The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has issued a report titled How to Increase Usage of SSA's Online Tools. I don't know that the report presents any new ideas but it does include this interesting chart which shows what groups are and aren't filing online:
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From KTLA:
Mamie Walker is sick and tired of the government abruptly cutting off her social security benefits, leaving her unable to pay her rent and buy food. She said it’s all because of a mistake no one can explain, KTLA sister station WFLA reported.
Walker hasn’t received benefits for the past two months. She received a letter from the U.S. Social Security Administration saying she owes over $237,000 in “overpayments” and won’t receive benefits again until September, 2034. She would be 100 years old. ...
This is the second time Walker asked for help after her social security benefits were cut. In 2019, the government claimed Walker owed over $200,000 in old student loan debt. Walker, who never went to college, had no idea what that was about. ...
A Social Security Administration representative said this would be investigated again and they’ll try to assist Walker in getting her benefits back.
I listened to the oral argument is U.S. v. Vaello-Madero. You can't always tell from oral arguments and maybe I heard what I wanted to hear but my impression was that the only issue was how broad the opinion will be -- that all or virtually all of the justices are ready to hold it unconstitutional to deny SSI to U.S. citizens who reside in Puerto Rico and other territories.
If you also listened to the oral arguments, what was your take?
Update: The Supreme Court reporter at the Washington Post thinks the Supreme Court is reluctant to extend SSI to Puerto Rico. However, court reporters at The Hill seem uncertain about how the Court will come down.
Vague though it may be, Social Security has released its reopening plan. It certainly allows many employees to continue working from home every day. No one has to come into the office daily.
I don't know how this is going to work. I'm pretty sure that there will be be far, far too much demand for in-person service at the field offices to allow field office employees to work from home three days a week. How do ALJs conduct all the hearings they are supposed to conduct coming into the office one day a week? Things I've read suggest that many ALJs think that most claimants will continue to accept telephone and video hearings in the future. That's incredibly naive. I don't care how wonderful you think telephone or video hearings are. I know better. My opinion and that of my clients matter. The self-serving opinions of public servants don't matter in this instance. Cramming video hearings down the throats of unwilling claimants won't be politically feasible after the pandemic is over. We're getting back to something like normal or there's going to be hell to pay.
Ian Millhiser has written an excellent summary for Vox of the legal issues presented by U.S. v. Vaello-Madero, which is to be heard by the Supreme Court tomorrow. Vaello-Madero presents the issue of whether it is constitutional to deny SSI benefits to U.S. citizens who reside in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories.
The old precedents supporting the denial of SSI to Puerto Ricans, the so-called Insular Cases are so disreputable that they cannot be used to turn down Mr. Vaello-Madero. The Court could come up with new reasoning to justify turning down Mr. Vaello-Madero but would it? There probably won't be some liberal-conservative split on this case. Every amicus brief filed supported Mr. Vaello-Madero.
Social Security has redesigned the statement that potential beneficiaries can access online to tell them about their future benefits. The redesign is getting positive reviews. They used to send something like this out in the mail whether you asked for it or not. My experience was that no one paid attention to the statements that used to be mailed even if they were about to file a claim for benefits. It may be a better design now but will that make a difference, especially when far fewer people are seeing it?
From Deputy Comm
Grace Kim.
Subject: Operations Re-entry Plan
I know most of you are curious about Operations’ future telework plan. The global pandemic has changed our operating environment, how and where we work, and highlighted those areas where we are not meeting our public’s needs. Over the course of the past 19 months, we have learned that we can effectively accomplish some work while teleworking, but our public service responsibilities mean that we still need to do some work onsite.
In Operations, I am planning for greater flexibility for telework for employees. We will use the lessons learned throughout the pandemic to inform how we implement a telework plan that allows employees to work from home and ensures that we effectively serve the public and carry out our mission. We will work closely with AFGE to ensure we meet all labor obligations. I am excited to share that I have proposed a telework program that will allow most Operations employees the opportunity to telework between 2-5 days a week depending on your job duties. Soon, your supervisor will share the telework availability for your position and give you 30 days’ notice before we transition to our new telework plan, which at earliest will begin in January. Until then, we will continue to operate as we have been under our current Workplace Safety Plan.
After we have completed re-entry and implemented our telework plans, we will evaluate how we are doing. This evaluation will inform our longer-term plans as we enter Fiscal Year 2023.
I want to thank you for your hard work and commitment to serving the public during this unprecedented time. I appreciate your patience as we consider how to safely re-enter the workplace. I will keep you updated on the re-entry process.
Grace
