Change Reopening Rules?

     From today's Federal Register:


We are requesting information from the public regarding
whether and how we should change our rules of administrative finality.
These rules govern when we can reopen and revise a determination or
decision that has become final and is no longer subject to
administrative or judicial review. ...

We are considering changing our rules of administrative

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SSA Employee Sentenced To Five Years In Prison

     From the Seattle Post Intelligencer:


A former Social Security Administration worker caught on camera
masturbating to child pornography while on the clock has been sentenced
to five years in prison.

Caught with a staggering 3,772 photos and videos showing children
being sexually assaulted, Thomas Barrett Jr. was investigated after his
Internet trolling for child porn brought a

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The Washington Examiner Has Lots Of Attitude

     The Washington Examiner is running a bizarrely slanted piece on Social Security disability benefits. I think this goes well past the line between journalism and propaganda, starting with calling Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits "unearned" disability benefits. You could call it that but I don't think anyone previously has called it that. I don't know why you would use

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Three Notices In Federal Register

     Three notices from today's Federal Register:


I. This final rule adopts, without change, the interim final rule
with request for comments we published in the Federal Register on
January 12, 2012, at 77 FR 1862. The interim final rule modified our
rules so that we may send a Ticket to Work (Ticket) to Ticket to Work
program (Ticket program)-eligible disabled beneficiaries. Under our

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Like Chewing Styrofoam

     Words are important. They change the world by informing, inspiring and directing. However, they can also be empty and meaningless. That's the case with Facing the Challenges -- Envisioning the Future, a paper produced by the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB). Reading this paper is like chewing styrofoam. It is packed with blindingly obvious advice. As an example, the paper recommends

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Why No Action On Same Sex Marriages?

     The Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prevented Social Security from recognizing same sex marriages, was unconstitutional on June 26, 2013. That was more than a month ago. While Social Security has sent out a press release saying it is "taking" claims for benefits based upon same sex marriages, it has instructed its staff to do NOTHING with these claims. How

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An Eventful Career

     From the Norman Transcript:


In his tenure with the Social Security Administration in Oklahoma and
western Arkansas, Dennis Purifoy has weathered turbulence and change
and navigated tragedy and triumph.

He’ll step down from the agency Aug. 2 after 40 years. ...

As a claims representative in Stillwater, Purifoy intended to work
for the SSA for a couple of years before pursuing other

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More On Astrue's New Job

     I don't want to get too deep in the weeds on former Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue's new job with VIVUS but it looks like he was hired as part of the resolution of a shareholder lawsuit. It looks like the shareholders won and VIVUS' old management lost. It also appears that the shareholder lawsuit came about because VIVUS hasn't been doing so well.

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Tests Extended

     From today's Federal Register:


We are announcing the extension of tests involving
modifications to disability determination procedures authorized by 20
CFR 404.906 and 416.1406. These rules authorize us to test several
modifications to the disability determination procedures for
adjudicating claims for disability insurance benefits under title II of
the Social Security Act (Act) and

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Groups Push Social Security Expansion

     From CNN:


A coalition of progressive groups claiming to
represent millions of Americans is planning a multi-state effort urging
the expansion of Social Security benefits.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and Democracy For
America (DFA say they will be joined by several other groups including
MoveOn.org in putting out a series of TV and online ads planned for the
near

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New Job For Astrue

     From a press release:

VIVUS, Inc. ... which recently began selling the obesity drug Qsymia
(phentermine and topiramate extended-release) capsules CIV in the United
States, today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed
Michael Astrue to serve as its Chairman and Anthony Zook to serve as its
Chief Executive Officer ...


Mr. Astrue said, "We intend to move quickly on our four

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Who Killed The Rabbit?

     From the Rome (GA) News-Tribune:


Rome police reported that vandals left a dead rabbit for staff to find
at the Social Security office on Riverside Parkway on Friday morning and
also left the water running outside. 

According to reports, the
rabbit was found on a window sill behind the building along with a bag
of shredded paper torn and scattered around the
building Friday morning.

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New Blog On Social Security Disability Issues

     Julia Mariani, an attorney who had been representing Social Security disability claimants, has shut down her regular practice and taken up blogging on Social Security disability issues. So far, her blog,  Disability Dunk Tank, has a different focus from mine. She is oriented just to disability issues and attuned to the issues that claimants face.

     I wish there was a wider profusion of

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Unemployment And Disability Claims

     Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a report on Impact of Increases in State Unemployment Rates on the Social Security Administration’s Disability Programs. This subject could certainly use research. Unfortunately, OIG merely looked at states with high percentage increases in unemployment. There is no comparison of these states to states with low or no increase in

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Today's Newspaper Stories On Social Security Disability

     The Sacramento Bee has an article on the growth in the number of people drawing Social Security disability benefits -- even though that growth ground to a halt almost a year ago -- and the Associated Press has an article on a doomed attempt to phase out the five month waiting period for Disability Insurance Benefits under the Social Security Act.

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You Crazy Right Wingers Are Such A Hoot!

     From The Examiner of Independence, MO:



U.S. District Court Judge Brian C. Wimes sentenced Charles Daniel Koss,
63, of Independence to seven years in federal prison and ordered Koss
to pay $212,987 in restitution to the Social Security Administration and
the Department of the Treasury. ...


Koss began receiving Social Security disability payments in 1987 for
myoneural disorder and

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Why No Statute Of Limitations?

      From KATU:


The Social Security Administration sent Lanier Schriner a shocking
letter. It said the feds paid her too much more than 30 years ago, and
now they are coming to collect.

More than three decades ago, Schriner was just heading to college along
with small disability payments from her deceased father's Social
Security.

"I received it before I went to college and then after I

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Figures Never Lie ...

     The Heritage Foundation has put out an impressive looking chart showing that in 1960 the average person received $6.39 for each dollar they had to pay in Social Security taxes but that by 2013 the average person was receiving only 92 cents for each dollar of taxes and that by 2030 this will be down to only 84 cents. Wow! QED! Social Security is a bad deal!

     However, if you look at the

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We're Movin' In!

     From Social Security Works:



Oh, the sweet irony.

Pete Peterson is the conservative billionaire who is a major financier in
the effort to dismantle, cut and privatize Social Security, Medicare
and Medicaid. Recently he and his foundation held a contest asking folks
to submit videos on why it is important to “fix” the national debt of
which, he and his foundation falsely claim, Social

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Confusing New Attorney Fee Instructions

     Social Security has issued new instructions on fees for attorneys and others representing Social Security claimants. The instructions have to do with fee agreement cases where the claimant appoints two or more people to represent him or her and then one or more of the attorneys or representatives withdraws. It would be an understatement to say the instructions are confusing. Take a look at

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Does Social Security Have A Functioning System Of Dealing With Complaints About ALJs?

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


Claimants and their advocates or representatives may file a complaint against an ALJ [Administrative Law Judge] if they believe the ALJ was biased or engaged in improper conduct. ... The Division of Quality Service (DQS), within ODAR’s [Office of Disability Adjudication and Review's] Office of

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Interesting Map

     The Washington Examiner has a fairly predictable article that decries the number of people drawing disability benefits from Social Security. At least the piece has an interesting map showing the counties with the highest incident of disability. Hint: Disability hits hardest in rural areas represented in Congress by Republicans.

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To The ALJ Association

     Dear ALJ Association:

      Take a look at the sort of thing that comes from claiming that because Social Security pressures you to hold more hearings and issue more decisions that the agency is forcing you to approve more disability claims. You're not getting back at your enemy, Social Security. You're not reducing the pressures you face to hear and decide cases. You're only aiding those

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One Of The Reasons Social Security's Death Master File Is Made Public

     From the AP:


More than $1.1 billion in unclaimed life insurance benefits have been
recovered nationwide after an investigation, New York regulators said
Wednesday.

The state's Department of Financial
Services said many insurance companies were not using lists of recent
deaths from the Social Security Administration to determine whether a
policy holder had died. That meant if family

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Unemployment And Social Security Disability; Also, What Are The Chances Of Chained CPI Being Adopted If The Chairman Of The House Ways And Means Committee Is Afraid To Even Use The Term "Chained CPI"?

     From a press release issued by the Chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee:


Yesterday, Ways and
Means Subcommittee on Social Security Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX)
introduced H.R. 1502, “The Social Security Disability Insurance and
Unemployment Benefits Double Dip Elimination Act of 2013.”  The
legislation would keep people from receiving both Social Security
disability

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Work Incentives Fail Everywhere

     Great Britain decided that there were too many people drawing disability benefits under their social security system. Their plan to deal with this was to get one in six disability recipients back to work. Their definition of "back to work" was quite modest -- holding down a job for three months or more -- yet according to The Guardian newspaper all they have been able to achieve is about

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Man Found Guilty In Shooting Outside SSA Headquarters

     From the Baltimore Sun:


A Baltimore County man was convicted Wednesday in the nonfatal
shooting of an employee outside the Social Security Administration in
Woodlawn in 2011.

Gary Stokes, 23, was found guilty by a Baltimore County jury in the
shooting that caused the Social Security complex on Security Boulevard
to go on lockdown for more than an hour.

Police said Stokes robbed

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Former Lawmaker Pleads Guilty To Social Security Fraud

     From CNS:


Raymond E. Salva, a former Democratic member of the Missouri House of Representatives, has pleaded guilty to illegally taking $58,816 in federal disability payments while he was working as a state legislator earning $30,000 a year, according to the Office of the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration. ...

In May 2003, about five months after he started working

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Sympathy For Binder And Binder?

     Take a look at Jillian Kay Melchior's snarl on National Review Online. She's mostly targeting Charlie Binder of Binder and Binder but she goes way beyond him. The whole piece is just incredibly angry and mean-spirited. Among other things, Melchior says that Social Security pays a lot of money to people who never claim to be disabled. I suppose that's true if you're talking about retirement

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Senate Moving Forward With Appropriations Bill Covering Social Security

     From the summary of a bill pending before the Senate Appropriations Committee:


Social Security Administration (SSA): The bill includes nearly $12 billion, an increase of $534 million, for SSA’s administrative expenses. This includes a $441 million increase for program integrity activities and a $93 million increase in core administrative expenses for SSA to keep pace with an aging

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Don't Count On The Disability Trust Fund Going Bust In 2016 -- Or Ever

     Since I noticed that payments from the Social Security Disability Trust Fund have reached near stasis, I've been wondering about that projection from Social Security's Chief Actuary that the Disability Trust Fund will be exhausted in 2016. If you look at that projection, one of the first things you notice is that there isn't just one prediction. There are three. The one commonly cited is

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SAAs, ALJs And OTRs

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


The SAA [Staff Attorney Adjudicator] Program [also known as Senior Attorney program] has contributed to both an increase in adjudicative capacity and improved average processing time. However, the number of SAA OTRs[On The Records] peaked in FY [Fiscal Year] 2010, and the decline continued through the first 5 months of

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What A Deal!

     From the National Journal (emphasis added):


With an anxious eye toward the coming debt-ceiling negotiations,
House Republicans are drafting what members call a “menu” of mandatory
spending cuts to offer the White House in exchange for raising the
country’s borrowing limit.

This menu is more a matrix of politically fraught options for the
Obama administration to consider: Go small on

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Up And Down With The Roller Coaster

      Social Security has issued updated numbers on payments of fees
to attorneys and some others for representing Social Security
claimants. These fees are withheld and paid by Social Security but come
out of the back benefits of the claimants involved. The attorneys and
others who have their fees withheld pay a user fee for this privilege. Since these fees are usually
paid at the same

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SSA Not Yet Implementing DOMA Decision

     Social Security has issued new instructions on dealing with same sex marriage cases. Social Security's Administrative Law Judges are now instructed to cancel any scheduled hearing dealing with this issue and to not make a decision in any case that has already been heard. I don't know how many of these cases there may be but I'd bet the vast majority of them are couples who still live in the

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Fair And Balanced

     From Media Matters:

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Not Buying It

     Jay Barnes isn't buying the claims that Social Security is pressuring its Administrative Law Judges to approve disability claims.

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Happy Independence Day!

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Soaring Disability Payments?

     We keep hearing that Social Security disability benefit payments are soaring. They're going through the roof. It's ruinous how rapidly disability payments are rising. Funny thing about that. It's not happening, at least not anymore. Below is a chart showing Disability Insurance Benefits payments over the last two years. I know the chart contains some extraneous information but I couldn't

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Chief Actuary Projects Effects Of Immigration Reform On Social Security

     From a June 28 letter from Social Security's Chief Actuary Stephen Goss to Senator Marco Rubio:


I am writing in response to your request for estimates of the long-range financial effects on Social Security of Senate Bill S. 744, as reported out by the Judiciary Committee, amended, and passed by the Senate on June 27. ...

We estimate that enactment of this Bill would increase asset

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Telephone Problems At ODAR Today

     I'm hearing reports that Social Security's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) offices nationwide are experiencing telephone difficulties today. It's not clear to me whether this is affecting other parts of Social Security as well.

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Some Agencies Were Prepared For Supreme Court Decision On DOMA

     I wrote last week that Social Security seemed unprepared for the decision of the Supreme Court holding the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional. Some agencies were prepared for this decision. See the memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued just a day after Social Security issued staff instructions to hold all claims filed by those in same sex marriages.

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Payment Delays Reported

     There is a report of delays in direct deposits of Social Security benefits in the Wichita, KS area. If this report is accurate, the fault lies not with Social Security but with the Department of the Treasury which processes the direct doposits -- but Social Security will get the calls.

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Continued Decline In Number Of Emloyees At Social Security

The Office of Personnel Management
(OPM) has posted updated figures
for the number of employees at Social Security.These figures do not
show the effects of reductions in overtime at Social Security.

March 2013 63,777
December 2012 64,538
September 2012 65,113
June 2012 65,282
March
2012 65,257
December 2011 65,911
September 2011 67,136
June 2011 67,773
March 2011 68,700
December

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