David Camp, NOSSCR CEO

As NOSSCR’s CEO, I have the privilege of directing an amazing staff in working for you—our members—on events, education, services, and litigation while serving as a resource for media coverage of the Social Security disability program. A significant part of my job involves pursuing NOSSCR’s political and administrative advocacy agenda. The Social Security Administration is more active now than ever before in my career, and I’ll use this column to keep you updated on recent improvements and continued efforts.

2024 Wins

For now, I’ll sum up what has been an extraordinarily productive year—with the caveat that more will come, and some changes require the slower process of either regulation or longer-term modernization development.

In these first nine months of 2024, the list of wins is already long. Notably, very few of these items involve NOSSCR advocating alone. We work alongside dozens of other robust organizations, preferring a coalition and collaborative approach whenever possible. NOSSCR communicates directly with Commissioner O’Malley multiple times each month. We meet on a regular schedule with his leadership team and the Deputy or Associate Commissioner leadership of every SSA component. While Congress remains gridlocked and ineffective, our work with SSA has produced meaningful results:

• Fee Agreement cap increase
• Fee Agreement cap tied to annual COLA starting in 2026
• 15 to 5 policy change for past relevant work
• Initial and reconsideration stages claim data available in ARS/ERE
• Hearing format flexibility retained
• Aged SSI fees and back benefits released
• SSI underpayment review (and delay) raised from $5,000 to $15,000
• Electronic signatures policy
• Signatures removal
• Vocational evidence policy improvement (as to questionable and obsolete occupations)
• Substantial relief for the Conn victims (overpayment waivers and hearings based on current evidence)
• Collateral estoppel policy
• Overpayment waiver policy ($2,000 administrative waiver)
• Overpayment collection policy (10% default on SSDI, 60 months collection period)
• SSI installment payments policy (documents not required)
• SSI expansion of public assistance household to include SNAP
• SSI exclusion of food
• SSI expansion of rental subsidy policy

Ongoing Advocacy

NOSSCR recently launched a multi-pronged advocacy effort concerning the costs and burdens of medical records. As you are all aware, some states prohibit costs for medical records needed in Social Security claims, while others allow high costs imposed by for-profit companies—despite digital access to records being paid-for within medical bills. NOSSCR believes this practice is “record blocking,” and that HHS should provide a regulatory solution applicable in every state and whenever records are needed to furnish evidence for a disability claim. We’re engaging state legislators, seeking the support of federal elected officials, educating the media, and encouraging SSA to communicate with HHS about the harmful effects of medical records costs. In states where medical records can cost hundreds of dollars, we see slower claim processing times, lower incidence of SSI representation, and the offensive “disability tax” of costs passed through to those claimants who are too impaired to access free portals on their own.

We’re also working to expand SSA’s use of HIT at the ALJ hearings level, while supporting options for access to digital medical records exchanges for either representatives or SSA itself.

We continue to work with SSA on payment center delays. We’re focused on delayed fees and past-due claimant benefits generally but have recently highlighted, directly to SSA senior leadership, the extreme problem concerning cases that have been remanded from federal court.

The DDS backlog and historically high processing times are also at the top of NOSSCR’s advocacy agenda. NOSSCR continues to work with SSA on expanded online access to information at the initial and reconsideration stages (including the type of decision, and the DDE) while building direct lines of communication for representatives. Representation speeds up claim processing times—especially at the early stages—and lowers SSA’s administrative costs. With more functional options to help claimants early in the disability claim process, we look forward to an increasing rate of representation.

What’s Next

Watch your inbox and this newsletter for updates in the coming weeks and months on these topics where NOSSCR is working hard to deliver more improvements:

• More data in SSA’s representative portals, including an exciting new category!
• Launch of an online SSI application
• Communications improvements made possible by SSA’s switch from Verizon to AWS
• More signature removals
• Fee Petition improvements
• Implementation of the fee payment recognition of entities

Thank you for your NOSSCR membership, and please feel free to contact us with suggestions on these or any other topics.