Andrew M. Saul Sworn in as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration

Andrew M. Saul was sworn in Monday, June 17, 2019 as the Commissioner of Social Security at the agency’s office in Washington, D.C. He will serve a six-year term that expires on January 19, 2025.

Commissioner Saul expressed his gratitude at being chosen to serve as the Commissioner of Social Security. “The Social Security programs touch the lives of almost every American – serving in this position is a tremendous privilege and an awesome responsibility,” said Commissioner Saul. “I am humbled by the opportunity to help the agency to deliver critical services to the American people.”

Commissioner Saul brings a vast amount of experience to the position. At the federal level, one of Saul’s greatest achievements was his work with the Federal Thrift Investment Board (FTIB). In 2002, Saul became Chairman of the FTIB, which administers the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). The TSP provides military and federal employees the opportunity to save for additional retirement security. Saul led the board to modernize systems and restructure executive staff.

In addition to his federal service, Commissioner Saul has served and worked within numerous state and local governments, non-profit organizations, and private sector businesses. He started his career in the private sector, growing and managing two large publicly traded apparel chains for over 20 years. He served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York’s regional transportation system and the country’s largest public transportation network. He also served as Vice Chairman of the Mount Sinai Health System and Chairman of its Audit and Compliance Committee. In addition, he was a Trustee and Chairman of the Audit Committee of the National Gallery of Art, and formerly served as a board member of the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York.

Commissioner Saul will be responsible for administering the Social Security retirement, disability and survivor’s insurance programs that pay over one trillion dollars annually in benefits to approximately 64 million beneficiaries, as well as the Supplemental Security Income program that provides cash assistance to more than 8 million people with limited income and resources. The agency has a national workforce of about 63,000 employees and 1,500 facilities across the country and around the world.

Commissioner Saul is from New York. He is a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, and serves on its Board of Overseers. He and his wife of over 50 years, Denise, have two adult children and three grandchildren.

Contact our office today if you or anyone you know would like to learn more about qualifying for Social Security Disability benefits.

More about Commissioner Saul: https://www.ssa.gov/agency/commissioner.html

More about SSA Commissioners: https://www.ssa.gov/history/commissioners.html

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC®

Disability for Those with Inability to Speak English Expected to Change

The Trump administration is expected to change a federal rule this summer that for decades has allowed thousands of older citizens with proven mental or physical disabilities to qualify for federal benefits if they are also unable to communicate in English.

In its proposed rule change, the Social Security Administration (SSA) says the inability to read, write and speak in English is not the barrier it once was, because the “U.S. workforce has become more linguistically diverse and work opportunities have expanded for individuals who lack English proficiency.”

Members of Congress are squaring off over the proposal, with several Democrats saying the Trump administration is promoting an unnecessary and polarizing policy change that discriminates against older workers and is anti-immigrant. Some Republicans who favor the rule change say the current system is antiquated and does not take into account how multilingual U.S. citizens and residents have become.

In the five-step application process for the disability insurance program, the language eligibility requirement can be considered only if the applicant reaches the final step and is at least 45 years old. To get there, applicants must prove, through medical records and physician testimony, that they have severe, long-term disabilities that prevent them from returning to their jobs. In addition, applicants must prove that they cannot function in other lines of work. Applicants who clear this eligibility requirement are often physically disabled and, because of a lack of English proficiency, are unable to switch to desk jobs.

The SSA uses a formula to determine whether applicants have paid a sufficient amount of Social Security and Medicare taxes to qualify. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents or have one of a variety of legal immigrant statuses. Only about one-third of applicants ultimately qualify for benefits.

Read more here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/he-doesnt-speak-english-should-that-be-considered-in-an-application-for-disability-benefits/2019/06/08/60660b3e-8629-11e9-98c1-e945ae5db8fb_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7aabe9232bcc

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC®

Ex-Heads of the Social Security Administration Offer Plan to Improve Customer Service

A worsening customer service crisis at the Social Security Administration has prompted three of its former commissioners to urge the U.S. Congress to fix the annual budgeting process that has starved the agency of the resources it needs to do its job. A letter calling for administrative budget reforms signed by the former commissioners – two appointed by Democratic presidents, and one by a Republican – will be delivered to congressional leadership. It will be sent to 19 key lawmakers, including the leadership of both parties and the chairs and ranking members of all the key congressional committees controlling budget, appropriations and finance.

To read the letter and view the list of recipients, see: (bit.ly/2KnIt3C)

The Social Security beneficiary rolls are growing quickly as the nation ages – this year, the agency is expected to pay $1.1 trillion in benefits to 69 million recipients of retirement and disability benefits, and Supplemental Security Income. The agency forecasts that its beneficiary rolls will increase 43% over the next two decades. However, Congress cut the agency’s budget nearly 11% between fiscal years 2010 and 2019, after adjusting for inflation, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, while the number of beneficiaries grew by more than 16%.

Social Security has responded to the cuts by closing 67 of the field offices that provide critical service to the public since 2010. Wait times have soared on its toll-free phone line, and there is a very large backlog of disability insurance claims waiting for decisions on appeal.

The Social Security administrative budget is funded through the same payroll taxes that fund benefits. Currently, workers and employers split a 12.4% tax. Social Security benefits were removed from the federal budget under legislation enacted in 1990, but administrative expenses continued to be counted due to an interpretation of the legislation by the Office of Management and Budget. Since passage of the 2011 Budget Control Act, which places caps on nondefense discretionary spending, the Social Security budget has been forced to compete with other federal spending priorities – for example, the National Institutes of Health. The struggle to manage federal spending under those caps is starting to heat up again as Congress begins turning its attention to the budget for next year.

The trio of former commissioners is proposing a legislative fix to the problem. The letter to be sent to Congress on Wednesday is signed by Ken Apfel, who served as commissioner during the Clinton administration, Jo Anne Barnhart, who was nominated by President George W. Bush and served from 2001 to 2007; and Carolyn Colvin, who served from 2013 to 2017 during the Obama administration.

The former commissioners propose that Congress eliminate the requirement that the Social Security administrative budget be included in the caps. Congressional appropriations committees would still approve the agency’s budget. “But importantly,” they write, “the Committees would be able to approve the funding that would be needed for the Social Security Administration to provide adequate service to the public.”

The letter notes that the agency operates very efficiently – since 1989, administrative expenses have been less than 1% of its budget. Social Security also has moved to improve efficiency through initiatives aimed at serving the public online and via its toll-free number, and by beefing up program integrity programs aimed at rooting out fraud.

But the commissioners note that 858,000 people were waiting for hearings before administrative law judges on disability benefit applications in fiscal year 2018. In the same year, the average wait time for callers to the Social Security toll-free number was 24 minutes, up from 13.6 minutes in fiscal year 2016 – and 15% of callers received a busy signal. Social Security’s processing centers, which handle claims after beneficiaries are determined to be eligible, face an enormous backlog of 2.9 million cases this year.

“Social Security has a two-pronged standard for its performance – providing benefits in a timely and accurate way,” Jo Anne Barnhart noted in an interview with Reuters. “Accuracy is really not an issue, and Congress has actually allocated additional funding for program integrity activities in recent years, so the agency is doing a really good job there. It’s timeliness that is really falling short – people who have paid into the system are really getting deficient public service. It has been a problematic situation for a while, and it is trending in the wrong direction.”

Contact our office today if you or anyone you know would like to learn more about qualifying for Social Security Disability benefits.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-column-miller-socialsecurity/column-ex-heads-of-u-s-social-security-administration-offer-plan-to-fix-agencys-customer-service-idUSKCN1T613G

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC®