SSDI

A bill that would drastically overhaul how Social Security benefits are provided was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. Unfortunately the bill really has little chance of becoming law with the current makeup of Congress, but don’t expect the Social Security 2100 Act to go away either. Democrats have set their agenda on how to improve and fund Social Security benefits and will likely not scrap their plans, but any future chance of passing the bill will likely depend on what happens during the next few election cycles. The bill calls for benefit increases, protection for low-wage workers and increased revenue through elimination of the Social Security tax cap. Below are all the different items included in the bill. Benefit bump for current and new beneficiaries – Provides an increase for all beneficiaries that is the equivalent to about 2% of the average benefit. The US faces a retirement crisis and a modest boost in benefits strengthens the one leg of the retirement system that is universal and the most reliable. Protection against inflation – Improves the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) formula to better reflect the costs incurred by seniors through adopting a CPI-E formula. This provision will help seniors who spend a greater portion of their income on health care and other necessities. Improved inflation protection will especially help older retirees and widows who are more likely to rely on Social Security benefits as they age. Protects low-income workers – No one who paid into the system over a lifetime should retire into poverty. The new minimum benefit will be set at 25% above the poverty line and would be tied to wage levels to ensure that the minimum benefit does not fall behind. Improves benefits for widows and widowers in two income households Repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) that currently penalize many public servants. Ends the 5-month waiting period to receive disability benefits. Provides caregiver credits to ensure that caregivers are not penalized in retirement for taking time out of the workforce to care for children or other dependents. Extends benefits for students through age 22. Increases access to benefits for children who live with grandparents or other relatives. Have millionaires and billionaires pay the same rate as everyone else – Presently, payroll taxes are not collected on wages over $142,800. This legislation would apply the payroll tax to wages above $400,000. This provision would only affect the top 0.4% of wage earners. Extends the depletion date (when a 20% cut to benefits would occur) to 2038 – Giving Congress more time to ensure long term solvency of the Trust Funds. Social Security Trust Fund Established – Social Security provides all-in-one retirement, survivor, and disability benefits funded through the dedicated FICA contribution paid by workers. There are technically two trust funds, Old-Age and Survivors (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI), and that are usually referred to as the Social Security Trust Fund. This provision combines the OASI & DI trust funds into one Social Security Trust Fund, to ensure that all benefits will be paid.

Back in the 1980s the Paperwork Reduction Act was passed. The purpose, according to the act, was to “protect the public from excessive demands for information,” but decades later does the act achieve its intentions? The answer is likely no, at least when it comes to the Social Security Administration. If you have ever applied for Social Security disability benefits, or if you have ever represented a Social Security disability claimant you know that the amount of paperwork involved in a claim is abundant. The agency will send multiple copies of correspondence to both the claimant and the claimant’s representative, which does not seem like a good practice of the Paperwork Reduction Act. The act was passed way before there was an Internet to speak of and when technology did not allow us to conduct business the way we do today. Social Security could do many things that would improve the Paperwork Reduction Act. One major thing Social Security could move to would be to allow claimants to submit documents and forms electronically and to allow claimants to sign documents electronically to reduce unnecessary paperwork that can seem overwhelming to a Social Security disability claimant. Below is a look back at the purpose of the Paperwork Reduction Act. Paperwork Reduction Act, a Law for Modern Times The Paperwork Reduction Act was enacted in 1980 to protect the public from excessive demands for information. Despite its age, the PRA’s concerns are especially relevant now. Now more than ever, good data is essential for government decision-making, but gathering this data must be balanced against the desire to decrease burden on the public. It’s a tricky balancing act. Until today, federal employees have struggled with navigating the clearance process. Whenever they wanted information from the public – from official forms to online surveys – they’ve entered a world of uncertainty. Federal employees are often reluctant to modify forms because of the hassle and delay of the clearance process. Some unfortunate examples are when paper forms are directly copied to web interfaces to avoid the process. Especially when many agencies are improving their digital service offering, this presents a huge wasted opportunity. This website aims to lower the barrier by increasing employees’ confidence and eliminating a common cause of delay: the back-and-forth between agencies and OIRA. Having the basics in plain language is expected to save everybody time. The site’s process table also helps agencies plan the right activities at the right times. With these barriers decreased, the joint project teams hope to unblock good changes while preserving scrutiny on burdensome collections. How This Came About The PRA Guide was developed with the help of a fund called 10x, which funds innovative ideas from within government. When OIRA (which handles PRA clearances) heard about this opportunity, it presented a clear path to address the frustration around PRA. The PRA Guide is the result of Phase 3 of 10x funding, which established the best path forwards through user research: a clear and intuitive website that presents a holistic view of the PRA process.

Due the fact that Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a financial needs based program for the elderly and people who have been found disabled, Social Security offers a special program that will get payments out to beneficiaries in an expedited manner. The SSI emergency payments are for people who are facing a financial emergency, but who are also due SSI benefits. This is not a program that gets a lot of attention, but beneficiaries should be aware that there are avenues to travel that will get your benefits to you sooner if you are facing a financial crisis. Below is a description from Social Security about the emergency advance payment program. EMERGENCY ADVANCE PAYMENT We may be able to make an emergency advance payment to new applicants, who face a financial emergency and who are due SSI benefits that are delayed or not received. We can only pay one such advance payment. The maximum emergency advance payment you may receive is the smallest of: the SSI Federal benefit rate (plus any federally administered State supplement); the total amount of the benefits due; or the amount requested for the financial emergency. WHO CAN RECEIVE AN EMERGENCY ADVANCE PAYMENT? People who: Are due SSI benefits (including PD or PB payments) that are delayed or not received. Are facing a “financial emergency” which means they need money right away due to a threat to health or safety, such as not enough money for food, clothing, shelter or medical care. HOW DO WE RECOVER AN EMERGENCY ADVANCE PAYMENT? We will subtract the emergency advance payment from the payments already due you and pay you the difference. If you are not due past payments, we will subtract the emergency advance payment from your current monthly benefits in up to 6 monthly installments.  

When a beloved family member passes away Social Security is not the focus, as grieving family members have their minds on other things, but eventually when it is time to get the deceased family member’s affairs in order Social Security is one matter that needs to be addressed. Even if the deceased family member was not receiving benefits the Social Security Administration needs to be notified of a passing. If the deceased was collecting Social Security benefits it is even more important to inform Social Security. Informing Social Security of a family member’s passing will allow the agency to stop benefits being paid to the deceased individual, but will also potentially allow family members to be eligible for survivor’s benefits through the Social Security Administration. There are a number of different programs that allow family members to collect Social Security benefits when a beneficiary dies. This includes survivor’s benefits for minor children and even benefits for the deceased widow or widower. Keep in mind that when a family member passes away it will cause a lot of stress, fear and anxiety, so understanding how survivor’s benefits work ahead of time would be beneficial. Below is a fact sheet from Social Security about all the different survivor’s programs available to deceased family members. We can pay a one-time payment of $255 to the surviving spouse if they were living with the deceased. If living apart from the deceased and eligible for certain Social Security benefits on the deceased’s record, the surviving spouse may still be able to get this one-time payment. If there’s no surviving spouse, a child who’s eligible for benefits on the deceased’s record in the month of death can get this payment. Certain family members may be eligible to receive monthly benefits, including: —A widow or widower age 60 or older (age 50 or older if disabled). —A widow or widower of any age caring for the deceased’s child who is under age 16 or disabled. —An unmarried child of the deceased who is either: ◦ Younger than age 18 (or up to age 19 if they’re a full-time student in an elementary or secondary school). ◦ Age 18 or older with a disability that began before age 22. —A stepchild, grandchild, step grandchild, or adopted child under certain circumstances. —Parents, age 62 or older, who were dependent on the deceased for at least half of their support. —A surviving divorced spouse, under certain circumstances. If the deceased was receiving Social Security benefits, you must return the benefit received for the month of death and any later months. For example, if the person dies in July, you must return the benefit paid in August. If received by direct deposit, contact the bank or other financial institution and ask them to return any funds received for the month of death or later. If paid by check, do not cash any checks received for the month the person dies or later. Return the checks to Social Security as soon as possible.  

We are seeing more and more stories about Social Security’s solvency issue as we approach another projected year, 2034, when the agency’s retirement and disability trust funds are expected to run out of enough money to pay full benefit amounts. If nothing were done by Congress about Social Security’s finance issue then beneficiaries would see a cut in benefits, but this is not a new story and likely will not happen. For decades people have been identifying that Social Security could run out of enough money to pay full benefit rates, but eventually Congress takes action to extend the life of the trust funds. Typically these are stop-gap measures that only extend the solvency of the trust funds for a limited amount of time. It is time to make some substantial moves when it comes to shoring up the trust funds. USA Today issued a recent article that identified some more permanent solutions to Social Security’s funding issues. One of those solutions is to raise the agency’s wage cap on Social Security taxes. Below is a description from the USA Today article that explores this idea. Workers don’t necessarily pay Social Security taxes on all of their earnings. Each year, there’s a wage cap that applies to those taxes, and income beyond that point is exempt. Right now, the wage cap stands at $142,800. Chances are, it will rise in 2022, since it typically increases on a year over year basis. But a modest increase won’t do the trick in preventing Social Security benefit cuts. And so we could see the wage cap jump substantially rather than rise by about $5,000 like it did from 2020 to 2021. Another option lawmakers might consider is to lift the wage cap altogether. In that scenario, workers would pay Social Security on all of their income. There has not been a rationale explanation of why this cap exists in the first place. Most people, who are not earning extremely high incomes, pay Social Security taxes on 100 percent of their earnings, so why shouldn’t everyone pay Social Security taxes on all of their income? This would extend the life of the trust funds more than stop-gap measures, does not change Social Security’s full retirement age and does not increase the percentage of the Social Security tax.

We have heard politicians and other advocates clamoring for Social Security to open up offices again to provide in-person customer support, but there has been no specific plan to do so as the agency has allowed its employees to work from home since March of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Things have changed a lot since March 2020. Three effective vaccines have been created to combat COVID-19 and President Joe Biden has mandated that all federal employees soon be vaccinated against COVID-19, which has signaled to many that the Social Security agency may finally be moving in the direction of opening up offices again, but people are still waiting for that announcement. It has now been about 18 months since Social Security employees have been working from home. We wrote a previous blog about a reduction in work activity for some federal employees since the work from home order came down, but now a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows that there are significant cybersecurity concerns with employees working from home and that all of these concerns have not been addressed. The GAO looked at 12 different federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration. The synopsis of the report indicated that federal agencies mostly overcame technology challenges, but that security controls need to be in place that do not currently exist to combat vulnerabilities in their systems that provide remote access, which could be exploited. Below is a portion of the report that identifies increased cybersecurity risks that comes with allowing remote access and the practice of telework. The IT systems supporting federal agencies are highly complex and dynamic, technologically diverse, and geographically dispersed. Without proper safeguards, computer systems are vulnerable to individuals and groups with malicious intentions who can intrude into those systems and use their access to obtain sensitive information, commit fraud and identity theft, disrupt operations, or launch attacks against other computer systems and networks. While telework is an important option during the COVID-19 pandemic, the large number of additional remote connections needed to allow agencies to maintain maximum telework capabilities brings more risks to agency networks and systems. Remote access technologies, including employee telework devices (e.g., laptop computers and other devices), often need additional protection due to higher exposure to external threats compared to technologies located inside an agency’s network boundary. In its memo directing agencies to use technology to support mission continuity during the pandemic, OMB also provided a list of areas of increased focus concerning cybersecurity and privacy. In April 2020, the Congressional Research Service reported that the increase in telework in response to the COVID-19 pandemic had increased cybersecurity risks for agencies.21 Specifically, it reported that adversaries were, for example, using phishing attempts to try and take advantage of the pandemic to entice and trick users into downloading malicious software onto their devices.22 Further, the increase in remote users brings additional risks, as remote users are no longer accessing agency computing resources from inside agency facilities.  

Good news is on the horizon for Social Security beneficiaries as it was recently projected that the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security beneficiaries in 2022 is expected to be about six percent, which would be the largest COLA increase for beneficiaries since 1982. The annual Social Security COLA is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Typically when inflation increases it is a benefit for Social Security beneficiaries because they receive a larger monthly increase in benefits. Although Social Security beneficiaries will applaud the 6 percent increase, an increase in inflation is not necessarily a good thing overall. The Yahoo Finance story speculated that gas prices have increased significantly due to inflation, but overall an increase in gas prices usually impacts younger people compared to older individuals and those on Social Security disability. Below is a portion of a story from Yahoo Finance that details the projected COLA increase for Social Security beneficiaries in 2022. The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a nonpartisan seniors advocacy group, projected that the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2022 will be 6% to 6.1% based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). That projection is down slightly from the previous month’s estimate of 6.2%, but would still represent the biggest COLA increase since 1982. But this year, gas prices have been on a steep increase, which accounts for a large part of the projected COLA increase. Not everyone agrees with putting such a big emphasis on gas prices, however. Gas prices usually impact younger consumers more than older ones. As people age, they tend to spend more on housing and medical costs, which is one reason some advocates want to see a bigger focus on those costs when determining COLA increases.

When you look at your next Social Security statement it is likely the statement will look differently than other statements you seen in the past. On October 4, 2021 Social Security issued a press release about making available redesigned statements under the leadership of Social Security’s new Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi. The redesigned statements are available online for people who created their own my Social Security portal. Kijakazi said that one of her priorities was to make information available to claimants that is clear and easy to understand. “One of my top priorities is to provide information to people in clear and plain terms about Social Security’s programs and services,” said Acting Commissioner Kijakazi. “The streamlined Social Security Statement contains clear messaging and makes it easier to find information at a glance, helping to simplify our complex programs for the public.” For years Social Security has been trying to get more people to start using online accounts to conduct business with the agency. To date more than 61 million people have already created an online Social Security account. Prior to providing new Social Security statements online the agency conducted research to determine how to make the statements easier to understand. Below is Social Security’s description of how it went about creating these new statements. The agency conducted extensive research, review, and testing to make the updated Statement easy to understand. The new Statement is shorter, uses visuals and plain language, and includes fact sheets tailored to a person’s age and earnings history. It also includes important information people have come to expect from the Statement, such as how much a worker and family members could expect to receive in Social Security benefits and a personalized earnings history, in a clear, concise manner. Examples of the new Statement and fact sheets are available at www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount/statement.html.

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. Social Security Employee Wins Award The Government Executive recently announced the winners of the annual Theodore Roosevelt Leadership Awards. One of the announced winners was Sylviane Haldiman from the Social Security Administration. Haldiman is an associate deputy commissioner with Social Security in the agency’s office of systems. Haldiman earned the Pathfinder Award for her work. A description of the Pathfinder Award follows. These winners bring the best information technology solutions available into the federal sphere. For some, that involves exploring the application of leading-edge technologies to government. For others, it means implementing currently commercially available products and services to solve specific problems. In both cases, the end result is driving down cost and increasing the efficiency of government operations. Government Shutdown Averted Another potential government shutdown was averted as the clock was ticking as we entered October in 2021. For weeks Democrats and Republicans debated the merits of continuing to fund the government as the deadline approached and decided to support a Continuing Resolution that allows the government to be funded through December 3, 2021. This move will ensure that Social Security will be fully funded and benefits will continue uninterrupted as least for the next couple of months. Once we get closer to December 3, 2021 expect Congress to take another government shutdown solution to the last minute before action is taken. Even if there had been a partial government shutdown Social Security has a contingency plan in place that would allow the agency to still meet benefit obligations. That plan was updated in late September 2021. Below is a description of the plan that would allow the agency to continue to pay benefits even during a government shutdown. Funding for the programs under Titles II, XVI, and XVIII of the Social Security Act will continue, even in the event of a lapse in appropriations. Indefinite trust funds supply Title II and Title XVIII benefits. General revenues fund Title XVI payments. However, the current appropriation funds those payments through the first quarter of the following fiscal year. Because there is funding to pay these benefits, the Necessary Implication exception allows us to perform those activities needed to ensure that benefits are accurately and timely paid, despite a lapse in appropriations. Having a contingency plan in place is important for Social Security to be able to meet benefit obligations even during a partial shutdown of the government. Threats of a government shutdown have become more frequent so this contingency plan issued by the agency is extremely important.