SSI Income And Resources Rules Need Fixing And ABLE Isn't The Solution

     From Robert Farrington, writing for the Washington Post:

Living with a disability comes with all kinds of challenges, but the financial impact of being unable to work can be absolutely devastating. Imagine not being able to support yourself due to your disability, but also not being able to save money so you can continue qualifying for government aid including Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

To qualify for SSI, your countable resources must not be worth more than $2,000 for an individual or $3,000 for a couple. No matter how you cut it, that’s not very much.

This situation creates a kind of forced poverty for many individuals with a disability and the family members who care for them. But many experts say that the 529 ABLE Account, which was first introduced in 2014, can help curb this ongoing problem. ...

Contribution limits are extremely generous. With a 529 ABLE Account, individuals with disabilities are able to save up to $15,000 per year in 2019. On top of that, a designated beneficiary who works can contribute their income up to the poverty line for a one-person household, notes the IRS. ...

     SSI income and resources rules are barbaric so we create a loophole so the well to do can help their disabled family members. I've got a better idea. Why don't we just make the SSI income and resource rules less barbaric so every family can benefit! I think the illustration that the Post picked for this column -- a pretty blonde girl who's a double amputee -- pretty much sums up what's going on with ABLE.

Cue The Aggie Jokes

     From the Texas A&M student newspaper:

Texas A&M management senior Adriana Lopez received a scam call on Oct. 24 that ultimately led to her losing $10,000. Lopez said she hopes these events will show other students to be more cautious about who they give their information to.

Lopez said the beginning of this ordeal started with a person on the phone who claimed to work for Social Security whose phone number appeared to be the same as the Social Security Administration. This person said someone was buying drugs in Latin America using her name and Social Security number, and he threatened Lopez with time in jail if she did not do something to solve this problem. ...

Proposed Regs On CDRs

     Social Security will publish proposed regulations on the frequency of continuing disability reviews in the Federal Register on Monday. You can read the proposal today.

     They propose to add a new category, Medical Improvement Likely (MIL), to be reviewed every two years. MIL is aimed at a group of impairments which they say fit between the categories of Medical Improvement Expected (MIE) and Medical Improvement Possible (MIP). They say they will include anxiety related disorders in this category. I don't understand that. Anxiety disorders don't respond well to treatment. Panic disorders, the most commonly disabling anxiety disorder, are quite unresponsive to treatment.

     They propose to increase the frequency of reviews for the category of Medical Improvement Not Expected (MINE) from seven years to six years.

     Overall, they expect to increase Continuing Disability Review (CDRs) by more than 1.1 million a year.

     I love how this is all couched in language about helping people get back to work. That's baloney.  Disability benefits recipients already have plenty of incentives to return to work. Some people who are cut off benefits return to work; many don't. This certainly doesn't help anyone return to work.

     This is just a proposal. The public can comment. Social Security must review the comments. Once the agency is finished reviewing the comments and making any changes they want to make, it has to go back to the Office of Management and Budget for review before publication as final regulations. This process may extend past the next inauguration day. Even if pushed out before that date, an incoming Administration may decide not to implement them.

Win For NTEU On Telework

     The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) has given the union (NTEU) that represents attorneys and decision writers in its Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) a win on telework. Social Security unilaterally terminated its contract with the union and refused to agree to terms requiring telework. FLRA ruled that Social Security had failed to produce evidence to back up its case and ruled for the union.

Bonus For Promptness

     From Emergency Message EM-19032:

This emergency message (EM) provides instructions on how to handle inquiries from a one-time notice that was sent to correctional and mental health reporters and facilities.

On October 25, 2019, SSA mailed a one-time notice to participating correctional and mental health reporters and facilities to inform them of a change to Title XVI incentive payments. This letter is a follow-up and reminder sent to the original notice we previously sent to correctional and mental health reporters on July 2, 2018. ...

The new Title XVI incentive payment rules provide the following:

For every Title XVI recipient we suspend due to the inmate information provided, we will pay the institution:

· $400 for information received within 15 days of the confinement; or

· $200 for information received after 15 days but within 90 days after confinement. ...

Social Security Wants Info On Which Disabled People To Target For Reviews

     From a notice from the Social Security Administration that will appear in tomorrow's Federal Register:

We are announcing the fourteenth National Disability Forum. The purpose of this public forum is to obtain feedback from experts in their field on what impairments have a likelihood to improve. This forum will be moderated,and include up to five panelists presenting information on the topic. Additionally, there will be a combined question and answer session during which the panelists will address questions from those on site and received by email during the forum.

DATES:Tuesday December 3, 2019 from1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

ADDRESSES:Meeting Location: Partnership for Public Service, 1100 New York Ave NW, Suite 200 East, Washington, DC 20005 ...

     The truth is that there are very few Social Security disability recipients who are likely to improve. Why? The one year duration requirement in the definition of disability enacted by Congress. If you're going to be disabled for at least a year, you're very unlikely to improve significantly thereafter. You could easily find a lot of disability recipients to cut off if you just reduced the duration requirement to three months.
     By the way, remember that Social Security will probably soon publish proposed regulations having to do with disability terminations. You can see that something is coming. I'm sure they want to find a way to cut a lot of people off disability benefits. I doubt they'll succeed but we'll see.

Working Conditions At Social Security In Its Early Days

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Proposed Regs On CDRs Coming

     The Office of Management and Budget has cleared for publication in the Federal Register a package of proposed regulations on the frequency and notice of continuing disability reviews. This is only a proposal. The public may comment on the proposed rules. This proposal had been pending at OMB since March 13. That's an extraordinary time for a proposal to be pending, suggesting that there may be something controversial in the proposal. This is Social Security's vague description of the proposal published in the Unified Agenda last Spring:

... The proposed regulations would add a new category to our existing medical diary categories that we use to schedule CDRs and would revise the criteria we follow to place a case in each of the categories. They would also change how often we perform a CDR for claims with the medical diary category for permanent impairments. These revised regulations would ensure that we continue to identify medical improvement at its earliest point and remain up to date with current research.