Of All The Crazy Things In The Social Security Act, The Marriage Penalty For DAC Recipients May Be The Most Cruel

    From the New York Times:

Lori Long and Mark Contreras met on Match.com in November 2015. ...

Within weeks of [their first] date, both knew they had found their forever partner. But three months after Mr. Contreras proposed in his Salinas, Calif., home in December 2016 and Ms. Long said an ecstatic “yes,” Ms. Long sat him down for a talk. “I told him, ‘Mark, we’re not going to be able to pursue a life together,’” she said.

She still wanted to marry him, but not if it meant giving up the health care benefits that she relies on to live.

Ms. Long is caught in a governmental quagmire. She was diagnosed at 15 with ankylosing spondylitis, a condition that causes bone fractures and sometimes requires her to use a wheelchair. ...

Because she qualifies for Social Security benefits through a program for adults whose medical disability started before age 22, she is considered a “disabled adult child.” The designation, known as D.A.C., applies to 1.1 million Americans, according to the Social Security Administration website.

Those who qualify generally cannot continue to receive benefits if they marry someone who is not disabled or retired. ...

Ms. Long is among a nationwide network of people pushing for change in Social Security laws as they pertain to marriage. They include not just D.A.C. recipients like her, but also a larger group of disabled Americans — roughly four million — who get S.S.I., or Supplemental Security Income. ...

 

There’s More Than One Way To Get Into A Social Security Office

      From KOCO:

Authorities took a driver to a hospital after they crashed into a Social Security Administration building early Friday morning in northeast Oklahoma City.

Police said the driver crashed a truck into a building near Northeast 122nd Street and Kelley Avenue after driving down an embankment.

The driver went to a hospital with minor injuries. No one was inside the building at the time of the crash.

A Poll For A Slow Day

     There's really nothing newsworthy going on at Social Security so let's have a poll. I'll take suggestions for other polls -- or news.

online polls

No Dice For Disability Determination Patent Application

     The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled against a patent application that promises to determine whether an individual is disabled for purposes of Social Security through a computer network.

Executive Personnel Assignments

 

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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.