DDS Backlogs Draw Press Attention

     From the Chattanooga Times Free Press:

A longstanding backlog in the processing of disability benefits applications from people who are too sick to work has surpassed 1.1 million people nationally — a 27% increase from pre-pandemic levels two years ago and a level not seen in more than a decade.

In Tennessee, the number of people waiting to see if their disability benefits have been approved has increased by 40% ...

Attorneys in Tennessee say the long wait has imposed "significant hardships" on many of their clients, including losing homes, jobs and access to health care benefits received through employers. In extreme instances, attorneys described clients who have died — from illness and suicide — while waiting. ...

[Peter] Harris, who also serves as general counsel for the federal employee union that represents Social Security employees across the country, said the Social Security Administration and state disability determination departments have compounded the difficulties faced during the pandemic.

"Management has made things 20 times worse, and applicants have been left out in the cold," he said. "Employees [who process disability applications] are pushed in this environment to hurry things up." ...

Two New Rulings Related To Eric Conn Cases -- Reasonable Suspicion Is Enough Proof

     Social Security will publish two new Rulings in the Federal Register tomorrow. You can read them today. Here are a few excerpts:

• Social Security Ruling 22-1p: Fraud and Similar Fault Redeterminations Under Sections 205(u) and 1631(e)(7) of the Social Security Act -- "... We may find there is reason to believe fraud or similar fault was involved in a claim for benefits or payments, or in providing evidence, based on the actions of any individual whose actions affect an application for benefits or payments, or the evidence provided in support of it, even when such an individual has no direct relationship to the affected claimant, beneficiary, or recipient or acts without the affected claimant’s, beneficiary’s or recipient’s knowledge or participation. These individuals may include, but are not limited to, claimants, beneficiaries, auxiliaries, recipients, spouses, representatives, medical sources, translators, interpreters, and representative payees. For example, we may have reason to believe a medical source or a representative provided false information to support a claim without the knowledge or participation of the beneficiary or the recipient. ..."
• Social Security Ruling 22-2p: Evaluation of Claims Involving the Issue of Similar Fault in the Providing of Evidence -- "... We must disregard evidence under sections 205(u)(1)(B) and 1631(e)(7)(A)(ii) of the Act due to similar fault if there is reason to believe, meaning reasonable grounds to suspect, that the person knew the evidence provided was false or incomplete or that the information that was material to the determination was knowingly concealed. A finding of similar fault requires more than mere suspicion, speculation, or a hunch, but it does not require a preponderance of evidence. ..."
  

Signs Already Made Up To Tell You How Long You'll Have To Wait

     From a television station in Austin:

The mix of long outside lines and 95-degree heat is becoming a problem for some elderly and disabled customers at the Social Security Administration office in Georgetown.

“This is ridiculous,” said Melanie Barrier.

Barrier is one of the many people who lined up Thursday at 3010 Williams Drive. ...

The Georgetown woman contacted CBS Austin about the problem and met us at the social security office. On Friday, signs said the estimated wait time was 150 minutes or two and a half hours. ...

Top Baby Names By State

 

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Witness List For Tuesday's Hearing

     The witness list is out for the House Social Security Subcommittee hearing on May 17 on Strengthening Social Security's Customer Service:

• Grace Kim, Deputy Commissioner for Operations, Social Security Administration
• Tracey Gronniger, Directing Attorney, Justice in Aging
• Bethany Lilly, Senior Director of Public Policy, The Arc of the United States, on behalf of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Social Security Task Force
• Peggy Murphy, Immediate Past President, National Council of Social Security Management Associations
• Yanira Cruz, President and CEO, National Hispanic Council on Aging
• Alison Weir, Policy Advocate and Attorney, Greater Hartford Legal Aid, Hartford, Connecticut
• Rebecca Vallas, Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation

A Report On Social Security's Operating Budget

     The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress produces reports to aid Congress in carrying out its duties. They've recently issued a report titled Social Security Administration (SSA): Trends in the Annual Limitation on Administrative Expenses (LAE) Appropriation Through FY2021 that's worth a look. It tells you everything you ought to know, even though for most people the subject, like the title of this report, seems dreadfully boring.

    Let me first explain this LAE business. Since most of Social Security's administrative budget comes from the Social Security's trust funds rather than general revenues, technically the agency doesn't get an appropriation but instead is given a limit on how much it can draw from the trust funds for its administrative expenses -- a Limitation on Administrative Expenses or LAE.

    The main story that I take from this report is that Social Security's workload has gone up while its LAE has gone down. That's not good for those who have to deal with the agency.

    Let's talk about the workload first.  Here's a chart showing the number of claimants drawing benefits from 2010 on:

You can see that since 2010 there's been a big increase from 58 million receiving benefits to 70.2 million receiving benefits. 

    Here's a chart showing what's happened to the LAE, apart from the amount specifically dedicated to program integrity, in constant dollars since 2010:

Notice that in price indexed dollars, the LAE went down from about $13 billion in FY 2010 to around $11 billion in 2021. I think that excluding program integrity funds gives the most accurate picture of what the agency can spend actually answering the telephone, taking and adjudicating claims and processing claimants on and off benefits. Note that Social Security didn't receive significant additional funding for the Covid-19 pandemic, which certainly disrupted its operations and increased its expenses so things are actually worse than they appear.

    Any rational person looking at this history shouldn't be surprised by what has happened since 2010 -- increased backlogs in answering the telephone, taking claims, adjudicating them and processing claimants on and off benefits. The severity of the resulting problems have been somewhat disguised since the agency's hearing backlog has gone down since 2010. That's highly visible but everything else has gone to hell and that's mostly invisible except to those who actually have to deal with the agency, which is almost everyone eventually, but not that many people at any onetime. Be glad if all you have to do is to file a retirement claim. The agency prioritizes them since they're easy. For everything else, get ready to wait and wait and wait.

    Social Security is a mess. The inadequate LAE is why it's a mess. Why has there been so little outcry from Congress?

OHO Stats

     This Caseload Analysis Report has been uploaded by Social Security. It's basic operating statistics for the agency's Office of Hearings Operations (OHO).

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Fee Cap Going To $7,200

   This afternoon Kilolo Kijakazi, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, informed the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and the National Association of Disability Representatives (NADR) that the Social Security Administration will raise the cap on the amount that attorneys may charge under the fee agreement process for representing claimants from $6,000 to $7,200.

    In this past, such announcements were made via the Federal Register. This has not yet been published in the Federal Register nor is it scheduled for publication tomorrow.  

    If this were a true cost of living adjustment, it would be going to $8,200, not $7,200.

    When the cap was raised the last time, in 2009, it was not effective until four and a half months after the announcement. I hear that this time it won't be effective until November 30, 2022 which is more than six months off! My hope the last time was that Social Security would use the time to train its staff but it was quickly apparent after the effective date that Social Security's staff hadn't been trained since at first there were more cases handled incorrectly than cases handled correctly. Nobody seemed to have been told that attorneys were allowed to have escalator clauses in their fee agreements that allowed them to be governed by the fee cap in place at the time of implementation rather than the fee cap in place at the time the fee agreement was signed even though this has been Social Security's position since the earliest days of the fee agreement process. I know. I was practicing Social Security law then. At least, back in 2009, we were able to get in touch with the payment centers to get mistakes corrected. They're mostly incommunicado these days and unwilling to correct even the most glaring mistakes.

    By the way, if you're an attorney who represents Social Security claimants and your fee agreement hasn't had an escalator clause, you're out of luck. Trying to force a new contract on your clients for your benefit is clearly unethical in my view.