The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved final regulations on Intermediate Improvement to the Disability Adjudication Process, Including How we Consider Past Work. When published as a proposal these included a reduction in the time period for considering past relevant work from 15 years to 5. Expect to see the regulations in the Federal Register soon.
I hope the effective date isn't six months into the future.
I note the contrast with SSI child's benefits where a child's parent or guardian must establish a separate bank account to receive the benefits for a child and must show how the money was spent. Not so with Title II dependent benefits. The state just gobbles up the money.
Social Security's new Commissioner, Martin O'Malley, is quoted in the piece as opposing what's going on. However, he has no authority that I can think of to do anything about this.
From the Times Leader of Scranton, Pennsylvania:
A former employee with Social Security Administration was sentenced to three years in federal prison for pandemic relief fraud.
U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion sentenced Takiyah Gordon Austin, 47, formerly of Wilkes-Barre, to three years in federal prison and three years of supervised release on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam.
Austin was also ordered to pay $288,590 in restitution.
Austin, as a claims specialist, filed Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims for ineligible recipients in exchange for payment from the individuals, according to a news release. …
David Weaver asks why Social Security doesn't do something about its reliance upon the ancient Dictionary of Occupational Titles in making disability determinations. Everyone agrees it's unreliable. People are being approved and denied based upon data collected more than 40 years ago. Why? My guess is that all of us are afraid of what comes next if we drop the DOT.
WPXI, a television station in Pittsburgh, has been covering Social Security's overpayment problems. Here's some excerpts from a recent story they've run:
... We sat down with the new Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Martin O’Malley. ...
One of the most significant changes went into effect last Monday. It ensures anyone facing a new overpayment has at most,10 percent of their check withheld to recoup overpayment debt, not the 100-percent claw back the agency had been using; however, for the millions of people already facing overpayments, it’s not automatic. Due to staffing challenges, the solution is for beneficiaries to request a waiver or an adjustment by calling 1-800-772-1213. ...
11 Investigates decided to try that 1-800 number. The wait time when we called it was ‘greater than 60 minutes.’ We didn’t clog up the line by waiting to talk to a representative, but we did notice you can now request a call back instead of waiting on hold. ...
Commissioner O’Malley says you can file a waiver as many times as you want. If a beneficiary requests a rate lower than 10 percent to be withheld to recoup overpayment debt, it will be approved if the money can be repaid within 60 months or five years. ...
I had not heard about a call back feature for Social Security's 800 number. That might be an improvement. What experiences are others having with this?
My guess is that the reporter misunderstood O'Malley or that the Commissioner misspoke about filing waiver requests as often as one likes. That requires clarification.
Posted by Social Security's Commissioner, Martin O'Malley, on Twitter:
Some good news: I’m proud to report that #SSA hit a 30-year low in the number of pending hearings as of last week, thanks to our dedicated staff! This is a major milestone, and I know we can do even more with sufficient, sustained funding
From a press release:
The Social Security Administration (SSA) plans to raise the fee cap for claimants’ representatives, from $7,200 to $9,200, when they and their client agree to use what is known as a “fee agreement process.” This will be the first increase to the fee agreement cap since November 2022, when the cap went up from $6,000 to $7,200, after remaining the same for thirteen years.
The fee cap increase is scheduled to take effect this Fall. The agency also plans to tie future increases to the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). SSA will publish notice of this change in the Federal Register in April in advance of the effective date. ...
