Do You Care What Andrew Saul Has To Say?

     Former Social Security Commissioner sat for a long interview with a staffer at the right wing American Enterprise Institute "think tank." I don't want to waste the time listening to it but maybe you will. Apparently, Saul claimed that Social Security has 100,000 employees! I knew that he never bothered to try to understand the agency he was supposed to be leading but this is over the top. Actually Social Security has fewer than 60,000 employees. Did he care about anything at the agency other than being as obnoxious as possible to employees?

The Dream Never Dies

     From Bloomberg Government:

Social Security and Medicare eligibility changes, spending caps, and safety-net work requirements are among the top priorities for key House Republicans who want to use next year’s debt-limit deadline to extract concessions from Democrats.

The four Republicans interested in serving as House Budget Committee chairman in the next Congress said in interviews that next year’s deadline to raise or suspend the debt ceiling is a point of leverage if their party can win control of the House in the November midterm elections. ...

A bipartisan negotiation on Social Security and Medicare would likely start with Democrats pushing for more revenue, while “Republicans have a list of eligibility reforms, and we don’t like the tax increases,” Arrington said. He said an increase in the eligibility age for both programs would be a commonsense change.

Reducing benefits for wealthier Americans could also cut costs, Smucker said.

“We should ensure that we keep the promises that were made to the people who really need it, the people who are relying on it,” Smucker said. “So some sort of means-testing potentially would help to ensure that we can do that.” ...

    Republicans have this longstanding dream that they can force Democrats to accept major cuts in Social Security and then find a way to blame Democrats for those unpopular cuts. Jujitsu! That hasn't worked in the past and it's not going to work next year. Democrats will go to the mattresses over means testing Social Security or raising full retirement age. Republicans won't have the stomach to go to the mattresses themselves over obtaining the cuts.

The Nonpersistence Of Memory

     There is no news that I know of in Social Security world, so let me share a vignette from a conversation I had recently with a client. I knew the client must have been out of work for at least a year and probably two but I didn't know when she had stopped so I asked her when she stopped work. Her answer: "Uh, uh, uh, what's today?"

SSA Information Not So Secure?

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

Objective
To determine whether the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) overall information security program and practices were effective and consistent with the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) requirements, as defined in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 core Inspector General (IG) FISMA reporting metrics. ...

We engaged Grant Thornton LLP (Grant Thornton) to conduct this performance audit ...

Based on the FY 2022 core IG FISMA reporting metrics guidance, Grant Thornton concluded SSA’s overall security program was “Not Effective.” 

Although SSA had established an Agency-wide information security program and practices, Grant Thornton identified deficiencies that may limit the Agency’s ability to adequately protect its systems and information. While SSA continued executing its risk-based approach to strengthen controls over its information systems and address weaknesses, Grant Thornton’s audit continued to identify persistent deficiencies in both the design and operation of controls related to the FY 2022 core IG FISMA reporting metrics. ...

Members Of Congress Complaining About Disability Process

     From a press release:

Today, Congressman Joe Neguse [D-CO]and Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI) wrote to Social Security Administration Acting Commissioner, Dr. Kilolo Kijakazi, requesting an update on the agency’s efforts to expedite the processing of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications and appeals. Both programs provide assistance to Americans who meet the requirements for disability as well as those who are older, blind, or have little to no income. The lawmakers also requested information on how the Social Security Administration (SSA) is working to ensure agency materials are accessible for all individuals, regardless of their specific needs.

“Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the backlog of pending SSDI and SSI cases increased exponentially. Social Security employees worked tirelessly to adapt to a new environment, and more must be done to ensure access to these critical benefits,” said Congressman Joe Neguse.  

“The process for applying for Social Security disability benefits is difficult to navigate, and only worsened by inaccessible materials and chronic underfunding, despite the program’s growing needs. For vulnerable individuals who are unable to work and are applying for benefits to survive, delays and denials without proper recourse can be frustrating, and at worst, devastating. I recognize that SSA has been severely underfunded and I will continue to fight to increase the agency’s resources. That said, as a Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee member, I join Rep. Neguse in leading the call for improved services, so that both SSA beneficiaries and applicants have access to the timely and accessible information and the benefits they have earned and are owed,” said Congresswoman Moore. ...

Service Sucks At Social Security

     From a long piece by Lisa Rein in today's Washington Post:

Six months after reopening its field offices to the public, the Social Security Administration is struggling to restore basic customer services and is assisting millions fewer of the poor, elderly and disabled people who sought its help before the coronavirus pandemic, federal data shows.

Even as prolonged office closures caused applications for disability benefits to plunge, the sluggish response now of the agency meant to assist the country’s most at-risk citizens has led to delays in processing claims for those who manage to file them, and exhausting waits outside government offices around the country for those trying to. Nearly 20 percent of field offices have had 40 or more customers in line on multiple days when the doors opened, according to data Social Security recently provided to Congress. ...

During the first week in September, 21 percent of disabled claimants waited 29 to 45 days for a phone appointment and another 24 percent more than 45 days, according to internal data obtained by The Washington Post. Phone service, after hitting bottom earlier this year when the agency rolled out a new system to modernize its aging communications, is still troubled by extensive waits on hold that often end up in dropped calls. From April to July, wait times for all claimants to speak with an agent, the only statistic available, averaged 33 minutes, up from 20 minutes in fiscal year 2019, the data shows. And field office staff members answered just 66 percent of calls from the start of the fiscal year through August, down from 76 percent in fiscal 2019. ...

OIG Report Finds Problems With Assigning SSNs

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

... One of SSA’s mission-essential functions is enumeration, the process of assigning SSNs. During the enumeration process, SSA issues a Social Security card (original and any later replacement) to each individual assigned an SSN. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 (October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021), SSA processed approximately 12 million applications for original and replacement SSN cards, which is approximately 1 million fewer than it processed in FY 2020 and 5 million fewer than in FY 2019. We reviewed non-automated enumeration services (in-person and mail-in SSN applications) for original and replacement SSN cards during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results
SSA staff did not consistently comply with established enumeration policies and procedures or temporary enumeration guidelines, and the Agency did not have adequate controls over managing evidentiary documents submitted to support SSN card applications during the COVID-19 pandemic.

✓ We reviewed a sample of 150 SSN card applications SSA processed between November 2020 and January 2021 and found 41 contained processing errors and 45 contained documentation errors. Based on our sample, we estimated SSA made 188,659 and 128,346 SSN card application processing and documentation errors, respectively.
✓ We reviewed an additional sample of 50 replacement SSN card applications SSA processed between June and September 2021 and found 15 contained processing errors and 19 contained documentation errors.
✓ SSA staff issued multiple SSNs to 27 individuals without cross-referring the SSNs. Therefore, SSA was unaware that each individual had more than one SSN.
✓ Some SSA offices did not report the loss, or suspected loss, of personally identifiable information.
✓ SSA did not have a comprehensive method to track the total number of lost original documents. ...

OHO Caseload Analysis Report

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