U.S. Does Disability Benefits On The Cheap

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

iAppeals Down

     I have heard a number of reports this morning that Social Security's iAppeals system went down yesterday afternoon and is still down. I really wish the agency would make announcements about this sort of thing.
     Update: I'm told that Social Security is aware of the problem and working on it. I'm told that they may not have even been aware of the problem until well into today. That's pretty amazing.

A Personal Milestone

     I want to mark a personal milestone. Forty years ago today, the day after Labor Day 1979, I hung out a shingle and entered the private practice of Social Security law. I knew something about Social Security law from having worked at the agency but I knew almost nothing about representing clients. There's an old joke about a visitor to New York City asking a person on the street how to get to Carnegie Hall and getting the answer  "practice, practice, practice." I thank my early clients for allowing me to "practice" on them.
     Ten years from now will it be 50 years in private practice for me? Not likely but I’m not ruling it out.

Andrew Saul Hasn't Hit The Ground Running

     Andrew Saul was sworn in as Commissioner of Social Security on June 17. A few days later I posted a list of issues on Saul's docket. Let's go through that list and see what actions Saul has taken:

What To Do About Hicks v. Commissioner of Social Security

• Social Security twisted its rules to cut off benefits for as many of Eric Conn's former clients as possible. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the agency on November 21, 2018. Ever since then the Solicitor General and Social Security have been "considering" whether to ask the Supreme Court to hear the case. I doubt that they are seriously considering that. I think they've just been stalling until a new Commissioner was confirmed because it's hard to decide how to implement the decision of the Court of Appeals.  They can't stall much longer. -- A decision was made that Social  Security would not ask the Supreme Court to hear the case but that was inevitable since there was no reason for the Supreme Court to hear the case. No decision has been made on the difficult question of how to handle the Conn cases in the wake of the 6th Circuit opinion.

What To Do About Cases Pending At The Appeals Council Which Were Decided Prior To Lucia v. SEC And An Objection Has Been Made To ALJ

• The Supreme Court decided last year that Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) as then appointed were unconstitutional. Social Security changed the way ALJs were appointed to adjust to this decision but there are thousands of cases still pending at the Appeals Council that were heard before the Lucia opinion. The agency has suggested that they want to avoid remanding all these cases for new hearings with different ALJs by having the Appeals Council issue new decisions on its own. This is arguably illegal and probably impractical. A decision on this can't be delayed much longer. -- No action. This one won't wait much longer.

Proposed Regulation That Has Been Published For Comments And Can Now Be Made Final

• Removing inability to communicate in English as a factor in determining disability. Anti-immigrant proposals are very popular with Republicans these days but Saul will poison his relationship with Congressional Democrats if he goes ahead with this one and they have the power to make his life difficult.-- No action.

Proposed Regulations That Have Not Yet Been Published For Comments

• Considering social media in determining disability. Unpopular with many in Congress, including Republicans.
• Revising evaluation of vocational factors in determining disability (probably increasing age categories in grid regulations). Go ahead with this one and you've made a declaration of war on Congressional Democrats.
• Hearings held by Administrative Appeals Judges. Nobody knows exactly what this one is but if it's what I think it is -- trying to get rid of independent ALJs -- it's going to be unpopular with all Democrats and many Republicans in Congress. -- No action on any of these proposed regulations. Will there ever be any action?

Stance On Employee Unions

• The Trump Administration has taken an extremely aggressive and antagonistic stance on federal employee unions. Social Security has followed suit. Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee are already pressuring Saul to soften Social Security's approach. Will he be a loyal Republican and continue the harsh anti-union stance or does he modify it to avoid conflict with Congressional Democrats who can make his life difficult? His message to agency staff suggests that he'll soften the anti-union stance. -- No publicly announced action on employee unions.

Process For Appointing New ALJs

• The old process for appointing ALJs was found unconstitutional. What will the new process be? -- Apparently, the agency has been in the process of hiring new ALJs. I don't think there's been any announcement of what the process is.

Fee Cap 

• This one may be wishful thinking on my part. The cap on fees that may be charged for representing Social Security claimants hasn't been raised since February 9, 2009. By any normal standard it's way past time to increase it. However, I'm not sure that the organizations that represent those who represent claimants have been able to generate any real pressure to increase the cap. -- No action.

Happy Labor Day

People Still Forget This

Prison For Man Who Threatened To Shoot Up Field Office

     From Michigan Live:

A Florida man who threatened in a phone call to “shoot everyone” at a Kalamzoo Social Security Administration office has been sentenced to a year in prison. 

Samuel Adam Santellan, 55, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids to the prison term. 

Santellan called the office from Florida in December 2018 about a rejected disability claim. He became angry at some point and told a clerk that he was going to "get a gun, come to the (Social Security) office and shoot everyone.” ...

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.