Gruber Out At OHO

     I can confirm that Theresa Gruber is out as head of Social Security's Office of Hearings Operations (OHO).

Status Of Theresa Gruber?

     On July 12, the Washington Post published an article saying that Social Security's Deputy Commissioner for Hearings Operations, Theresa Gruber, was routinely displaying signs of impairment on the job. The agency's Office of Inspector General was investigating. 

    We've heard nothing more since. 

    My assumption was that Gruber would go on leave and then retire or be quietly shifted to a less visible position but nothing has been announced. 

    Just today, I've seen an unconfirmed report that Gruber is out of her job. 

    Anyone know what, if anything, is going on?

Why Not Do This?

 

    From the Office of Evaluation Sciences:

… Survey data from the National Institutes of Health-supported Health and Retirement Study suggest that less than 60 percent of individuals age 65 or older who may be eligible for SSI receive the benefit, and administrative data from SSA suggest that uptake may be substantially lower.

SSA identified over 4 million individuals age 65-80 who were potentially eligible for SSI, and sent one of four letter variations to a sub-sample of them. …

Individuals were randomly assigned to receive one of four letter types or to a control condition (i.e., no targeted information about potential SSI eligibility): (1) a basic letter; (2) a letter which states the maximum benefit; (3) a letter which states that applying is simple; (4) a letter combining the maximum benefit element and the “applying is simple” element. SSA sent 100,000 of each letter variation. …

Of beneficiaries who received a letter, 6.0 percent applied for SSI in the nine months after the letters were sent out, compared with 1.0 percent of beneficiaries who did not receive a letter. Similarly, 2.3 percent of beneficiaries who received a letter were awarded SSI during this time, compared with 0.5 percent of beneficiaries who did not receive a letter, an increase of 340%.

    Why not do this? I'll answer my own question. Social Security can't handle the caseload it has now, much less a big jump in SSI claims.

And He's Up For Re-Election This Year!

     Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) didn't stop with his plan to make Social Security benefits subject to annual appropriations. Now, he's back to insist that Social Security wasn't set up properly to begin with, that in the midst of the Great Depression, not long after the original Black Friday, with memories still fresh of stock brokers plummeting from windows, that the Trust Fund should have been invested in stocks! I think that at that time his idea might have gotten him locked up for insanity. (The standards for involuntary commitment were looser in those days.) Of course, it's still a bad idea for many reasons but in the 1930s? How ignorant can you be of history?

9.6% COLA?

     The Senior Citizens League is now estimating that Social Security's cost of living adjustment for this year will be 9.6%.

A New Benefit For SSI Recipients

     From a blog post by Alejandro Roark, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Chief, Federal Communications Commission:

... The Federal Communications Commission wants everyone to access reasonably priced internet services. We recently launched a new program to reduce the cost of getting online.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) provides a discount of up to:

• $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households.
• $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands.

Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 toward purchasing a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers. To qualify for this one-time discount, households must contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price.

Any household with an individual who receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is eligible to receive discounted internet service through the ACP. Social Security doesn’t count ACP assistance as income or a resource for SSI purposes. Receipt of this assistance will not affect your SSI payment. You may also be eligible, if your household participates in other assistance programs, such as:

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
• Medicaid.
• Federal Public Housing Assistance.
• Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
• Lifeline.
  

If you don’t receive SSI or participate in another qualifying assistance program, you may also be eligible if your household income is at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. ...

For more information about the program, please email ACPinfo@fcc.gov or call 877-384-2575.

Ways And Means Wants Answers

     The Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee are calling for answers from Social Security on the long lines outside the agency's field offices.

    I've got an idea. Why don't they hold a hearing to highlight the problem for the Appropriations Committee which apparently feels that Social Security doesn't deserve enough money for the next fiscal year to even cover inflation much less to improve service?

Will Social Security Be An Issue In The 2022 Elections?

     From Fox News:

President Biden on Monday commemorated the 87th anniversary of the Social Security Act becoming law by touting Democrat plans to protect, expand and deliver "stronger" benefits to recipients, while warning that a Republican-controlled Congress could put the program "on the chopping block."  ...

Look, if you know me, you know I think rebuilding the middle class is the moral obligation of our time," Biden says in the video. "Social Security allows for our seniors to retire with dignity, and me and my Democratic friends on the hill are trying to protect it and expand it." ...

"But here’s what’s crazy," Biden continued. "Republicans on the hill—they want to put it on the chopping block."

"Every five years it would come up to reconsideration, whether it continues or not," Biden said. "Think about that."

Biden was referring to a plan Republican Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., proposed earlier this year that would sunset Social Security and Medicare within five years.

"Let me ask you have you ever seen the Republicans on Capitol Hill do anything to protect or increase or to benefit Social Security?" Biden asked. ...

"So here’s the deal, with Democrats in Congress, you get stronger social security because you paid for it and you deserve it," Biden said. "With Republicans in Congress, it’s probably going to get sliced." ...

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shut down Scott’s proposal earlier this year, stressing that Republicans "will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years." ...