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.
Trustees Report Finally Released
The annual report on the status of the Social Security trust funds was expected to be released sometime in the spring of 2021, but the actual report was not released until late August. The main headline from the report was that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance trust funds are projected to be depleted by 2034, which is one year earlier than projected last year. If nothing is done by Congress prior to that period, the agency would be able to pay up to 78 percent of full benefit amounts, resulting in a 22 percent reduction in benefits. Some of the highlights of the report are below as identified by Social Security in a press release from the agency.
In the 2021 Annual Report to Congress, the Trustees announced:
- The asset reserves of the combined OASI and DI Trust Funds increased by $11 billion in 2020 to a total of $2.908 trillion.
- The total annual cost of the program is projected to exceed total annual income, for the first time since 1982, in 2021 and remain higher throughout the 75-year projection period. As a result, asset reserves are expected to decline during 2021. Social Security’s cost has exceeded its non-interest income since 2010.
- The year when the combined trust fund reserves are projected to become depleted, if Congress does not act before then, is 2034 – one year earlier than last year’s projection. At that time, there would be sufficient income coming in to pay 78 percent of scheduled benefits.
If you are interested in reading the entire 2021 trustees report click here.
Request For Hearing Wait Times Looks To Be Going In Wrong Direction
The National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) routinely publishes the latest on wait times claimants are facing when requesting a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in a disability claim and according to what NOSSCR found, the average processing time at the hearings office jumped 50 days compared to a year ago from 301 days to 351 days. Social Security had been cutting the backlog rather impressively at one point, but now things are going in the other direction. There appears to be many cases that are still at the initial application level and the first appeal level where decisions have not been issued and it appears this could be slowing down the processing at the hearings level. If this is the case hearing wait times could be trending in the wrong direction for a while.
