CDR

Does Student Loan Debt Affect Social Security Benefits?

Yes, it can. According to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), there was a five-fold increase between 2002 and 2013 in the number of Social Security beneficiaries whose benefits were offset to help pay down their student loan debt. But there’s hope for some of those beneficiaries whose benefits have been garnished for that reason. If a debtor is found to be Totally and Permanently Disabled (TPD), he or she may be eligible for debt forgiveness. While a TPD determination is different than a Social Security Administration (SSA) disability finding, the Department of Education will accept a… Learn More

A Few Notes on Program Integrity and Field Office Hours

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has been busy completing a program integrity workload in the face of funding shortages. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently reviewed the SSA’s progress in completing that workload. The report, which focused on Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs) and non-medical Supplemental Security Income (SSI) redeterminations, found that congressional appropriations have been consistently less than requested since 2002. As a result, program integrity workloads took a nosedive between 2003-2008, but have steadily increased since 2009 thanks to more funding. The report suggests that the SSA misallocated resources in years of fiscal shortages, and did not funnel… Learn More

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Proposed 2015 Budget

The President has submitted to Congress a proposed fiscal year 2015 budget for the SSA. Generally, the SSA receives around $800 million less funding than the President requests. If, in 2015, however, the SSA receives the full amount proposed by the President, it expects to be able to conduct about 888,000 full continuing disability reviews (CDRs) thanks to funds allocated to program integrity via the Budget Control Act. What is troubling about the proposed 2015 budget is how it will affect things at the hearing level. The SSA expects that average processing times will continue to rise due to under-funding,… Learn More

Improving the Disability Process

Earlier this year, the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care, and Entitlements convened for a hearing on improving the disability process. On the panel of witnesses present were representatives from the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE). Much of the hearing focused on the importance of Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs)—specifically on the importance of the CDR as return on taxpayer investment, a money-saving tool, and on the current CDR backlog, which is somewhere around 1.3 million. Medical improvement standards were another of the issues… Learn More

New Bill May Help Fight Disability Fraud

On February 26, 2014, the House Committee on Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee convened to discuss ways of preventing Social Security disability fraud. The hearing included several panels featuring a variety of witnesses from the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Unum Group, and the National Academy of Public Administration, among others, who testified to the problem of disability fraud and spoke about current and in-development fraud prevention efforts by the SSA. The centerpiece of the hearing, however, was Ranking Committee Member Xavier Becerra’s (D-CA) H.R. 4090, “The Social Security Fraud and Error Prevention Act of 2014.” The bill is… Learn More

House Hearings on Social Security Administration (SSA) Disability Programs Continue

On November 19th, the House Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care, and Entitlements held another hearing on the SSA’s disability programs. Both Subcommittee members and SSA personnel were present at the hearing. The hearing dealt with a variety of issues facing the SSA. What follows is a list of just a few noteworthy items discussed in the hearing: -The SSA Inspector General (IG) noted that allowance and denial data suggest that the SSA’s ALJs have demonstrated increasing consistency in decision making. -Subcommittee members suggested appointing a federal government representative to be present at SSA hearings in order to represent taxpayers;… Learn More

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The National Advocates organization is pleased to announce that Mr. Fred Fleming has been selected for inclusion into its Social Security Disability Law specialty, an honor given to only a select group of lawyers as recognition of their superior skills and qualifications in the field.

CDR