Does Social Security Need A Beneficiary Advocate?

    From a press release: 

Today, U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy, Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Bob Casey (D-PA) sent a letter to President Biden urging him to create a “Beneficiary Advocate” position within the Social Security Administration (SSA). This position would be modeled off of the Taxpayer Advocate position at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and ensure that the tens of millions of Americans who rely on Social Security, often after a lifetime of work and paying into the system, have a dedicated voice in SSA’s day-to-day operations. ...

    It would have to be truly independent to be effective. My guess is that Social Security management would strongly oppose this since an independent taxpayer advocate would almost immediately start offering harsh criticism of service at Social Security. There's a lot to criticize and they know it. The problem is the low operating budget and that's the fault of Congress but Social Security management acts as if it's their fault and tries to cover it up.

NYC To Stop Taking Children's Benefits

    From National Public Radio:

Child welfare officials in New York City say they will stop collecting all of the Social Security checks from children in foster care and using that money to cover the costs of their care, altering a practice criticized by advocates for children. And those advocates say they hope New York's action becomes a model for agencies across the country.

Jess Dannhauser, commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services, New York City's child protection agency, says soon the Social Security money will be placed in savings accounts that children can access when they leave foster care–either when they return to family, are adopted or age-out of foster care between ages 18 and 24. ...

Does Anybody Care?

      I keep posting links to stories such as these from New York and California about terrible service at Social Security but I am getting an increasing feeling of futility. The national media seem uninterested. Congress just passed an appropriation for Social Security that was way below the increase in the cost of living, assuring that Social Security's service problems are just going to get worse. Poor public service at Social Security is just too boring a subject for a Congressional hearing. Agency management seems more interested in dealing with internal labor-management issues than with public service. Social Security basically didn't answer their telephones this week -- at all. They say it's technical problems but the agency couldn't be bothered to even put out a press release. How can a huge agency like Social Security fail to answer its phones for a whole week and no one notices other than those trying to call the agency? If agency management can get away with this, is there anything they can't get away with? Of course, it's hard to tell the difference between telephone service this week and most weeks because it's so bad even when they halfway try to answer their phones. What is it going to take to get public attention to the problems? Will it be noticed when people are lining up well before dawn to get into Social Security field offices to be helped? That's coming in April.

Contractor Problems Contributing To Social Security Phone Issues

    Social Security's telephone systems have been down this week. It's been essentially impossible to call in. I don't  get the impression that the agency is all that concerned about this. They haven't even put out a press release. Maybe by this point the difference between nearly impossible and impossible have become so slight that it hardly matters to them any more.

    There's an employee union podcast on reopening at Social Security, specifically at the teleservice centers, which says that there are MAJOR technical problems with new telecommunications contractors which are significantly affecting agency telephone service. There's a fair amount of whining on the podcast that would appeal only to union members but mixed in is real info on the agency's telephone problems. Talk about strategies to make sure agency employees can work in their pajamas everyday, forever, isn't going to win the union many friends nor are many likely to buy into the notion that Covid will still be a dire public health threat by late this month when agency employees start returning -- part-time -- to their offices. However, my point in posting this is the information in the podcast about the serious technical problems.

    Note that no matter how bad the contractor problems may be, Social Security lacks the manpower to answer its phones anyway!

OHO Caseload Analysis Report

      Posted in Social Security's Freedom of Information Reading Room:

Click on image to view full size

Finally An Appropriations Agreement

      There is finally agreement on an Omnibus Appropriations Bill to fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year. Social Security will get $13.2 billion for its operations. The FY 2021 appropriation had been $12.9 billion. The increase is not nearly enough to cover inflation. The agency remains on a starvation diet that assures that service will continue to decline.

     Whatever lobbying efforts went into obtaining an adequate operating budget for the Social Security Administration were completely ineffective. 

     Individual members of Congress who declare their concern over the state of service at Social Security may be sincere but, in general, there must be nearly zero concern in Congress over the state of the service that the public is getting from Social Security.

The First Step -- Admitting You Have A Problem

      A tweet from Social Security:

We are currently having problems with our local offices and 800-Number phone systems. You may experience service issues, including poor call quality, dropped calls, and long wait times. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and we appreciate your patience.

OHO Phone Outages

      I have received multiple reports of telephone outages at Social Security's hearing offices in several states today. Telephone hearings are going forward, however. We can't call in but can agency employees call out?