Social Welfare Law Commons^™

Alternative Approaches To Judicial Review Of Social Security Disability Cases, Jeffrey Lubbers

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

For many years, Congress has had various bills before it to create alternatives to the current practice of Article III review (in district courts) of Social Security disability cases. This report, prepared initially for the Social Security Advisory Board, reviews the various legislative proposals and statutory alternatives such as the Veterans Administration administrative/judicial review structure. It concludes that, on balance, review before an Article I court (with Court of Appeals review limited to purely legal issues) has numerous advantages over the present system. These advantages include improvements in the accuracy and consistency of results (the federal district courts have vastly …

Developing A Full And Fair Evidentiary Record In A Nonadversary Setting: Two Proposals For Improving Social Security Disability Adjudications, Jeffrey Lubbers, Frank S. Bloch, Paul R. Verkuil

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

The Judicial Transformation Of Social Security Disability: The Case Of Mental Disorders And Childhood Disability, Jennifer L. Erkulwater

Political Science Faculty Publications

A full account of the judicial influence on Social Security disability programs would require a book-length, perhaps even encyclopedia-length, treatise and would take us far afield from our present concern. This article focuses narrowly on the activities of Legal Services attorneys, mental health reformers, and children's advocates. Although mental health reformer groups are only one of many antipoverty organizations involved in advocacy efforts on behalf of the disabled poor, they have been among the most persistent, the most active, and the most successful in using a litigation strategy to achieve their larger policy goals. According to one Social Security official, …

Raising The Social Security Retirement Ages: Weighing The Costs And Benefits, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The Social Security program faces a long-term funding deficit. The Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors and Disability Insurance ("OASDI") Trust Funds predicts that unless corrective action is taken, Social Security benefit payments will exceed dedicated tax revenues by the year 2015, and the Social Security program will become insolvent—unable to pay promised benefits in full-by the year 2037. As a result of this projected deficit, Social Security has become "a lightning rod for far reaching reform proposals."

Proposals range from "traditional" proposals that would maintain the basics of the program's revenue and benefit structure but would …

Privatizing Social Security, Jerry W. Markham

Faculty Publications

The 2000 presidential election focused attention on an idea that has been surfacing for some time--the privatization of Social Security. Although opposition remains fierce, proposals for privatization have been gradually gaining acceptance as the inadequacy of benefits from the present system become more apparent, and bankruptcy becomes certain in the absence of additional onerous funding. Resistance to privatization largely centers on concerns that existing participants will lose their contributions and that private accounts may result in investment losses, which would leave future pensioners penniless. The disability and survivor benefits of the present Social Security system also raise concerns for the …

The Effects Of Partial Privatization Of Social Security Upon Private Pensions, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Social Security does not provide retirement income in a vacuum. Rather, commentators often refer to our national retirement income system as a three legged stool, with Social Security representing one of the legs and employer sponsored pension plans and individual savings representing the other two legs. Because changes in one leg of the stool are likely to have a direct impact on the other two legs, policymakers must not consider Social Security changes in isolation, but should take account of their effect on employer-sponsored pensions and individual savings. This Article analyzes how one of the most popular proposals, partial privatization, …

The Current Life Insurance Crisis: How The Law Should Respond, Kyle D. Logue

Articles

This article explores some of the issues raised by the new evidence of underinsurance. Part I explores the initial theoretical question: why do people buy life insurance? Put differently, what function does life insurance serve? Part II provides some background on the life insurance market as it currently exists. Thus, Part II summarizes the major types of life insurance that are currently offered and summarizes the main elements of the current regulatory regime for life insurance companies. Part III then provides support for the claim that households tend to drastically underconsume life insurance. Section A of that Part summarizes the …

Partial Privatization Of Social Security: Assessing Its Effect On Women, Minorities, And Lower-Income Workers, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Once viewed as the “third rail” of politics, Social Security appears to be moving inexorably toward reform. In his 1998 State of the Union address, President Clinton proclaimed strengthening Social Security a high priority and called for bipartisan forums on Social Security reform to be held throughout the United States. Similarly, following the 1998 November elections, congressional leaders expressed commitment to “saving Society Security,” and House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer renewed his commitment to bipartisan reform of Social Security as recently as December 8, 1999 in a letter to President Clinton. Congressional hearings on reform proposals are ubiquitous, …

Fathers, The Welfare System, And The Virtues And Perils Of Child-Support Enforcement, David L. Chambers

Articles

For half a century, Aid to Families with Dependent Children ("AFDC")' -the program of federally supported cash assistance to low-income families with children-has been oddly conceived. Congress has chosen to make assistance available almost solely to low-income single-parent families, not all low-income parents with children. At first many of the eligible single parents were women whose husbands had died. Over time, a growing majority were women who had been married to their children's father but who had separated or divorced. Today, to an ever increasing extent, they are women who were never married to the fathers of their children.2

Reforming Welfare Through Social Security, Stephen D. Sugarman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In this Article, I first want to illustrate the connection between Social Security and AFDC-to explain the Social Security program and to demonstrate how it contributes to the welfare problem. More importantly, I then want to offer a reform proposal that builds on Social Security as a way to begin to eliminate AFDC and the current welfare problem. Simply put, I propose that Social Security should provide benefits to children with absent parents on the same basic terms on which it now provides benefits to children with deceased, disabled, or retired parents.

The Income Tax Treatment Of Social Welfare Benefits, Jonathan Barry Forman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Part I of this Article describes the major social welfare programs in the United States. Part II outlines the basic structure of the federal income tax and describes how social welfare benefits are treated by the income tax system. Finally, Part III surveys some recent proposals to tax particular social welfare benefits and considers the arguments for and against taxing such benefits. The Article concludes that the need for new revenue sources will push the federal government to reconsider the tax treatment of social welfare benefits.

Machiavelli And The Politics Of Welfare, National Health, And Old Age: A Comparative Perspective Of The Policies Of The United States And Canada, Camilla Watson

Scholarly Works

This Article maintains that in order to fully comprehend the politics of welfare, retirement security, and national health coverage, it is necessary to examine Machiavellian principles in relation to the variables of economic development and inter-party competition. If the principles of Machiavelli are applied in a slightly different and more constructive manner, they may facilitate reform of the American welfare, retirement, and national health systems. Now that the political balance in the United States has shifted from the conservative to the liberal, the time is ripe to consider reforming the entire Social Security system and instituting a comprehensive national health …

Untangling "Operation Common Sense": Reopening And Review Of Social Security Administration Disability Claims, Elizabeth S. Ferguson

Michigan Law Review

Part I of the Note outlines how the SSA processes a disability claim and illustrates the ambiguity in the language of the reopening regulations that has caused the split in the courts. Part II examines the four interpretations of the reopening regulations created by courts. Part II begins with the Secretary's interpretation and concludes that this interpretation is plainly inconsistent with the language of the regulations. Thus, courts need not defer, as they normally would, to an agency's interpretation of its own regulation. This Part next examines the alternative interpretations of these regulations advanced by various courts, and describes how …

The Art Of Decoupling: Keeping Social Security's Promise Up-To-Date, Peter W. Martin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Way Out Of The Social Security Jurisdiction Tangle, John M. Rogers

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

When Congress recently eliminated the $10,000 amount-in-controversy requirement for federal question jurisdiction in suits against the United States, its agencies, and its officers, Congress effectively resolved, for most cases, the problem of finding subject matter jurisdiction for federal judicial review of federal administrative agency action. Whatever the resolution of such distinct issues as whether there is a cause of action, whether sovereign immunity is waived, and whether administrative remedies have been exhausted, subject matter jurisdiction, at least, will be provided, if nowhere else, by the amended federal question jurisdiction statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1331. The applicability of section 1331, however, …

Mathews V. Goldfarb, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Welfare Law: The Problem Of Terminology, Peter W. Martin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Social Security To Men In Service

Indiana Law Journal

Legal Aspects of the Selective Service Act

Ley De 4 De Octubre De 1929 De Jubilaciones Y Pensiones, República De Cuba. Senado

Mario Diaz Cruz Pamphlets

De empleados y obreros de ferrocarriles y tranvías. Reglamento para su ejecución, y Decreto num. 786, haciendo extensiva la ley a los obreros y empleados de las compañías de transporte terrestre de servicio publico.

Ley De Pensiones, Eduardo Colón

Mario Diaz Cruz Pamphlets

Con la escala de asimilación de las clases civiles decretada por el Gobierno de la República en armas.