On America's safety net, Social Security, President Obama's actions speak louder than rumors

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Tue Jan-25-11 10:26 AM
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On America's safety net, Social Security, President Obama's actions speak louder than rumors

Obama signs veterans, caregivers legislation

Health Reform Expands Medicaid Coverage For People with Disabilities

Providing Free Preventive Care for Seniors.

The 2011 budget (effective October 2010 to September 2011)

Social Security Administration

The President believes that all Americans should be able to retire with dignity, and is committed to protecting Social Security as a reliable source of income for American seniors. In 2009, more than 51 million retired or disabled workers, survivors, and their families received over $659 billion in benefit payments. Nearly 8 million Americans received SSI benefits totaling $49 billion. The Budget will:

Provide an 8 Percent Funding Increase to Provide Services Faster and Reduce Backlogs

$12.5 billion for SSA, an increase of $930 million, or 8 percent, above the 2010 enacted level.
- Includes resources to increase staffing in 2011 and allow SSA to provide services faster with a focus on key service delivery areas, such as processing initial retirement and disability claims, and disability appeals.
- Funds targeted to lower the initial disability claims backlog below 1 million by processing more than 3 million claims and lower the appeals hearing backlog.

Significantly Increase Program Integrity Efforts

$796 million for SSA program integrity, including a 9 percent increase in the level of medical Continuing Disability Reviews over the prior year. SSA’s program integrity efforts are part of a strong framework for making sure the government is spending tax dollars efficiently and that benefits are paid only to those beneficiaries who are eligible and are paid in correct amounts.

Restructure the Federal Wage Reporting Process

Proposes to restructure the Federal wage reporting process by reverting to quarterly wage reporting. Currently, wages are reported to the federal government once a year. Increasing the timeliness of wage reporting would enhance tax administration, improve program integrity for a range of programs, and facilitate implementation of automatic workplace pensions. The Administration will work with states so that the overall reporting burden on employers is not increased.

High-Priority Performance Goals

The Administration is committed to building a transparent, high-performance government capable of addressing the challenges of the 21st century. As part of developing the budget, every department identified high-priority performance goals (along with the strategies and in-house resources to achieve them) that each will work to accomplish over the next two years. Highlights of this department’s goals are:

By 2012, SSA will achieve an online filing rate of 50 percent for retirement applications.
SSA will work towards achieving the agency’s long-term outcomes of lowering the disability backlogs and accurately processing claims. In 2011, SSA’s will process 3.317 million out of a universe of 4.316 million initial disability claims and 799,000 out of a universe of 1.456 million hearing requests.
SSA will improve program integrity efforts by minimizing improper payments and strengthening the agency’s efforts to protect program dollars from waste, fraud, and abuse. In 2011, SSA’s will process 359,800 out of a total of approximately 2 million medical continuing disability reviews, an increase of 9.4 percent over 2010.

To see the Department’s full set of performance information, please visit: www.socialsecurity.gov/asp.