AARP: Increased Social Security Administration Funding Needed to Head Off ‘Further Deterioration’ in Disability, Retirement Services
Source: AARP Press Center | 2009-01-13
January 13, 2009
Contact: Dave Nathan, AARP, 202-434-2560, dnathan@aarp.org
WASHINGTON – AARP has urged President-elect Barack Obama and Congressional leaders to increase Social Security Administration (SSA) funding to address the agency’s heavier workload for disability and retirement benefits claims that are being generated as a result of the economic downturn.
In a letter today to the President-elect and Senate and House Democratic and Republican leaders, AARP CEO Bill Novelli asked for inclusion of $960 million in the anticipated economic recovery legislation to help SSA deal with the steep increase in claims expected over the next two fiscal years.
“Failure to provide the requisite additional funding will cause further deterioration in service levels,” Novelli wrote the President-elect and Congressional leaders.
“Insufficient funding already hampers the agency’s ability to serve the wave of Baby Boom retirements that have already begun and prevents the agency from making any headway in reducing the backlog of services in the disability program,” Novelli added.
Novelli said that the $960 million estimate came from SSA projections that followed the first few months of the current recession. He noted that the current SSA disability claim backlog affects nearly 760, 000 claimants and that the average appeal exceeds 506 days.
At the same time that SSA “struggles to maintain its services with grossly inadequate funding,” the AARP CEO noted that the agency had taken new responsibilities related to Medicare and the homeland security program.
The letter was sent to the President-elect, and to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Republican Leader John Boehner. Please see below for full text of the letter.
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30-30-30
January 12, 2009
The Honorable Barack Obama
President-elect
Transitional Team
Washington, D.C. 20720
Dear President-elect Obama:
On behalf of AARP’s nearly 40 million members, we urge the Congress to provide at least $960 million for the Social Security Administration (SSA) in the anticipated economic recovery legislation for SSA to address increased workloads that are a result of the severe economic downturn gripping our nation. SSA has estimated that the increased processing of disability and retirement benefits will cost an additional $960 million over the next two years.
Last September, SSA actuaries estimated that an additional 100,000 more retirement and disability claims would be filed in FY 2009 – the increase in claims filed was estimated to cost at least $100 million. In November, the Office of Management and Budget revised its economic assumptions to reflect the serious recession that had already started. The SSA actuaries then projected a further steep increase in disability and retirement benefits due to this recession. SSA now estimates that processing these increased claims will cost an additional $960 million over the current and next fiscal years. The current disability claim backlog affects nearly 760,000 claimants - the average appeal exceeds 506 days and about 76,000 claims are more than 900 days old.
Failure to provide the requisite additional funding will cause further deterioration in service levels. Insufficient funding already hampers the agency's ability to serve the wave of Baby Boom retirements that have already begun and prevents the agency from making any headway in reducing the backlog of services in the disability program. As the agency struggles to maintain its services with grossly inadequate funding, other responsibilities have been added to Social Security's workload. For example, the agency is now responsible for assessing the correct Part B income related premium and implementing low income subsidies for Part D of the Medicare program. SSA is also increasingly being asked to perform an even larger role in homeland security through employment verifications.
If you have any additional questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to call me or have your staff contact Timothy Gearan of our Government Relations staff at 202-434-3803.
Sincerely,
William D. Novelli
Chief Executive Officer
