By FY 1970, field office employees were authorizing 43 percent of initial claims (SSA 1970, 19). ———. At the same time, workloads continued to grow. In addition, beneficiaries can request a Medicare replacement card, a benefit verification letter, and a replacement Form 1099 using knowledge-based authentication. Initially, automated telephone response units also allowed callers to leave open-ended messages when the call center was closed, to which agents could respond later. Caseloads were extremely large in all states, delays were lengthy, and both were growing. SSA was also affected by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. However, the primary resources needed to process the claims were in BDI where the BL claims went for final processing. By December 2, 1935, the Board had established a Field Organization Committee to study problems and recommend ways to establish regional and field offices of the Bureau of Old-Age Benefits (Davis 1950, 117). Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/corsonoral.html. Baltimore, MD: SSA. Even the Forest Service was enlisted to look for people camping out in the woods (SSA 2001b; SSA 1995b). Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/orals/balloralhistory.html. Testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/performance/2002/2002appex5.pdf. A report of the 1965 Advisory Council on Social Security stated: SSA employees' dedication to serving the public would be a factor in successfully handling its next big challenge: implementing the 1965 amendments. Today, the National 800 Number Network receives over 82 million calls and handles 67 million transactions a year through agents and automated services. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/legislation/testimony_020306.html. Implementing the drug addiction and alcoholism (DA&A) provisions of SSI legislation also created more work for the agency. Once the initial problems were under control, SSA had to begin SSI eligibility "redeterminations" of all recipients, starting with the state conversion cases. BDI staff had to develop a substantial body of policies and procedures to implement the nonmedical provisions of the law and to ensure those provisions were reflected in published regulations. The employees were temporarily relocated, and the 15,000 case folders pending at the time of the attack were removed, cleaned, tested, and certified to be contaminant-free (SSA 2001c). To reflect the changing nature of the job, claims clerks were renamed claims assistants (SSA 1965, 32). The Claims Manual outlined standards and procedures for the development, review, and adjudication of claims. Consequently, already in the 1950s, as many as 16 or 17 different recomputations might be needed. SSA and SSI: The tenth anniversary. The data exchange with the Veterans Administration alone saved $61 million in annual SSI payments. Array In a three-state pilot beginning August 1987, the parent of a newborn could request an SSN as part of the State's birth registration process (SSA 1988, 2). 2009d. Philadelphia (a.o.) Clearing the disability claims backlogs: The Social Security Administration's progress and new challenges arising from the recession (November 19). SSA also set up six "mega-sites" in areas of large noncitizen populations to provide noncitizens with information and to help them obtain proof of their immigration status (Harmon and others 2000). They're spending it on goods and services -- pumping it back into the economy. 1969. Testimony before the House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Social Security. 109-69. Design engineers reviewed the application layout. story. Training was a major undertaking. Funds were also used to purchase additional computers, for video conferencing equipment for hearings, and to contract with additional medical providers and networks (Astrue 2009). OASIS 40(1): 2. The DOCs' new optical character recognition scanning equipment was not fully operational until March, and the data entry upgrade was not fully operational until June—in both cases, several months later than expected (SSA 1980a). The Bureau's cost of maintaining a worker's account was only about 20 cents a year (Altmeyer 1966, 87). By June 30, 1976, 1.5 million newly eligible persons comprised almost 37 percent of SSI recipients (House Ways and Means Committee 1976, 34). These two modules would service most claims taken by the pilot field offices. Some states gambled that by delaying decisions to the critical point they could pressure SSA into accepting variations that SSA resisted, and their gamble paid off. OASIS 23(1): 11–13. BOASI worked with physicians on loan from the Public Health Service to develop procedures and policies (SSA 1996c). Because a provision in the 1950 amendments brought about a more liberal benefit computation effective July 1, 1952, many claimants waited until then to file for benefits. Early Social Security Board employees later recalled their training experience with enthusiasm. Responding to this examination and reexamination of the criteria for finding children eligible for SSI disability payments, SSA once more published revised regulations, now effective January 2, 2001. National MCS rollout was complete in 1988. SSA also expanded service for users of Telephone Device for the Deaf systems. These new standards included. "Permanent resident under color of law" was not a specific immigration status but a court-defined collection of 17 statuses plus a general category that included any noncitizen residing in the United States with the knowledge and permission of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), against whom INS was not taking action to deport. Extensive planning and preparation were required to identify eligible individuals and to recalculate their benefits; most recalculations were automated but many were done manually (SSA n.d. a). As one Bureau employee later reported: The employees worked at unfinished wooden tables whose rough lumber ran slivers into the workers' hands and arms (Altmeyer 1966, 72). 1986. As a result, postentitlement review workloads were backlogged both in field offices and the PSCs (National Research Council 1990, 16). In March 1969, SSA authorized field office employees to make payment decisions for certain initial claims under the District Office Final Authorization (DOFA) procedure. At midyear, SSA directed DDSs to give top priority to this screening and to the preparation of medical determinations for the rollback cases involving DA&A. Changes to Medicare entitlement rules prompted SSA in 1973 to mail out 1.7 million notices to disabled individuals and contact some 250,000 uninsured individuals regarding an opportunity to file for Medicare premium HI.9 SSA alerted another 500,000 individuals to a new opportunity to enroll in SMI. The appropriate control card was removed at the end of a step and sent to a control file to track the status of each block (McKinley and Frase 1970, 375). Contracts had to be developed with the organizations that would process and review the bills and send out explanation-of-benefits notices (SSA 1995b). 1961. Social Security's new Retirement Estimator rated the federal government's best online service. ———. On April 8, 1966, legislation extended to May 31 the deadline for filing SMI applications, with coverage to take effect July 1, 1966 (SSA n.d. b). SSA's field offices had been taking initial claims over the phone for many years. As the workloads grow, 50 percent of SSA's workforce, including 66 percent of its supervisors, will be eligible to retire by the end of 2018 (SSA 2009e, 18). The article is not comprehensive—space constraints do not permit an exhaustive account of the many challenges the agency has faced. In response, SSA instituted an "informal remand" procedure, in which local field offices screened new hearing requests based on certain characteristics that experience had shown might lead to an allowance. Phones rang all day with questions (SSA 1952b). Struck by declining revenues, several states began furloughing employees. BOASI also looked for ways to eliminate unnecessary work to alleviate the staffing shortage. In its Annual Report to Congress for FY 1981, SSA cited modernizing its data processing systems as its top priority. The plan included four programs: software engineering, database integration, capacity upgrade, and a data communications utility to replace SSADARS. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/legislation/testimony_111909.htm. SSA plainly could not continue using the Flexoline file indefinitely. SSA had also created its first online database, providing field employees with access to information on SSI recipients. 2005c. BOASI worked with the Department of Agriculture to distribute information to farm residents (Pogge 1952, 10). Eventually, as experience accumulated, BOASI developed its Claims Manual of operating instructions for making entitlement determinations and processing claims (Pogge 1952, 6). During the 1990s the Clinton Administration launched an effort to reengineer government under the auspices of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, also known as the National Performance Review. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. SSA's field organization tried to persuade headquarters that holding beneficiaries liable for mistakes SSA had made years earlier in its disability process was not sound policy. In 2009, SSA processed 271 million wage items (SSA 2009e, 7). Given the poor condition of many of SSA's earliest locations, fires were an ever-present threat. In its first report of January 29, 1936, the Field Organization Committee proposed at least one "district office" per state, located in state capitals, with additional district offices based on workload. 5 Material participation means participation on a regular or substantial basis in the production of farm commodities. SSA issued its Plan for a New Disability Claim Process on September 7, 1994 (SSA n.d. b; Harmon and others 2000). Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/oasis/november1979.pdf. However, SSA's efforts to improve the disability process have been hindered by inadequate funding. Agency under stress: The Social Security Administration in American government. On June 30, 1987, SSA established a Federal DDS at its Baltimore headquarters to serve as a test-bed for changes to disability policies and procedures and to help process high-priority disability workloads such as CDRs. 1937. District office claims representatives were detailed to the payment centers in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, where the greatest problems existed. An analysis of the act's various provisions was provided for all employees above a certain grade (Wyatt and Wandel 1937, 26–27). In areas where mail service was suspended, SSA and the U.S. Despite expectations that the benefit cessations would be high, the 45-percent rate caused great congressional and public concern. The LIS or "extra help" program provided for the federal government to cover all or part of the premium, deductible, and copayment costs for eligible Medicare beneficiaries with limited income and resources. Testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance. Unequal job losses now will translate into smaller nest eggs and Social Security benefits down the road. It is estimated that some 4 million people saw the film, and nearly 8 million of the pamphlets were distributed by Election Day (McKinley and Frase 1970, 357–358). Meanwhile, SSA became a part of a new agency. SSA mailed a questionnaire to each of these individuals. Once its role was settled, the Bureau impressed on its employees the importance of assisting claimants with their applications to make certain they received the benefits to which they were entitled and understood their rights and duties (Altmeyer 1966, 55). Statement by Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social Security, on SSI Childhood Disability Reviews. Baltimore, MD: SSA, Office of the Inspector General. By 1937, a full-time training staff was in place, and the Board integrated all of its training activities in a special training division within the Bureau of Business Management (Wyatt and Wandel 1937, 26–27). By using attrition to reduce its numbers, SSA created staffing imbalances. The new law extended eligibility to students, divorced wives, and widows aged 60 and liberalized the retirement test and the definition of disability. Planning for the future of the Bureau of Retirement and Survivors Insurance. Unpublished information. 110-574. In 1935, the Social Security Board, predecessor of the Social Security Administration (SSA), started to plan the implementation of the Social Security Act. In 2010, SSA will release a Spanish language version (SSA 2009g). The 1950 Social Security Act Amendments extended coverage under the OASI program to about 10 million more persons effective 1951, including the nonfarm self-employed other than doctors, lawyers, engineers, and members of certain other professional groups; regularly employed domestic and farm workers; a small number of federal employees who were not covered under the civil service retirement program; members of a few very small occupational groups; and workers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In March, SSA set up 4 temporary New York City interviewing facilities, furnishing them with the needed supplies, equipment, furniture, and 250 employees within 2½ weeks (SSA 1974b, 4; SSA 1975c, 35–36; Hensley 1994). A report prepared by the Committee on Review of the SSA's System Modernization Plan (SMP) and Agency Strategic Plan (ASP). ———. SSA processed the AWR workload in four locations. Social Security Administration, 1984 annual report to the Congress. OASIS 31(7): 12–17. SSA was very busy negotiating with the states during 1973. The Bureau of Old-Age Benefits was responsible for Title II of the Social Security Act, providing for an old-age retirement benefit. The Associated Press, the United Press, the Hearst newspaper chain, and many individual papers ran series of articles on old-age benefits and registration for weeks at a time. It also developed software life cycle development standards and methodologies using top-down requirements analysis for these four processes. 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