Report On Decline In Disability Claims

     Social Security's Office of Retirement and Disability Policy has published a briefing paper dealing with the question of why the number of disability claims approved has gone down so much. It doesn't come to any definite conclusions.

    The main problem I have with this otherwise thorough report is that it mostly limits the data presented to 2017 and earlier. Since then the number of disability claims filed has continued to go down dramatically while the unemployment rate has held pretty much steady. That's hard to explain if your theory is that number of disability claims has declined due to reduced unemployment. I think this is the main issue that needs to be examined and this report seems to skirt around it.
     I believe that more research is needed on the connection between the quality or lack of quality of service at Social Security and the number of disability claims filed. As this report indicates, many who might file claims are ambivalent about doing so. This ambivalence makes them easily deterred by difficulty in filing a claim. We have some research on this subject but not much.
     By the way, if you think that the Office of Retirement and Disability Policy must issue many briefing papers like this, you're wrong. It's August and this one is labeled "Briefing Paper No. 2019-01." What exactly do they do in that Office?

About 500 Of Eric Conn's Former Clients Get Their Disability Benefits Restarted

     About 500 of Eric Conn's former clients will get their benefits reinstated, at least for now, as a result of the decision of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Hicks v. Commissioner of Social Security. This only applies to those whose cases are pending on appeal. There are others who did not appeal their terminations who are not currently affected. There is a class action lawsuit pending which may get their benefits reinstated. It's not at all clear what process Social Security will use in any future benefit redeterminations for Conn's former clients.

Happy 84th Birthday, Social Security!

By the way, notice the cigar in the left hand of the man on the right. That was Senator Pat Harrison of Misissippi. Different times.

Social Security Ruling 19-3p

     Social Security Ruling 19-3p will be in the Federal Register tomorrow. It's on requesting reconsideration or a hearing. The regulations require that these appeals be in writing. The Ruling, as best I can tell on a first reading, is designed to make it clear that the agency considers an appeal filed through its online systems to be in "writing."

Social Security 2100 Act To Get A Vote In House This Year?

     Rachel Greszler, research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, believes that the House of Representatives will take up the Social Security 2100 Act this fall. That bill would assure Social Security financing through the year 2100 and would increase benefits. It would also     increase the FICA tax, particularly on high income individuals. She predicts it will pass the House easily. Here’s another right wing source predicting it will come up in the House very soon. Of course, with Mitch McConnell as the Majority Leader there’s no way the Senate will take it up.
     By the way, I haven’t seen even one source with even a marginal alignment with Democrats warning that there’s some political danger for Democrats in voting for this. As scared of their own shadow as Democrats often are, I think that tells you something about the politics of this bill.

Does Move To Decertify Immigration Judges’ Union Have Implications For Social Security ALJs?

     From the New York Times:

The Justice Department has moved to decertify the union of immigration judges, a maneuver that could muffle an organization whose members have sometimes been openly critical of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda. 

The department filed a petition on Friday asking the Federal Labor Relations Authority to determine whether the union, the National Association of Immigration Judges, should have its certification revoked because its members are considered “management officials” ineligible to collectively organize, according to a Justice Department spokesman. ...

     Could you make the same argument regarding Social Security Administrative Law Judges? In the past, Social Security has tried hard to take away anything that looks like ALJ management responsibilities, at least in traditional hearing offices, but what management responsibilities do Immigration Judges have?

Errors On Social Security Statements

     From the Detroit Free Press:

... In an odd quirk, Social Security finally acknowledged in early August that a glitch caused the agency to send out some incorrect "On Request" paper statements. The troubled reports were triggered if you asked for information on your Social Security account via a paper form, known as an SSA-7004. 

"Of the tens of thousands of paper requests the agency receives annually, less than 1% of those statements issued contained errors," according to an email from Mark Hinkle, acting press officer in the national Social Security office. ...

Social Security said a coding issue caused errors on a very small number of the "On Request" statements that were issued since 2017. Hinkle said the statements displayed the correct estimated benefit amounts but the mistakes were made when the projected benefits were applied to incorrect ages at which the person would receive them.  ...

Jumpy In Lubbock

      From KCBD:

Officials with the Lubbock Police Department say a huge misunderstanding caused the evacuation of the Social Security office in Lubbock today.

According to police, a person parked a vehicle in the employee parking lot of the building and ran off quickly. The call came in just after 11:30 a.m.

Homeland Security officers told KCBD the vehicle had out-of-state plates and it concerned an employee when the person ran off.

Officers responded and brought in a K-9 dog used to detect explosives.

During the investigation, they learned a person was late for a job interview. The person parked quickly and ran to their interview.

The building was evacuated for about an hour.