Time To Loosen Up?

     There are a lot of acrylic shields in place in Social Security hearing rooms. They're a pain in the neck for those participating in hearings in person. It can be hard to hear. I believe there are also a lot of acrylic shields in Social Security field offices. Is it time for them to go? Are they still needed?

Attorneys Representing Social Security Claimants Are Hurting

     Social Security has posted final numbers showing total fees paid to attorneys and others for representing claimants in 2022. Let's do a comparison with the last three years:

• 2019: 390,809 fees were paid for a total of $1,214,557,861. Average fee per case was $3,107.80
  
• 2020: 360,493 fees were paid, down 8% from 2019. The total fees paid were $1,081,523,523, down 11% from 2019. Average fee per case was $3,000.12.
  
• 2021: 296,847 fees were paid, down 18% from 2020 and down 24% from 2019. The total fees paid were $932,887,938, down 14% from 2020 and down 23% from 2020. Average fee per case was $3,142.66.
  
• 2022: 311,047 fees were paid, up 5% from 2021 but down 14% from 2020 and down 20% from 2019. The total fees paid were $923,992,941, down 1% from 2021, down 15% from 2020 and down 24% from 2019. The average fee per case was $2,970.59.
  

    Social Security attorneys are genuinely hurting. The recent increase in the fee cap is only going to help so much, especially when you consider that the attorneys have to cope with huge inflation and case files that have been getting bigger and bigger because of electronic medical records. The end result is that the quality of representation of claimants has been going down.

    Social Security depends upon claimants being represented. Take us out of the picture and workloads at Social Security become far worse.

How Well Does SSA Use Plain Language?

     There is a federal Plain Language Act that is supposed to require agencies to use, well, plain language when communicating with the public. The private Center for Plain Language issues a yearly report card on how well agencies comply with the Plain Language Act. This year's report card is reproduced below. Note that they're only evaluating two web pages for each agency -- Contact Us and FOIA Request. They're not looking at ordinary written communications from each agency. I think that if they were to look at written communications Social Security would score much lower. Consider the letter that starts "Upon receipt of your request for reconsideration ..." When do you think that was last revised in any substantive way? Perhaps the 1980s?

Biggs And Lewis Renominated

     The President has renominated Andrew Biggs and Sharon Beth Lewis to serve on the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB). Biggs is only renominated because the President essentially has to nominate him. Certainly, he would not be nominated otherwise. As a Social Security employee -- a Social Security employee! -- he campaigned with then President George W. Bush for the partial privatization of Social Security. It's understood that Social Security Commissioners don't do this sort of thing. It's way beyond the pale for underlings. What Biggs did was quite a few years ago but it's not been forgotten. Remember, though, that the SSAB has only a limited role. Biggs on the SSAB doesn't move us one inch closer to privatizing Social Security.

A Poll

 

online polls

Gotta Get 7 On Your Side!

      Five trips to a Social Security field office didn’t solve a family’s Social Security problem but one call from a TV station does. Funny how that works.

Scary Scene In St. Louis

     A woman threatened to shoot up a Social Security field office in St. Louis on Friday. She ended up exchanging gunfire with law enforcement officers. Thank goodness this didn’t happen in the Social Security field office.

A Simple Suggestion

     It's been my impression over the years that Social Security always practices "fast tracking" to some extent. By "fast tracking" I'm talking about processing the simplest things first, the ones that take little time, in order to generate good production numbers. 

    "Fast tracking" seems to be out of hand now. Why is Social Security processing retirement claims almost immediately while taking six months to do windfall offsets? I'm seeing workloads of more complex matters at the field offices and payment centers that have been put off and put off in the apparent hope that there will be time later to work on them. Many of these delayed cases became complicated because someone at Social Security made a mistake that needs to be corrected. These delayed cases are now at crisis levels. I don't see a surge of overtime to take care of these cases anytime in the next two years.

    Isn't it time to say "stop!" Delay the routine processing of easy cases a bit. Take care of the horrible backlogs of more complicated matters and then get back to the routine cases. If a retirement claimant has to wait an extra month for first payment of benefits, so what? Why should that retirement claimant have his or her case processed quickly just because it's easy? You can't keep putting off windfall offsets and other complicated matters forever. Sooner or later the field offices and payment centers will have to take care of them. Quit worrying about the stats and take care of the claimants who have waited the longest.  It's the fair thing to do.