The report shown below was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in its newsletter, which is not available online to non-members. It contains basic operating statistics for Social Security's Office of Hearings Operations.
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This situation is not completely the same as before. Astrue was acknowledged by all as competent; Saul, not so much. Astrue had stepped on some toes but not nearly to the extent of Andrew Saul, who seems to have gone out of his way to offend, particularly to offend employee unions which are an important Democratic constituency. Democrats definitely want Saul out. There is the issue now of whether Saul can be fired without cause. That constitutional issue had not emerged in 2008.
I don't know what's going to happen but it's surprising to me that Saul hasn't either said he's leaving soon or taken some action to let it be known that he's going to try to hang on.
From Cox Media Group:
The Social Security Administration plays a critical role in helping people with financial relief in their later years of life, but for some people, the checks don’t ever stop.
“What we found is their books are a mess,” said Adam Andrzejewski with OpenTheBooks.com.
He shared data with us that showed 6 million Social Security numbers that were active for people aged 112-years-old and older.
“Here’s the problem: there’s only 40 of those people alive in the entire world,” Andrzejewski said. “Last year, Social Security paid out $8 billion improperly.” ...
A bill has been introduced in the Senate to stop dead people from receiving these payments, but Andrzejewski said it has gone nowhere.
I have no idea whether the 6 million number is accurate but 6 million who are not listed as dead is not the same thing as 6 million dead people receiving benefits. This is so wildly misleading that it raises questions about the motivations of the people behind this "revelation".
In the end, if you want better efforts to police the death master file, you want to give the Social Security Administration a lot more money for its operating budget. You could, in the alternative, ask whether maintaining the list of dead people should even be the responsibility of the Social Security Administration.
