aren't currently practicing and some University of Kentucky law students to organize and inventory what he now estimates is 15,000 to 18,000 client files. Howard says they were initially told there were about 8,000 files.

"There is nothing in digital form, everything is paper. There is about 60 tons of paper."  

Now that they have gotten a good amount of the files organized they are hoping to get them to the former clients. Howard says they have had about 800 files requested and have been able to locate around 600 of those. That obviously a small amount when looking at the grand total. ...

Social Security Subcommittee Members Announced

     House Ways and Means Committee Democrats and Republicans have announced the members of the Social Security Subcommittee for this Congress:

• Chair: Rep. John Larson (D-CT)
• Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)
• Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA)
• Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY)
• Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI)
• Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA)
• Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL)
• Ranking Member Tom Reed (R-NY)
• Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX)
• Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA)
• Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS)

OHO Processing Time Report

     This was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in their newsletter (which is not available online to the public). It concerns the processing of requests for hearing by the agency's Office of Hearings Operations.

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Social Security Headcount Declines By 3% To Lowest Number In More Than 10 Years

      The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has posted updated figures for the number of employees at the Social Security Administration:

• June 2018 60,898
• December 2017 62,777
• September 2017 62,297
• June 2017 61,592
• March 2017 62,183
• December 2016 63,364
• December 2015 65,518
• December 2014 65,430
• December 2013 61,957
• December 2012 64,538
• September 2011 67,136
• December 2010 70,270
• December 2009 67,486
• December 2008 63,733
• September 2008 63,990

A Real Winner Brought To Social Security By Donald Trump

     From Media Matters:

Before joining President Donald Trump's administration [as Acting Associate Commissioner at the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of Strategic and Digital Communications], right-wing commentator Robert W. Patterson argued against contraceptives because “condom use robs” women of the “remarkable chemicals” in semen; said married women in the workplace have undermined society; and suggested that homosexuality is a mental disorder and sexual orientation can be forcibly changed. ...

     There's a lot more detail in the Media Matters piece. Patterson is a real nutjob.

Attorney Fees Remain Level In 2018

     Total fees paid to attorneys and others who represent Social Security claimants came to $1.21 billion in 2018, the same as in 2017. The lack of change is itself surprising. Of course, there was 1.9% inflation in 2018, so, in effect, attorneys lost 1.9% in 2018.

Waiting In Syracuse

     From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

Jamie Crouse broke his skull in two places, his collarbone and six ribs, suffered a concussion and lost hearing in one ear in a 2016 motorcycle accident.

The injuries left the chef too dizzy to work anymore in restaurants.

Despite the extensive injuries, it took the federal Social Security Administration more than two years to approve his application for disability.

Crouse is not alone. More than 7,000 people in Syracuse are waiting for hearings to decide if they qualify for Social Security disability benefits. Syracuse’s 19-month wait is among the worst in the nation. After a hearing it can take up to another six months before a decision is issued. That means injured people often struggle to make ends meet or end up homeless as they spend two years awaiting benefits for which they may be entitled. ...

Before Social Security approved his application in November, Crouse was bouncing checks and running up credit card debt.

“I was definitely going under,” he said. “I don’t know if they are understaffed or they just try to bleed you dry." ...

People in Syracuse seeking hearings face some of the longest waits in the nation. The average wait time in November for a hearing was 19 months, the tenth longest in the US.

Federal budget cuts are to blame for the long waits. The Social Security Administration’s budget was cut 9 percent between 2010 and 2018. That reduction left the agency short staffed at the same time disability applications were increasing. To fix the problem, Congress increased the Social Security Administration’s funding by $480 million in 2018 to help ease the backlog and approved a $40 million increase for 2019.

But the extra money has yet to shorten the wait for hearings here. ...