SSDI

In April of 2018 the Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act was passed and the type of representation of Advance Designation was created. Many Social Security disability claimants require some assistance from outside forces to assist with a disability claim and their benefits. These outside forces are responsible for advocating for the claimant and maintaining the claimant’s benefits after they are approved as a representative payee. The legislation passed in 2018 allows for some claimants to choose someone to help them down the road with benefits should they be unable to maintain their own benefits, which is known as Advance Designation. Below is a description from Social Security of how Advance Designation works. You should be aware of another type of representation called Advance Designation. This relates to the Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018, which was signed into law on April 13, 2018. Advance Designation allows capable adult and emancipated minor applicants and beneficiaries of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and Special Veterans Benefits to choose one or more individuals to serve as their representative payee in the future, if the need arises. To help protect what’s important to you, we now offer the option to choose a representative payee in advance. In the event that you can no longer make your own decisions, you and your family will have peace of mind knowing you already chose someone you trust to manage your benefits. If you need a representative payee to assist with the management of your benefits, we will first consider your advance designees, but we must still fully evaluate them and determine their suitability at that time. You can submit your advance designation request when you apply for benefits or after you are already receiving benefits. You may do so through your personal my Social Security account, by telephone, or in person.

Congress has been working on many different things over the last several months. This includes a COVID-19 relief bill and an infrastructure bill, but another bill that is not getting as much attention would be a huge benefit to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients. The maximum monthly SSI benefit, which goes to the elderly and disabled individuals with limited income and assets, has been extraordinarily low for too long. The benefit is so low that it does not even get many individuals above the poverty line, but there remains some hope that the SSI legislation may get passed as part of a budget deal being discussed. A recent story posted by CNBC explains how democrats in Congress are pushing for a revamp of the SSI program. Below is a portion of the CNBC story that explains the proposed legislation. In 2021, the maximum monthly SSI benefit is $794 per individual, or $1,191 per married couple where both individuals qualify for the program. Those benefits are altered every year with the annual cost-of-living adjustment set by the Social Security Administration. Still, those maximum benefit amounts are below the federal poverty level. The Senate bill calls for raising monthly benefits to 100% of the federal poverty level — which would result in a 31% increase — and indexing them to inflation. In addition, it also calls for updating rules that have been in place for decades. Today, individuals can only have $2,000 in assets in order to qualify for the program, while married couples can have up to $3,000. Those thresholds have not been updated since 1989. The Senate bill calls for updating those caps to $10,000 for individuals and $20,000 for couples. The bill also seeks to update SSI’s income rules, which have never been changed since the program was created in 1972. Currently, for every $2 someone earns over $65, they lose $1 of SSI benefits. The Senate proposal would raise those income thresholds, so individuals will be able to earn up to $399 per month through work and take in up to $123 per month through other government benefits or pension income without having their SSI checks reduced. SSI beneficiaries would no longer be penalized for working or receiving gifts from friends or family. Moreover, married couples who are both on SSI would no longer take a benefit cut. About 8 million disabled or elderly Americans currently receive SSI benefits, including more than 1 million disabled children. Increasing benefit amounts for the SSI program is long overdue. Asking retired individuals and disabled individuals to provide for themselves on the significantly low benefit amounts is something that has to change. The SSI program has remained the same for decades and a change is needed. Asking our most vulnerable individuals to maintain on such modest benefit amounts can’t continue. The question is what are the chances this piece of legislation will eventually be passed is the key question. With so many other things Congress has its attention on many Social Security advocates fear that SSI recipients will once again be left out in the cold.  

When federal agencies open up for business again for face-to-face service things may look a lot different than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a question and answer section on the Safer Federal Workforce website the protocols were announced for visitors to federal buildings. This is likely to be the protocol for Social Security offices as well once a return to work plan is approved and employees return to the office. Visitors will be asked about vaccination status and if they are either not vaccinated or they decline to provide information about their vaccination status they will be forced to follow all CDC guidelines for unvaccinated individuals. This will include masking, social distancing and the ability to provide a recent negative COVID-19 test. If unvaccinated individuals decide not to comply with these guidelines they will be prevented from entering federal government buildings and will not be seen for service. Below is the specific information provided on the Safer Federal Workforce page. Should agencies inquire regarding the vaccination status of visitors to Federal buildings?       Visitors to Federal buildings should be asked to provide information about vaccination status. In requesting this information, agencies should comply with any applicable Federal laws, including requirements under the Privacy Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act. Visitors who are not fully vaccinated or who decline to provide information about their vaccination status must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test from no later than the previous 3 days prior to entry to a Federal building. These requirements related to the provision of information about vaccination and provision of proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test do not apply to members of the public entering a Federal building or Federal land to obtain a public service or benefit. If they are not fully vaccinated, these visitors must comply with all relevant CDC guidance, including wearing a mask and physically distancing from other people.

President Joe Biden recently announced that all federal workers and contractors must show proof of the COVID-19 vaccination or submit to frequent COVID-19 testing if unvaccinated as part of a return to work initiative that will also impact Social Security employees. Ralph de Juliis, the Social Security employee union leader recently provided a interview to National Public Radio regarding Biden’s mandate for federal workers and wasn’t necessarily opposed to the mandate, but obviously de Juliis doesn’t just represent vaccinated Social Security employees, he also represents unvaccinated employees and has to also advocate for these employees as well. A transcript from the interview can be found here. Below is part of the conversation between Brian Naylor from NPR and de Juliis. NAYLOR: But other groups have problems with the Biden administration’s new rule. The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association issued a statement saying it was concerned by any move that would mandate the vaccine and that, quote, “forcing people to undertake a medical procedure is not the American way and is a clear civil rights violation.” Ralph De Juliis heads the union that represents some Social Security Administration employees. RALPH DE JULIIS: Everyone is concerned because it’s a change and it’s unknown. The people who have got vaccinated think it’s a great thing because now when they have – when they do have to go into the offices, they know that there’s less chance of catching something from a co-worker. NAYLOR: But De Juliis says workers who aren’t vaccinated are very, very concerned. He says the government is going to need to encourage those workers. DE JULIIS: There hopefully will be some sort of incentive. It will not be stick ’cause having that (laughter) Q-tip shoved up your nose periodically if you don’t get the vaccine – that’s more of a stick rather than an incentive. It clearly sounds like de Juliis is hinting at some sort of compensation for unvaccinated workers who have to go through extensive testing, but that doesn’t seem fair for employees who have already been vaccinated and would be safer to return to the office and resume their jobs.  

A recent analysis was released from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College that shows Social Security benefits help reduce the gap in retirement benefits between mothers and women who have no children. It is understandable that a mother who works is more than likely going to earn less income than a woman who has no children because a woman’s career may be put on hold when she has children, so it is not surprising to learn that, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, a mother earns just 37 percent of what childless women earn. Fortunately this income gap is reduced when you look at Social Security benefits as mothers earn about 60 percent of what childless women earn in retirement income. Below is the conclusion of the report issued. Even as women have ramped up their involvement in the labor force, the earnings penalty for mothers remains substantial. Social Security is able to offset a significant amount of the penalty by the time mothers reach retirement through two separate channels: the progressive design of worker benefits and the availability of spousal benefits. While Social Security will continue to play a role in reducing disparities between childless women and mothers in retirement, a motherhood penalty will remain. And factors such as different levels of 401(k) saving are likely to aggravate the disparities. In recent years, though, policymakers seem to be more attuned to the motherhood penalty. In part to address mothers’ short-term loss of earnings, the American Rescue Plan Act temporarily expanded the child tax credit. To address mothers’ retirement income gap, legislators have also proposed the Social Security Caregiver Credit Act, which would give caregivers credit for lost earnings when calculating retirement benefits; this proposal was also part of the Social Security reform plan outlined during President Biden’s campaign.

Former Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul has only been gone from the agency a number of days, but Social Security is already moving in the direction of removing initiatives the agency worked on under Saul’s leadership. Social Security published a notice in the Federal Register that it would be withdrawing a proposed rule that would have mandated increasing the number of Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs) the agency conducts. A CDR is conducted by Social Security on a disabled Social Security beneficiary after a certain amount of time, anywhere from 18 months to five years, to determine if the beneficiary is still disabled and entitled to benefits. If the agency were to increase the number of CDRs, as the proposed rule suggests, it would result in many more people being kicked off disability benefits. It is now likely that Social Security will begin to pull back on initiatives set by Saul as this is a good indication of what we might see for the future of Social Security. Below is a description of the initial proposed rule change and the action taken by Social Security to withdraw the proposed rule. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 18, 2019, we proposed to revise our regulations regarding when and how often we conduct continuing disability reviews (CDR), which are periodic reviews of eligibility required for benefit continuation. The proposed rules would have added a category to the existing medical diary categories that we use to schedule CDRs, and would have revised the criteria for assigning each of the medical diary categories to cases. The proposed rules would also have changed the frequency with which we perform a CDR for claims involving permanent impairments. In this proposed rule, we provided a 60-day comment period, which we extended for 15 days, concluding on January 31, 2020. We received 125,552 comments during the comment cycle. The total comment count reflects electronic submissions through the eRulemaking portals at the Office of the Federal Register and Regulations.gov, as well as emailed, mailed, and faxed comments. We did not make 181 comments available. These 181 comments were submitted after the comment period closed; included personally identifiable information or profanity; were unrelated to the rulemaking subject matter; or were submitted by individuals commenting in their capacity as Social Security Administration (SSA) employees. The Office of Management and Budget conducted 11 listening sessions under the authority of Executive Order (E.O.) 12866 during December 2020 and January 2021 for interested stakeholders, many of whom also provided thoughtful and relevant comments during the NPRM comment period. We appreciate all the commenters who provided thoughtful feedback on their analysis of, and concerns about, the proposed rule. Withdrawal of the Proposed Rule After considering the submitted comments and further feedback provided in the listening sessions, we are withdrawing the proposed rule, Rules Regarding the Frequency and Notice of Continuing Disability Reviews (84 FR 63588, November 18, 2019) (RIN 0960-AI27). We noted our intent to withdraw the proposed rule in our Spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.  

A recent story from the Federal News Network reported that federal agencies are putting plans in order to bring employees back to work, but the Social Security Administration is not one of those agencies. It was reported that the Labor Department would start to transition to bringing employees back to the office in early September and the Department of Agriculture would do the same at the beginning of October, but both departments plan a slow transition that will still allow some employees to work from home even after other employees are brought back to the office. Of all the federal agencies Social Security might be the last to bring employees back to the office because there is no plan in place to do so yet. Even though politicians are clamoring for Social Security to bring employees back to work and to open up field offices for service, the agency will be given more time to develop a plan after leadership at the agency was replaced. A couple of weeks ago President Joe Biden fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul and replaced him with Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi. Because of this change Social Security has been given more time to come up with a back-to-work plan. “As our country rebounds from a pandemic that has changed how we engage in our communities, the need for our services is tremendous, particularly for people facing barriers to our services,” Kijakazi said in an email to employees, which Federal News Network obtained. “I know you are wondering about what we are planning for the government-wide transition back to the office and are particularly interested in telework.” Unfortunately with COVID-19 infections on the rise due to the Delta Variant and low vaccination rates in some areas all of these back-to-work plans could be altered depending on which way the virus is trending.

A newly released report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for Social Security emphasizes how poor a job the Social Security Administration has done at processing mail at the agency since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when Social Security offices closed to the public in March of 2020. The report found that Social Security had large numbers of unprocessed applications, large quantities of undeliverable mail, lost mail and mail being stored in unsecure locations. It is the kind of report that does not provide confidence to people who are told to send original documents to Social Security for processing because these people may never know if they will receive their original documents back from Social Security. Below is the conclusion of the report that was issued July 29, 2021. We believe these deficiencies occurred because SSA does not have comprehensive, specific, or detailed policies, management information, or performance metrics related to how it processes mail. Without this information, SSA cannot know how much unprocessed mail it has, what is in the mail, or how old the mail is. In addition, Agency leadership is unable to assess staffing needs and distribute workloads. Without an effective system of internal control, there is heightened risk that SSA may lose sensitive documents. Agency managers stated the volume of mail exponentially increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is reasonable that it would take weeks or months to adjust processes to account for these changes. However, given that these conditions have existed for longer than 16 months, and Congress and the media have raised similar concerns, the Agency has had sufficient time and notice to plan and respond to these issues. As noted above, we are engaged with SSA management on addressing many of the issues described in this report, and we plan to issue final reports before end of Calendar Year 2021. That report will describe final findings and recommendations as well as Agency actions taken to address these concerns.

Last week Social Security Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi sent a message to all Social Security employees informing that Social Security’s plan of returning employees to work on-site has been delayed. Other federal agencies were required to submit reopening plans by now, but the acting commissioner asked for more time in issuing reopening plans for the agency and was granted more time. Below is the full announcement to employees from Kijakazi. As I enter my second week as Acting Commissioner, I would like to share a bit about my goals, objectives, and for our path forward. Right now, I am spending much of my time listening to and learning from agency experts.  I am meeting with labor unions this week.  I also want to hear from you, staff and managers alike.  I am relying on you to help identify what we can improve, recommend solutions, and bring about change that helps us serve the public better.  If you have an idea you would like to share with me, please send it to the Employee Ideas mailbox. My goals and objectives for Social Security are straightforward, and they will drive my decisions every day. Everyone who is eligible for benefits under the programs we administer should receive them.  It is up to all of us to identify and resolve any root causes of inequity in accessing our programs. We must treat our employees fairly and equitably.  That means supporting you in the career paths that you choose and recognizing that your success is critical to the success of our organization. I believe that when we observe or encounter disparities, we should first identify and address systemic barriers that contribute to these disparities before we assume there are deficits in the individuals, families, and communities we serve, or in colleagues with whom we serve.   As our country rebounds from a pandemic that has changed how we engage in our communities, the need for our services is tremendous, particularly for people facing barriers to our services. I know you are wondering about what we are planning for the government-wide transition back to the office and are particularly interested in telework.  You may see in the media that yesterday most agencies finalized their plans for reentry.  I take this effort seriously, and we have been given a little more time to finalize our plan so that I can ensure it is informed by our employees and stakeholders.  Therefore, I will share more information soon.  Let me assure you that we will overcome challenges together – thoughtfully and safely. Thank you for your work every day to help the millions of people who depend on our services. Kilolo Kijakazi Acting Commissioner The clamoring from leaders to open up Social Security offices is getting louder, but it is understandable that they agency be given a bit more time. Kijakazi just recently took over the acting commissioner position after Present Joe Biden relieved Andrew Saul from the top post at Social Security, but hopefully a reopening plan is released soon because many people are becoming restless and the need for in-person service at Social Security is growing.