SSDI

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College routinely conducts surveys and studies focused on the Social Security Administration and a recent survey conducted showed that Social Security would benefit if more customers were using online tools to conduct business, especially considering current limited service options that were established in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem, the survey found, is that even though Social Security has invested in web-based tools to allow customers to conduct business online that not enough recent and soon-to-be retirees have bought into applying for benefits and managing accounts online. Considering customer service options are limited due to Social Security offices remaining closed it is all more important for Social Security to develop ways to increase online usage. Below is a summary of the research conducted by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. The Survey About 60 percent of respondents submit (or intend to submit) their benefit application online, but only 43 percent claim (or intend to claim) benefits completely online – that is, claim benefits without interacting with an SSA representative by phone or in-person during the process. Reasons for contacting SSA rep during the claiming process included 1) distrust of online tools and a preference for in-person interactions, 2) obstacles to using SSA’s online services – such as data errors or a general lack of awareness of SSA’s online tools, 3) straightforward inquiries about benefits – most of which could probably be handled online, and 4) more complex inquiries regarding things like spousal benefits or the tax implications of receiving SS income. In general, younger respondents were more likely to exhibit a high level of comfort with online financial services. Policy Implications Only 70 percent of the roughly 50 percent currently submitting online benefit applications – about 35 percent of retirees – claim completely online. The share of retirees who claim completely online could be increased significantly through policies that 1) help more retirees find answers to their basic inquiries online and 2) reduce the impediments retirees encounter when they do try to use SSA’s online tools. These policies, combined with the incremental impact from greater comfort with online services among younger cohorts, could increase the share of retirees claiming completely online by about 20 percentage points in ten years.

Social Security recently released its plans for re-opening agency offices well after many other government agencies and private businesses have already re-opened to some degree. Since March 2020 Social Security offices have remained mostly closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and since then in-office service at Social Security has been nearly impossible, but finally some movement from the agency with the re-opening plan. The agency will begin to bring back people in senior leadership positions December 1, 2021 followed by the return of other employees January 3, 2022. There are still ample opportunities for Social Security employees to continue to work from home part of the time as well. Below are the specifics of the plan. The entire plan can be viewed here. On December 1, 2021, senior leadership will begin reentry. On January 3, 2022, we plan to begin the safe return of employees onsite, with ample notice, in compliance with SSA’s WSP, and in consideration of the lessons learned during the pandemic. SSA’s agency-wide evacuation order will expire on January 2, 2022. With the expiration of the evacuation order, all policies and Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) provisions in effect on March 13, 2020 are reinstated, except where a provision expressly conflicts with safety measures in the WSP. Each Deputy Commissioner has determined the number of scheduled telework days, if any, eligible positions, and percentage of employees permitted to telework, consistent with applicable CBA provisions and relevant agency policies, as described in the chart below. Any employee who teleworked during the pandemic (between March 16, 2020-January 2, 2022) will be eligible for, at a minimum, episodic telework if the employee meets the eligibility criteria in the applicable CBA provisions or agency policy. Employees ineligible for telework, or who choose not to participate in the voluntary telework program, will return to onsite work for all scheduled work hours beginning no sooner than January 3, 2022, unless a local evacuation order necessitates remote work. Managers and executives may telework. Line managers will telework consistent with the work unit they manage. Individual employee telework schedules will be determined by telework agreements in accordance with the following Deputy Commissioner (DC)-approved plans.

The Senate Appropriations Committee recently released its fiscal year 2022 appropriation bill that calls for close to $1 billion in funding for the Social Security Administration. The bill also includes recommendations for Social Security, including recommendations related to offering more in-person services at the agency. The Senate version of the bill asks for about the same amount of funding as a companion bill in the U.S. House, but there are differences the two chambers will have to work out. Below is a brief description of the Social Security items included in the bill. Delayed Disability Payments — The delayed payment of Social Security Disability Insurance claims can create a significant burden on claimants. The Committee requests a briefing within 90 days of enactment on the issues that can result in delayed payments, and the polices SSA has implemented, or has considered, to streamline the disability payments’ process. Disability Hearing and Initial Claims Backlogs — The Committee commends SSA for the progress it has made reducing the average disability hearing processing time and the disability hearing backlog. The Committee recommendation combined with investments in recent years will help SSA stay on schedule to eliminate the backlog in fiscal year 2022 and further reduce the average disability hearing processing time. At the same time COVID–19 has created significant challenges for SSA, and has contributed to a growing backlog of initial disability claims. The Committee recommendation will support additional hires for Disability Determination Services to help address the growing backlog and an estimated increase in initial claims. The Committee requests a briefing within 60 days of enactment, and quarterly thereafter, on its progress towards reducing initial disability claim and hearings processing times and backlogs. Field Offices Closures — The Committee remains concerned about decisions to permanently close field offices and the impact on the public. The Committee encourages SSA to find an appropriate balance between in-person field office services and online services for beneficiaries. While the SSA’s Inspector General reviews decisions to close field offices, the Committee directs SSA to take every action possible to maintain operations at the offices under review.

When an application for Social Security disability benefits is submitted to the Social Security Administration for consideration, Social Security rules require the agency to follow a five-step sequential evaluation to determine if the claimant’s impairments are considered severe. The steps include looking at a claimant’s work earnings; determining whether an impairment meets a Social Security listing; whether a claimant can perform past work and whether the claimant can adjust to other work.   These are all very crucial steps in the process, but possibly the most crucial evaluation Social Security will do on a claim is to determine whether the impairments a claimant suffers from are considered severe. Below is specific evaluation Social Security conducts to determine whether an impairment is severe:   At the second step, we consider the medical severity of an individual’s impairment; An individual must have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment (or a combination of impairments) that is severe and meets the duration requirement; To be severe, an impairment must interfere with basic work-related activities; To meet the duration requirement the impairment must be expected to last 12 months or to result in death; If the impairment is not severe or does not meet the duration requirement, the individual is found not disabled; If the impairment is severe and meets the duration requirement, the adjudicator goes to the next question that needs to be resolved.  

In 1983 Congress passed the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). This legislation put a stop to workers collecting full Social Security retirement or disability benefits and a full pension from their job even though during that job they were not paying Social Security taxes. This was certainly an advantage for people who were allowed maximum benefits, but now people who have a separate pension from an employer should determine whether they are paying Social Security taxes at the job where they were eligible for a pension to see if the WEP would apply to them. Below is a more in-depth explanation of the WEP as identified by Social Security. Your Social Security retirement or disability benefits can be reduced The Windfall Elimination Provision can affect how we calculate your retirement or disability benefit. If you work for an employer who doesn’t withhold Social Security taxes from your salary, such as a government agency or an employer in another country, any retirement or disability pension you get from that work can reduce your Social Security benefits. When your benefits can be affected This provision can affect you when you earn a retirement or disability pension from an employer who didn’t withhold Social Security taxes and you qualify for Social Security retirement or disability benefits from work in other jobs for which you did pay taxes. The Windfall Elimination Provision can apply if: You reached age 62 after 1985; or You became disabled after 1985; and You first became eligible for a monthly pension based on work where you didn’t pay Social Security taxes after 1985. This rule applies even if you’re still working. This provision also affects Social Security benefits for people who performed federal service under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) after 1956. We won’t reduce your Social Security benefit amounts if you only performed federal service under a system such as the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS). Social Security taxes are withheld for workers under FERS.  

We are more than half the way through October in 2021 and in many parts of the country the weather will be getting colder rapidly as we work our way into winter. Many households struggle during winter months with energy costs, but if you are struggling with energy costs or even struggling to pay your mortgage or rent it is important to know about potential options that can provide assistance. Below is information from Social Security’s outside assistance page that can allow people to access different types of assistance programs if they are facing financial distress. There are also additional links to find assistance with not only energy costs, but also housing and rental assistance. Help is available for homeowners and renters during the coronavirus national emergency. You may qualify for financial assistance if you are struggling to pay your mortgage or rent. Federal, state, and local governments are offering help with housing expenses and avoiding eviction. Learn what financial and other help is available by selecting a button below to visit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s website. Financial assistance often can affect a person’s eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or affect their monthly SSI payment amount. However, the Social Security Administration will not count emergency financial assistance received from the programs and funds listed below against an SSI recipient’s eligibility or payment amount. Financial assistance not listed below may affect SSI eligibility or payment amount. Below is an example of the types of different assistance available for those who are struggling. Emergency Rental Assistance Fund Emergency Assistance for Rural Housing/Rural Rental Assistance Homeowner Assistance Fund Housing Assistance and Supportive Services Programs for Native Americans To learn more about assistance for homeowners click here. To learn more about assistance for renters click here.

The quest of lobbying members of Congress to include Supplemental Security Income (SSI) reform in the current infrastructure package that is being considered is a never-ending journey for disability advocates. The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), a Social Security task force, wrote a letter to the majority and minority leaders in Congress October 15, 2021 urging for the inclusion of what they call “long overdue” improvements to SSI, especially during the pandemic. This is not the first letter the group sent a letter to Congress urging for improvements to SSI. The group also sent letters on May 12, 2021 and July 26, 2021. It has remained particularly difficult for people to apply for SSI since the pandemic caused shutdowns in March of 2020. Now, 18 months later, nothing has changed as Social Security offices remain pretty much closed to the public due to the pandemic. Social Security does recommend online or phone service while offices remain closed, but it is not an easy task to get someone from Social Security on the line to schedule an SSI phone appointment and millions of people have been left in limbo for 18 months without having good options to apply for SSI. This is completely frustrating as those who are applying for SSI typically have extremely low income and few assets, while also potentially suffering from health impairments that keep from working. Improvements are need to SSI now more than ever. Below is a portion of the letter the CCD sent to the majority and minority leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate urging for SSI reform. A copy of the entire letter can be found here. We understand that there is currently substantial debate about what will ultimately be in the Build Back Better package, but we believe that it is crucial for SSI improvements to be included. SSI provides critical income assistance to 8 million very low-income people with disabilities and older adults and the benefit amounts and rules of this majority-minority program have not been updated for almost 50 years. We continue to strongly support the inclusion of President Biden’s campaign commitments on SSI in Build Back Better, but we understand the cost constraints that Congress is facing. Some of the President’s commitments are very affordable: increasing the income disregards is only $60 billion over ten years, eliminating the rules prohibiting help from family and friends is only $31 billion, and updating the resource limits is only $8 billion. Other smaller changes we have long supported have negligible costs of under $500 million over ten years (including expanding SSI to the territories, excluding retirement accounts from resources, eliminating dedicated accounts, and other technical changes from the SSI Restoration Act). After decades of neglect, it is long past time for Congress to pass as many of these changes as possible in the upcoming package.   These important and long-overdue reforms are urgently needed to ensure that the 8 million people who currently rely on SSI benefits–as well as COVID long-haulers who will turn to SSI for critical income support in the months and years ahead–are able to live in dignity. We stand ready to help you make these long-overdue improvements a reality as we all work together to “build back better.”

The chatter related to calls for Social Security to open up field offices is getting louder and the agency seems to be under pressure to open up offices, which have remained mostly closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020. The latest call for Social Security offices to be opened comes from a group of 50 members of Congress, led by U.S. Rep. Chris Jacobs, R-New York. A letter from the members was sent to Social Security leaders asking that plans be made to open up offices for in-person customer service. Currently there are more than 1,500 Social Security offices that remain closed to in-person customer service. Below is the letter the members of Congress sent to Social Security. Dear Dr. Kijakazi and Mr. Kelley, We write to urge you to work together to develop a plan to reopen the more than 1,500 Social Security field offices that are currently closed to the public. Numerous constituents across our districts have reached out to us to express their frustrations with access to Social Security Administration (SSA) field offices. Many of our constituents from vulnerable populations who lack access to reliable internet, or do not have a reliable phone number or mailing address, are struggling to access Social Security services. In order to provide the services the American people are entitled to, it is imperative that these field offices reopen. We are also concerned the continued closure of SSA’s field offices will result in further delays in processing critical benefits and other services, on top of the already existing benefits backlog. A recent report from the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General found that SSA is facing a backlog of unprocessed mail, including benefit applications and requests for Social Security cards. As you are aware, delays in these areas can cause significant hardship for beneficiaries. The health and safety of federal employees should be a priority in any reopening plan. With the availability of three safe and highly effective vaccines however, it is clear that field offices can be reopened safely. Numerous public and private entities throughout the country have resumed normal operations. It is time the Social Security Administration reopen as well.