I represent Social Security claimants so I have some knowledge of this subject as well as a self-interest which I acknowledge.
I suggest that the agency admit it lacks manpower to provide effective assistance to claimants. Since that is the case, it should enable third parties to make money providing those services. This may be a bitter pill for the agency to swallow but it is time to be honest about the situation.
The Social Security Act says that fees for representing claimants must be approved by the agency. 42 U.S.C. §406(a)(1). The agency has interpreted this provision broadly. Its position is that charging a fee just to help a claimant file a claim or an appeal must be approved by the agency. As a result no one is providing these services for a fee apart from those seeking contingent fees for much broader representation. This leaves a large number of people to seek services that the Social Security Administration is unable to supply. Social Security should announce that that merely helping a claimant file a claim or an appeal is not the sort of representation for which fee approval is required. This would allow attorneys and H.&R. Block and whoever else to provide these services for modest fees. As an alternative, if the agency still wants to control these fees, the Social Security Act provides authority for the Commissioner to simply approve a maximum fee. ("The Commissioner of Social Security may, by rule and regulation, prescribe the maximum fees which may be charged for services performed in connection with any claim ...) The Commissioner could announce that the maximum fee to help file a claim is, let's say, $250 and the maximum fee for helping to file an appeal is $100. Those providing these services would not have to submit a fee petition. I will concede that this suggestion helps those with some money more than it helps the destitute but one would hope that even the poor could come up with the modest fees I'm talking about. It would also free up agency personnel to provide more help for poor claimants. If Social Security cannot itself provide these services to all who need them, why stand in the way of others providing these services for modest fees?
We also need to have more disability claimants represented throughout the process.
When it's hard to make a living as a Social Security attorney, as it is now, the first thing you do is to be more careful about the cases you take on. This leaves more claimants with marginal cases without representation. This has the effect of discouraging them from pursuing claims. I'm sure that hearing offices notice that a significant percent of claimants never appear for their hearings. Do they notice that almost all of the no shows are unrepresented? Probably the biggest reason for the no shows is that the claimants have tried to find an attorney but became discouraged when they were turned down several times. Less obviously, potential claimants never file a claim to begin with because they couldn't find an attorney. However, cases that may appear weak when an attorney makes a quick decision on whether to take on a client may actually be much stronger than they appear.
How do we encourage attorneys to take on more cases? The incentives must be economic so, yes, my recommendations will be self-serving. Raising the fee cap and indexing it for inflation is the obvious start but that only gets us so far. Notice that SSI claimants are represented at a lower rate than Title II claimants. There are many reasons for this, including the fact that SSI claimants have less access to medical care, but the lower benefit rate for SSI claimants is a major factor, since that means a lower average fee. It would take legislation but the attorney fee in SSI cases could be changed to 1/3 of back benefits or there could be a minimum fee for SSI cases.
If you really want to encourage representation, extend the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) to Social Security. EAJA shifts the fee burden to the agency when it loses. EAJA covers most adjudication at other agencies. Why except Social Security?
It would also be great if Legal Services had much higher funding so that its affiliates could once again represent claimants in a big way. That hasn't happened since the 1980s!
Aug 17, 2021
My Take On Encouraging Representation
Aug 16, 2021
SSA Wants Input On Hidden Barriers
Input on Equity in SSA Programs: Hidden Barriers
Our next National Disability Forum (NDF) is scheduled for September 15, 2021, and is titled Equity in SSA Programs: Hidden Barriers. To prepare for the NDF, we are seeking feedback on questions related to the forum’s topics, Advancing Equity and Equity in Claimant Representation. We are using an online tool called Engage SSA to collect suggestions from claimants, advocates, the public, civil rights organizations, community-based organizations, representatives, and other governmental agencies about enhancing equity in SSA’s programs and services.
Below are some sample questions.
- Are you aware of any unique needs for people of color and other underserved communities that we should consider when evaluating our programs? If so, how can we meet these needs?
- How can we help underserved communities and their members overcome barriers they may encounter when enrolling in and accessing benefits?
- Are there incentives or other changes you suggest for encouraging attorney and non-attorney representation for claimants of color and other underserved communities?
You can provide input on the Engage SSA from now until Friday, August 20, 2021. Please see the Engage SSA guide for details on using the site.
Aug 15, 2021
Pandemic Has Had Quite An Effect On Disability Claims
From The Impact of Covid-19 on Older Workers’ Employment and Social Security Spillovers by Gopi Shah Goda, Emilie Jackson, Lauren Hersch Nicholas and Sarah See Stith, a presentation given at a conference presented by the Retirement and Disability Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison:
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So, what happens when the pandemic is over?
Aug 14, 2021
Aug 13, 2021
Maximus Loses Ticket To Work Contract
From Washington Technology:
Maximus has lost an incumbent contract at the Social Security Administration after the company saw its protest denied by the Government Accountability Office.
The company has held the Ticket Program Manager contract since at least 2015. But this time around, Cognosante won the contract and Maximus took its challenge to GAO. Maximus argued that the evaluation of proposals was not conducted properly.
According to the GAO protest docket, the Maximus protest was denied Aug. 6. ...
The Ticket Program Manager contract is worth $79.6 million and runs for five years. Cognosante and Maximus were the only two bidders on the contract, according to the Federal Procurement Data System. ...
Aug 12, 2021
Senior Staffers Added At Social Security
From Politico(emphasis added):
The Biden administration is racing to rebuild senior agency roles depleted by the previous president, hiring at the fastest rate in decades, a POLITICO analysis found.
In the first three months of 2021, the Biden administration hired more than twice as many senior government executives than Donald Trump did in the same timeframe, a staffing spree aimed at rebuilding agencies rocked by turmoil during Trump’s war on the so-called “deep state.”
All told, Biden hired at least 319 senior executives in his first three months. The biggest beneficiaries? The Department of Housing and Urban Development tops the list, with Biden increasing senior staffing by 6 percent from Trump’s September 2020 levels. That’s followed by the Social Security Administration and the Treasury Department, with 4 percent and 3 percent bumps respectively. ...
Legal Immigrants Can Now Get Green Card And Social Security Card At The Same Time
From the Miami Herald:
One of the first things immigrants in the United States often do right after becoming legal permanent residents is go to a Social Security Administration office to get a new Social Security number or card replacement, which allows its holder to work anywhere in the country without conditions.
But starting now, for the first time, all new lawful permanent residents will have a chance to avoid this dual process.
The Biden administration announced on Monday a partnership between the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) that will allow immigrants to apply for their residence or green cards, as well as their Social Security number (SSN) in one fell swoop. ...
Aug 11, 2021
I Understand The Frustration But ...
From Michael Hiltzig writing in the Los Angeles Times:
The career of Garrison Keillor, the folksy host who revived the American tradition of gathering every week in front of the radio, appears to be in something of an eclipse. ...
An allegation of “inappropriate behavior” with a female assistant spurred Minnesota Public Radio, his broadcast home for more than four decades, to sever its ties with Keillor. ...
So it’s conceivable that a recent column posted on his website in which he equates the Social Security Administration with the Nazi Schutzstaffel — that is, the SS — represents nothing more than his attempt to grasp at the public attention that has been slipping away. Even in those terms, however, it’s over-the-top and repugnant.
Describing his travails getting caught in Social Security phone message hell when he tried to obtain a replacement Medicare card, Keillor wrote of “Social Security, whose initials are the same as Hitler’s Schutzstaffel, which is no mere coincidence.” ...
Social Security Administration has been systematically underfunded for years, leading inexorably to a decline in customer service. ...
President Biden is calling for a 10% increase in the program’s budget, but that’s not nearly enough to bring customer service up to where it should be — indeed, where it was more than a decade ago. ...