Got A Plan?

Trust Funds Ratio -- Asset Reserves As Percentage Of Annual Cost

 

     The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) has an interactive website that lets you try out plans for bringing the Social Security trust funds into long term balance. It may be humbling if you think there's some painless way of doing this unless you think there's no pain in either benefit cuts or tax increases.

     The CRFB was formed by the late Pete Peterson, who spent a good part of his fortune campaigning against Social Security. This website displays the sort of tilt that one might expect. It uses the euphemism "Slow Benefit Growth" for dramatic cuts in benefits. The website projects that investing part of the Social Security trust funds into stocks and bonds would solve 22% of the long term funding problem. Sure, if you make assumptions that cannot be proven and you ignore the risks involved. While diverting trust fund assets to stocks and bonds remains a Wall Street pipe dream, otherwise even the right wing has pretty much given up on the idea. This website also includes a proposal that would absolutely gut Social Security disability that almost no one even on the right is calling for. On the other hand, the website ignores serious proposals for devoting estate tax revenues to the Social Security trust funds. Billionaires don't want anyone even thinking about estate taxes.

     Still, it's a useful introduction to the issues involved.

"I'm Starting To Stink Really Bad. No Embalming Fluid"

     From the Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, CO:

Nine little numbers can kill you. Seriously. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust deadly.

That was what Ken Nesslage discovered to his untimely demise. RIP.

He was 77 and only trying to do the right thing when it happened, for heaven's sake.

He had gone to the Social Security Administration office out by the Grand Junction Regional Airport to notify them that his mother had died.

Roberta J. McDonough was 95 years, 1 month and 1 day old when she died on May 13 with her beloved small dog in her lap. Unfortunately, on July 1 it became apparent that the mortuary in Utah hadn't made the notifications for her that it was supposed to and it fell to Nesslage, the trustee for her estate.

A dutiful son to the end, he had all the proper paperwork. However, he was required to enter his own Social Security number into the system to get a ticket to be seen at the office window.

And with that nine-digit entry, Nesslage sent himself into the digital jaws of death.

Not realizing how bad off he was, though, he didn't go to the doctor for a week. He was told his Medicare was suspended.

As soon as he got home, he called Medicare.

"Are you sitting down, Mr. Nesslage?" the woman asked. "I'm going to tell you something that might disturb you greatly."

Then she told him he was dead. ...

He was back at the Social Security office in a hot second, much too upset to be a ghostly apparition.

But, alas, he was dead. As of May 13, in fact. The same day his mother died.

He was assured the error mixing up his mother's death with his own would be corrected.

However, in the days to come Nesslage began to realize it was much easier to die than to come back to life and found himself an odd member among the walking dead all headed downhill. ...

Still, he attempted to refill his blood pressure medication. His Medicare remained suspended.

Credit card — denied. ...

Meanwhile, Judy received another letter, this time from Social Security, telling her what her new monthly payments would be and that she would receive $255 for her husband's burial expenses.  ...

"I'm starting to stink really bad. No embalming fluid," Nesslage deadpanned. ...

On his fourth trip to the office on July 26 — everyone there now knows him by sight and certainly by name — he got a letter indicating he had been reported dead in error. ...

Disability Trust Fund Doing Fine

     After the balance in Social Security's Disability Insurance Trust Fund dipped to a low level in 2015, Congress passed and President Obama signed a bill that temporarily diverted more of the F.I.CA. taxes from Social Security's Retirement and Survivors Trust Fund to its Disability Trust Fund for three years, 2016-2018. So how's the trust fund doing in 2019 without the additional revenue? Not too bad. With the extra revenues, the Disability Trust Fund gained $18.1 billion in the first seven months of last year. In the first seven months of 2019, without the additional tax revenue, the Disability Trust Fund gained $2 billion. As of last month, the Disability Trust Fund balance was a healthy $99.1 billion.

Denying Disability Claims Doesn't Cause People To Go Back To Work; They Just Get Poorer And Poorer

https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/chart-book-social-security-disability-insurance

Explosion In Maryland

     A gas explosion destroyed a Social Security office building in Maryland yesterday. Because it was a Sunday, no one was injured. A Social Security employee who had come into work on Sunday to catch up was the first to report smelling gas. No one was injured.

What Happened In 2010?

https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/styles/downsample150to92/public/atoms/files/7-30-18di-chartbook-f11.png?itok=0-H0V58i

Disability Associated With Higher Death Rates

https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/chart-book-social-security-disability-insurance

New Ruling On Headaches

     Social Security Ruling 19-4p on the evaluation of headaches in determining disability will appear in the Federal Register on Monday. You can read it today. Here is what appears to me to be the key language from the Ruling:

Primary headache disorder is not a listed impairment in the Listing of Impairments (listings); however, we may find that a primary headache disorder, alone or in combination with another impairment(s), medically equals a listing. Epilepsy (listing 11.02) is the most closely analogous listed impairment for an MDI [Medically Determinable Impairment] of a primary headache disorder. While uncommon, a person with a primary headache disorder may exhibit equivalent signs and limitations to those detailed in listing 11.02 (paragraph B or D for dyscognitive seizures), and we may find that his or her MDI(s) medically equals the listing or in combination with another impairment(s), medically equals a listing.

Epilepsy (listing 11.02) is the most closely analogous listed impairment for an MDI of a primary headache disorder. While uncommon, a person with a primary headache disorder may exhibit equivalent signs and limitations to those detailed in listing 11.02 (paragraph B or D for dyscognitive seizures), and we may find that his or her MDI(s) medically equals the listing. 

Paragraph B of listing 11.02 requires dyscognitive seizures occurring at least once a week for at least 3 consecutive months despite adherence to prescribed treatment. To evaluate whether a primary headache disorder is equal in severity and duration to the criteria in 11.02B, we consider: a detailed description from an AMS [Acceptable Medical Source] of a typical headache event, including all associated phenomena (for example, premonitory symptoms, aura, duration, intensity, and accompanying symptoms); the frequency of headache events; adherence to prescribed treatment; side effects of treatment (for example, many medications used for treating a primary headache disorder can produce drowsiness, confusion, or inattention); and limitations in functioning that may be associated with the primary headache disorder or effects of its treatment, such as interference with activity during the day (for example, the need for a darkened and quiet room, having to lie down without moving, a sleep disturbance that affects daytime activities, or other related needs and limitations). 

 Paragraph D of listing 11.02 requires dyscognitive seizures occurring at least once every 2 weeks for at least 3 consecutive months despite adherence to prescribed treatment, and marked limitation in one area of functioning. To evaluate whether a primary headache disorder is equal in severity and duration to the criteria in 11.02D, we consider the same factors we consider for 11.02B and we also consider whether the overall effects of the primary headache disorder on functioning results in marked limitation in: physical functioning; understanding, remembering, or applying information; interacting with others; concentrating, persisting, or maintaining pace; or adapting or managing oneself.