We realize it may be a stretch for ordinary people to want to keep up with the comings and goings of the Social Security Administration, but sometimes circumstances permit where someone does want to follow the latest news regarding the agency due to a possible retirement or disability interest. This blog is an ongoing piecemeal of recent stories that have involved Social Security. Some are tidbits and some are important things that should be known in the world of retirement or disability and others are just interesting stories and nothing more.
Appropriations Committee Sets Social Security Directives
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee recently passed along a bill that includes a $300 million increase for Social Security, but includes a list of housekeeping items the Committee wants Social Security to address. The full report includes many other items besides Social Security, but some of the highlights of the bill related to Social Security can be found below.
- Prepare report within 60 days on Administrative Law Judge selection;
- Include more information in Beneficiary Verification letters;
- Prepare report on negotiations with employee unions;
- Encourage proper consideration of headache disorders in determination of disability;
- Prepare update for Committee on agency’s information technology modernization;
- Brief Committee on mailing paper statements;
- Prepare report on utilization of Social Security programs by persons suffering from muscular dystrophy;
- Prepare report on occupational information system project;
- Prepare proper research designs for all pilot projects and prepare a report on all such pilots;
- Prepare report within 180 days on improving Disability Determination Services process, including addressing the role of the reconsideration stage;
- Stop the proposal to charge fees for replacement Social Security cards;
- Stop pursuing the plan to consider social media postings in determining disability;
- Strongly urges agency to not proceed with plan for mandatory video hearings;
- Provide report within 90 days on strengthening vocational expert program;
- Strongly urges agency to not go forward with proposed regulations that would eliminate inability to communicate in English as factor in determining disability.
The Overpayment Problem
Social Security has been combating the overpayment problem with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments for a decade. A recent report furnished by Social Security shows that while overpayments remain relatively rare, it remains a significant problem for Social Security’s bottom line.
The Report
We estimate the prevalence, duration, and dollar amount of work-related overpayments accrued to Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries based on administrative data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) for January 2010 through December 2012. We find that 1.9 percent of DI beneficiaries in our sample were overpaid because of work in 1 or more months during that period. Although overpayments were rare among DI beneficiaries overall, among those with earnings sufficient to put them at risk of a work-related overpayment, 71 percent were overpaid. Work-related overpayments lasted for a median of 9 months and accrued a median amount of $9,282. Overpayments were statistically associated with low levels of education and relatively low monthly benefit amounts. Findings for certain beneficiary and program-related characteristics suggest that modifying SSA outreach and communication efforts might help beneficiaries comply with DI earnings-reporting requirements and avoid overpayments.
