During a recent meeting with Commissioner O’Malley, NOSSCR CEO David Camp encouraged the new Commissioner to take swift action to finally provide relief to the victims in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia who are still struggling in the aftermath of the Eric C. Conn fraud scheme. Below is a follow-up letter that NOSSCR sent to…

NOSSCR continues to be hard at work for you and your practice. We look forward to seeing you in Nashville and explaining all that has happened since we saw you in person in Washington, D.C. For now, I would like to bring NOSSCR’s advocacy efforts to your attention.  At the outset of his term as…

Join us in congratulating NOSSCR member Kate Lang on her nomination to the Social Security Advisory Board! Kate successfully navigated a complicated confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, and we are extremely proud to call her one of our own. If confirmed, Kate would serve a term with an expected end date of September…

We’re incredibly excited to announce that Commissioner Martin O’Malley will be joining us as the Keynote Speaker during the General Session at our conference! Register now and secure your spot to make sure you don’t miss this exciting session. Can’t make it to the whole conference? Want to send a staff member or associate but…

Thanks to the outstanding work of our friends at New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) and Justice in Aging (JIA), and their partners at Arnold and Porter, SSA has taken the next step in providing relief to those charged with overpayments during the Covid-19 pandemic. This action comes as a direct result of the settlement…

Many practitioners as well as ALJs often forget about the two adverse profiles described in 20 C.F.R. § 404.1562 and SSR 82-63. The Regulation states that if the claimant meet these profiles and cannot do their past work they are deemed disabled. The Ruling directs that adjudicators must consider these two profiles before referring to…

SSA has released the Waterfall Charts for Fiscal Year 2023 for all Disability Determinations and for Continuing Disability Redeterminations (CDRs). Across the board, the numbers have held fairly steady from last year, with the biggest increase occurring in the number of cases dismissed at the ALJ level (up 13% for disability determinations and 23% for…

The December 2023 NOSSCR Forum included an Update on “Obsolete” Jobs. The Department of Labor last published the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) in 1991. SSA has been on notice since at least 2011 that some of the jobs identified in the DOT were or may be obsolete. More and more, the courts are finding…

We hope that you can join us for these upcoming networking and continuing education virtual events. All times are Eastern. Be sure to click the individual links for each event to register.

We are seeking a legal technology provider that can offer a modern tool for Social Security claimants to track and document symptoms resulting from Long COVID and other conditions.

SSA has released an update on the progress they made toward their 2023 equity goals. They also outline the following strategies to advance equity in FY 2024: You can read the full report below.

On October 24, 2023, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced S. 3109, the Alleviating Barriers for Caregivers (ABC) Act. The bill has 17 cosponsors: nine Republicans, seven Democrats, and one Independent. S. 3109 was referred to the Senate Committee on Finance, where it is awaiting further action. The aim of this bill is to simplify the…

The largest cause of SSI overpayments is the extremely difficult process of reporting wages to SSA and getting SSA to make timely adjustments thereafter. A solution to this problem was already provided 8 years ago in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 where Congress authorized SSA to obtain data directly from payroll providers. SSA has…

In December 2023, we included an article discussing the status of several cases challenging the legality of the appointment of SSA’s ALJs. Here is an update to that article. For background, in 2018, the Supreme Courtheld that ALJs within the SEC are “Officers of the United States” who must be appointed by the President, as…

NOSSCR submitted comments in support of SSA’s proposed DRAFT Scientific Integrity Policy. In our comments (copied below), we encouraged the agency to take seriously the need for science-backed vocational data and the importance of using that data in their decision-making processes. The full text of the Draft Scientific Integrity Policy can be read below.

NOSSCR is excited to announce that Sarah Bohr will be presenting a special virtual continuing education session on April 10 at 1 p.m. The session, entitled “A Primer for Beginners and a Review for the More Experienced Representative,” will provide an overview of key regulatory provisions and rulings governing disability law. Sarah will highlight how…

SSA’s Office of Retirement and Disability Policy released an article entitled Work Overpayments Among New Social Security Disability Insurance Beneficiaries, by Denise Hoffman, Monica Farid, John T. Jones, Serge Lukashanets, and Michael T. Anderson. As SSA notes, “in this article, the authors track the experiences of working Disability Insurance beneficiaries who received benefit overpayments because…

On January 29, 2024, SSA’s Office of the Chief Actuary released a memo on the estimated change in federal SSI program cost from enacting S. 2767, the “SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act,” introduced on September 12, 2023 by Senators Sherrod Brown and Bill Cassidy. You can read the full text of the memo below.

NOSSCR submitted a FOIA request seeking the pay schedules that SSA utilizes for Consultative Examinations. After years of “processing” this request, SSA has finally provided the data. The report details the rates for various examinations and testing and is broken down by state in alphabetical order. Please click the button below to view the report…

Contributions to the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives PAC (NOSSCR PAC) are not tax-deductible as a charitable contribution for federal income tax purposes. Contributions to NOSSCR PAC will be used to support federal and state candidates, political parties, and other political committees.  Contributions are strictly voluntary.  You may refuse to contribute without reprisal. …

SSA’s Office of Retirement and Disability Policy has released the following data: Monthly Statistical Snapshot, January 2024. This monthly snapshot shows statistics on Social Security beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income recipients. SSI Monthly Statistics, January 2024. These monthly tables provide statistics for federally administered payments and awards under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. The…

Please visit the links below to find the latest updates on SSA’s Caseload and ALJ data, contact information, policy changes, and proactive disclosures.