Nice Try

     From the Bangor Daily News:

A former Maine man was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland to 18 months in federal prison for lying in August 2017 to obtain a new Social Security number.

Lachlan Olen Granite, formerly known as Scott Edward Bounds, 54, of Center Ossipee, New Hampshire, believed that getting a new Social Security number would allow him to avoid paying alimony and child support, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. ...

The investigation into Granite’s past began after he sought a Social Security number claiming he had never had one before or received government benefits, according to the prosecution version of events to which he pleaded guilty. Granite told the Social Security worker in the Saco office that he had recently moved to Maine after being excommunicated from an Amish community in Illinois. ...

I Won't Even Try To Guess What The Problem Was Here

     From WIVB:

Due to a lower back injury, Melvin Sanders' says he has been unable to work since 2013.
He initially filed for Social Security Disability. However, because it could take a long time to get those benefits, he was approved for Social Security supplemental income. ...

Social Security officials put Melvin's case to an administrative law judge in Manhattan, via satellite, in December 2017. The judge ruled in Melvin's favor a few days later.

As of last week, Melvin had not received a dime of his benefits, "the wait has been very long, the pain has been terribly excruciating, seeing that my life has been in limbo for quite some time" ...

Sanders received a check for $4,300 last Friday. 

The check Melvin got in the mail last week works out to a small downpayment on what he is actually owed. When his claim was approved by the judge in Manhattan, it was retroactive to when Melvin was ruled to be disabled in 2013. ...

Central Offices Closed By Snow

     The Social Security Administration has announced that its offices in the Baltimore and Washington area will be closed on a Wednesday because of snow.

Important Change For Disabled People With Federal Student Loans

     I missed that the big tax bill passed at the end of 2017 contained a change that benefits some disabled individuals. You were already able to get a federal student loan discharged if you are disabled and Social Security had set a five to seven year re-examination date for you. However, the discharge of the debt was considered income to the disabled person which often meant that the discharge could cause an expensive tax liability, which defeats the purpose of giving the discharge in the first place. That was changed at the end of 2017 by 26 U.S.C. §108(f)(5)(A), which provides that the discharge of a student loan debt for this reason is not income. However, this sunsets after 2026 but I doubt it will be allowed to end then.

     Unfortunately, the five to seven year re-examination date requirement limits the value of this. I don't know what the numbers are but I'm pretty sure that few who are found disabled by Social Security get a five to seven year re-examination date even though very few have a realistic hope of getting better. I don't know that there are any re-exam dates that long for any sort of mental illness other than profound brain injury.

Full Retirement Age To 80?

     A Forbes contributor thinks that Social Security’s full retirement age should be raised to 80!

Wait Time To Get Hearing Still High

     From a press release:

The national average wait time for a Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits hearing is 538 days, according to Allsup, which has released its latest state-by-state ranking of the hearing backlog. Allsup is the nation’s premier disability representation company. 

At year-end, 801,428 people were waiting for a hearing to determine whether they would be awarded their benefits. Overall, the national average wait time has decreased 67 days from an all-time high of 605 days in 2017. The decrease in hearing processing times is due partly to funding received by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in 2018, aimed at tackling the disability hearing backlog.

The highest wait times still top 600 and 700 days in many cities, including 724 days in Long Beach, California; 706 days in New York City; 690 days in Greensboro, North Carolina; 689 days in Phoenix (North); and 684 days in Fresno, California. ...

     By the way, I'm old enough to remember when it took three months to get a hearing. Those who talk as if anything under a year is a dangerous rush to judgment are nuts. We need a dramatic speedup. It's not reasonable to expect people to wait so long.

Rep Payee Steals From Ten In Oregon

     From KPTV:

A Madras [OR] woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing tens of thousands of dollars in Social Security payments from disabled adults, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon says. ...

Court documents state Tucker beginning in March 2014 worked for a social services organization in Madras where she oversaw outreach to mentally disabled clients as part of the organization’s mental health program. As part of her work, Tucker assumed representative payee duties for some of her clients’ Title II and Title XVI Social Security benefits, the attorney’s office says. ...

An investigation revealed Tucker had stolen $39,277 from 10 victims, the attorney’s office says. ...

     I don't know how you keep it from happening but there have been too many reports like this.

When Members Of The Ways And Means Committee Speak, Social Security Needs To Pay Attention

    There's an op ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer from an attorney with Community Legal Services, which has a distinguished history of Social Security advocacy, and two members of the House Ways and Means Committee, denouncing the long appeal backlogs at Social Security and the reimposition of the reconsideration step in Pennsylvania.