In 2020 SSA Had Its Lowest Staffing In At Least 25 Years

      Social Security has released its Annual Statistical Supplemental for 2020, the mother lode of statistics about Social Security.

     Below is an interesting table from the Statistical Supplement. I often post Office of Personnel Management statistics showing the number of employees the agency has. This can be misleading since some are part time or out sick. The table below shows the number of work years. Click on the image to view full size. Notice the decline after Republicans gained control of Congress in the 2010 election. In 2020 the agency had the lowest staffing level in at least 25 years.

Absentee Boss

     From HuffPost:

Social Security Administration Commissioner Andrew Saul upset many agency staff when he canceled a popular teleworking program in 2019.

“A time of workload crisis is not the time to experiment with working at home,” Saul said when he announced the policy, citing a need to reduce wait times for Social Security claimants.

But Saul himself did not work in the agency’s main Baltimore office even before the pandemic forced everyone into telework, says Ralph de Juliis, president of the AFGE Council 220, which represents Social Security employees in field offices and call centers.

“We were told he’s spending his time in New York because that’s where he’s from,” de Juliis told HuffPost.

De Juliis said agency workers could see that Saul wasn’t logging into his Skype account, either, which employees and managers use for internal communication at the agency. In January 2020, his Skype account had been inactive for 67 days, according to a screenshot de Juliis shared with HuffPost. ...

“We really think Biden should find new people to run the Social Security Administration, who haven’t made it a point to be bad and horrible to employees and the union,” de Juliis said.

The SSA’s press office ignored requests for comment for this story.

"Long-Hauler" Disability Claims Start To Trickle In

      From National Public Radio:

When COVID-19 first arrived in the U.S., Jodee Pineau-Chaisson was working as the director of social services for a nursing home in western Massachusetts called Center for Extended Care in Amherst. By the middle of April, residents were getting sick.

In early May, Pineau-Chaisson was tapped for a particular duty: "I was asked to go on to the COVID-19 units to do FaceTime calls, so they could say goodbye to their family members," she recalls. "I was very scared."

She was worried about contracting the virus, but also felt like she owed it to her residents. So, at 55 years old and with no pre-existing conditions, Pineau-Chaisson put on an N95 mask, a white jumpsuit, and she entered the units to help. Three days later, she had COVID-19. ...

It's now been almost ten months since Pineau-Chaisson got sick, yet she is still dealing with a series of devastating ailments. She says she has memory problems, body pain, heart palpitations, depression and chronic fatigue. ...

Pineau-Chaisson is a so-called long-hauler. These are people who survive COVID-19 but have symptoms – sometimes debilitating symptoms – many months later. As scientists scramble to explain what is going on and figure out how to help, disability advocates are also scrambling: They are trying to figure out whether long-haulers will qualify for disability benefits.

Disability advocates and lawmakers are calling on the Social Security Administration or SSA to study the issue, update their policies and offer guidance for applicants.

"If we end up with a million people with ongoing symptoms that are debilitating, that is a tremendous burden for each of those individuals, but also for our healthcare system and our society," says Dr. Steven Martin, a physician and professor of family medicine and community health at UMass Medical School.

"We know what's coming. So, we have to make sure that we're on top of this," says U.S. Rep John Larson, a Democrat from Connecticut, who joined with another member of Congress to write a letter asking the SSA to work with scientists to understand what support long-haulers might need. ...

In a statement, the SSA told NPR that the current disability policy rules should be sufficient for evaluating COVID-related applicants, though the agency did not rule out taking additional action in the future. "Researchers are still learning about the disease and we will continue to look at our policies as research evolves," the statement said. ...

     As I've said before, it's easy for me to predict what Social Security will do with post-Covid "long hauler" cases. They'll delay and delay and delay doing anything with the claims. They'll then deny virtually every one of them but many will be approved after a hearing. Meanwhile, the agency will release a vague Ruling that will give no criteria whatsoever that could be interpreted as a standard by which a claim could be approved or, for that matter, denied. The Ruling will say that all evidence must be considered, blah, blah, blah. The agency is quite experienced in issuing such Rulings that seem to say something but which actually say nothing. If you refuse to say what the standard is, no one can blame you for not following the standard.

     By the way, I have my first post-Covid long hauler case now. Other attorneys tell me that they're starting to see a trickle of these cases. No one has any idea whether this will stay a trickle or become a flood but there's evidence that a significant percentage of those who suffer even mild cases of Covid-19 are still having symptoms six months later so the flood scenario is quite real.

Alarming Decline In SSI Claims

      From National Public Radio:

... During the pandemic, the number of monthly SSI applications and new benefit awardees has declined sharply. New data show that the number of new SSI awards given in January was the lowest on record — but it wasn't because there were fewer people in need of the benefits. ...

"The agency has a crisis on its hands," said David Weaver, who is now retired but worked for the SSA for over 20 years. Most recently, he led the SSA's Office of Research, Demonstration and Employment Support, which conducts research on the SSI program.

"The people who are missing out are among the most vulnerable," said Jonathan Stein, an advocate for those in poverty and, formerly, a legal aid lawyer at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, which helps individuals apply for SSI benefits. "They are at enormous risk of eviction, utilities being shut off, homelessness, being deprived of food and necessities of life." ...

In 2019, 43 million people across the country visited an SSA field office. That's where many people found out about the SSI program and got help applying.

"Those were very busy places. Sometimes it would be hard to find a parking spot in the lot," said James Winston, a lawyer in western Massachusetts, who helps people who have been denied disability benefits appeal the decision. "You would go in there, and it would be packed." ...

Kathleen Romig, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, says the explanation for the sharp decline is simply and solely the closed field offices. She says a lot of people used to go there and get help with their SSI applications.

"It's much more complicated to apply for a disability benefit than it is to apply for retirement or survivor's benefit," said Romig.

She points out that, unlike SSI benefits, applications for retirement benefits – which can be done online – have not seen a major drop during the pandemic. ...

In a statement to NPR, SSA spokesperson Mark Hinkle said, "We know vulnerable populations, especially the SSI population, rely on in-person service. We stepped up our outreach with advocates and third-party organizations to get their perspective about how things are going and to ask them for ideas on how we could improve our service during the pandemic."

He said the SSA is developing a training so caseworkers in the community can help with applications. The agency is also in the process of producing radio, TV and social media ads to raise awareness. ...

Social Security's Role In Desegregating Hospitals

      Andrew Saul has issued a new blog post claiming credit for the Social Security Administration for the desegregation of hospitals in the 1960s. It will surprise many that there is truth in this. The Social Security Administration was initially responsible for implementing Medicare, which came into effect during the 1960s. From the beginning, Medicare forbade discrimination in hospital care. Enforcing that ban on discrimination was part of SSA's responsibility.

     One interesting aspect of this blog post is that it labels Andrew Saul as Commissioner of Social Security. Which is it, "Commissioner" or "Acting Commissioner"? I've yet to see anything other than the White House list that designates Saul as "Acting Commissioner." Why is Social Security refusing to answer questions on this subject? This is a federal government agency. Don't taxpayers deserve to know the answer to the question? Why the game playing?

Social Security’s Ombudsman At Work

     Social Security's inability to translate Japanese marriage certificate delays widow's benefits nearly a year. Want to guess how she finally got action at Social Security?

Changes To Social Security Statement

     Got this in an e-mail:

Dear Colleague,

The Social Security Statement is one of our most valuable tools a person can use to learn about their earnings and future Social Security benefits. A convenient way to access the Statement is by using my Social Security, where you can find a variety of useful tools and information, including our new fact sheets.

We have added new fact sheets to accompany the online Statement. The fact sheets are designed to provide clarity and useful information, based on your age group and earnings situation. They can help you better understand Social Security programs and benefits.

The fact sheets cover:

• Retirement planning for four different age groups (Ages 18-48, 49-60, 61-69 and 70+).
• Benefit information for:
• Workers with non-covered earnings who may be subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision/Government Pension Offset;
• Workers who are not fully insured;
• Workers with an intermittent work history; and
• New workers.
• Medicare planning.

The fact sheets help educate workers about Social Security so they can make informed decisions based on their specific situation.

You can find all of the new fact sheets at www.ssa.gov/myaccount/statement.html.

I encourage you to share this information with your members, colleagues, affiliates, and other interested parties.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Buckner
Associate Commissioner

Office of Strategic and Digital Communications

Not A Good Sign For Andrew Saul

      This is from a press release issued by Senator Sherrod Brown, the new Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over Social Security.