Trump’s Most Dramatic Attempt To Undermine Social Security

      From the Washington Post:

Another document signed by Trump on Saturday attempts to defer payroll tax payments from September through December for people who earn less than $100,000. The impact of this measure could depend on whether companies decide to comply, as they could be responsible for withdrawing large amounts of money from their employees’ paychecks in a few months when the taxes are due.

     Are we in a situation now where Republicans, no longer content with trying to undermine Social Security in subtle ways, decide to really own the libs by completely destroying the program’s finances? If Trump gains re-election does he dispense with ordinary American governance and rule by fiat?

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Another Puerto Rico Development

     The First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on April 10 that it is unconstitutional to deny SSI benefits to U.S. citizens who reside in Puerto Rico. However, the case that the Court decided was something of an oddball. The Social Security Administration was trying to collect an overpayment of benefits that allegedly resulted when the claimant moved from the mainland to Puerto Rico but continued to receive SSI benefits. The claimant was the defendant in the action.

     There's now a District Court decision specifically involving claimants trying to get on SSI benefits. The U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico has held that a claimant cannot be denied SSI benefits because he or she resides in Puerto Rico. Martinez et al v. HHS. The Martinez decision also extends to other benefits such as food stamps and the Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy, which explains the first named defendant. The Martinez case is not a class action so Social Security isn't yet under an order to make SSI generally available in Puerto Rico but a class action is certainly coming.

     I'd really like to hear what is happening in Puerto Rico. Are large numbers of claimants trying to file SSI claims? What instructions have Social Security's field offices been given? Is Social Security trying to train field office employees in Puerto Rico on handling SSI claims?

     As I've said before, if SSI suddenly becomes available in Puerto Rico, there's going to huge numbers of claims filed. There's no way that local resources can handle the influx. Social Security will have to use resources from across the entire country to take the claims, make disability determinations and to process claimants onto benefits. Why do I have a feeling that Social Security management has no plan other than wishing and hoping the Supreme Court hold that it's OK to deny SSI to residents of U.S. territories? That may happen but I don't think anyone should feel confidence that the ruling will go that way.

Congressmen Ask For Review Of Phone Service And Process For Obtaining Medical Evidence

     From The Observer of Dunkurk, NY:

House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B. Larson and Republican Leader Tom Reed have sent two letters to Social Security Administration Inspector General Gail S. Ennis asking for a review of SSA’s telephone service during the COVID-19 pandemic and SSA’s process for obtaining medical evidence for disability claims.

White House F.I.C.A. Insanity

     The President has been proposing that one aspect of a pandemic response be for the government to stop collecting the F.I.C.A. tax that supports Social Security. This proposal has received almost no support even from Republican legislators. Despite the requirement of the Constitution that the President "take care that the Laws be faithfully executed "the President's Chief of Staff is proposing that the President issue an executive order waiving the F.I.C.A. tax! Predictably, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee have slammed the idea. However, the biggest reason that the idea of the President issuing an executive order waiving collection of the F.I.C.A. tax won't fly is that regardless of an executive order it would be crazy for any employer to not pay the F.I.C.A. tax. Any such action will be vigorously contested and would not stand. Employers would be reminded of the consequences of failing to pay the F.I.C.A. tax. There's a 100% tax penalty and that penalty is levied not just against a corporation but personally against the corporate officers. If you're an employer, you never, ever fail to pay the F.I.C.A. tax. Even if your finances are so bad that you're having trouble making payroll, you still pay the F.I.C.A. tax. Shut down the business and stiff the employees their last paycheck if you have to but never fail to pay F.I.C.A.!

     And, no, my Republican friends, this isn't just like D.A.C.A. Everyone concedes that the President has discretion in criminal prosecutions. No one in their right mind thinks the President has discretion to stop collecting a tax.

Beyond Parody

     In North Korea the Ministry of Social Security is the new name for the state police.

What Does Living Together Mean?

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

SSI recipients may live with individuals, such as a spouse or parent, who themselves are not eligible for SSI payments. SSA refers to these individuals as ineligible deemors, and their income can affect the recipients’ SSI eligibility and payment amounts. Past investigations have shown that some recipients have falsely reported separations from deemors when their income could adversely affect the recipients’ SSI payments. Given that recipients self-report their living arrangements, it is difficult to differentiate false from legitimate reports of separations. ...  

[W]e identified 691 recipients who reported they had separated from ineligible deemors. However, their addresses still matched the deemors’ addresses at least 1 year after the reported separation, and the deemors had at least a $2,000 increase in wages in at least 1 year before or after the year of the reported separation. We reviewed a random sample of 100 of the 691 recipients. ...  

For 39 of the 100 recipients we reviewed, the deemors’ income would have affected the recipients’ SSI payment amounts had the recipients and deemors continued or resumed living together after their reported separations. For 20 of the 39 cases, SSA found information in its systems to support, or our Office of the Investigations concluded, the recipients and deemors continued or resumed living together. SSA paid the 20 recipients approximately $496,000 in SSI payments after their reported separations. Estimating our results to the population, approximately 2,800 recipients may have falsely reported their separations from the deemors, and SSA paid them approximately $69 million after their reported separations....

     I'm sure there are some people fibbing in order to get higher benefits. However, I'm also sure that it's more complicated than OIG imagines. Let me describe a hypothetical situation. The wife kicks the husband out of the house because he's drinking or using drugs or his psychiatric problems are causing too many problems in the household. However, she allows him to stay in a trailer or a camper at the same address. He's allowed to come inside to use the bathroom. Are they living together? I'd say they aren't but they have the same address. What do you say? I'm sure some readers think I'm describing something that rarely happens. Wrong. At any given time, I've got two or three clients who are in this situation and sometimes it's the wife or the son or daughter living in the camper. Sometimes, the claimant continues to get mail at the old address even while staying in a homeless shelter or living in a tent in the woods. Life is more complicated than OIG can imagine. Unless you're going to send out investigators, you'll never know the truth and you may not find out the truth even if you sent out an investigator. Cutting people's benefits because of some possibly misleading "information" in your system will cause many injustices. Be careful.

COVID-19 And You

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