Law Commons^™

An Attempt To Bring Modern Workplace Realities To The Social Security Disability Adjudication System, Robert E. Rains

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

Save The Social Security Disability Trust Fund! And Reduce Ssi Exposure To The General Fund, Daniel F. Solomon

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Adjudicasaurus Rex, Jeffrey S. Wolfe

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This article proposes a simple theme. While many issues plague the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs, only reform of the hearings and appeals process can solve the decades-long (and growing) hearings backlog. Only then, can the remaining questions regarding the solvency of the DI trust fund be meaningfully addressed. As it now stands, the ongoing backlog of pending hearings and appeals feeds the twin plagues of rising costs and increasing delay. These are the very issues that drove the federal courts in the passage of the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 (CJRA). This article provides …

Managing Social Security Disability & Other Public Benefits: Development Of A Guide For Consumers And Providers, Stephanie L. Derochers

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

One in five Americans has a disability, making it the largest minority group in the U.S. (Soffer, McDonald, & Blanck, 2010). In 2011, 13.4 million working-aged adults received a disability cash benefit from the Social Security Administration (Kregel, 2012).

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is the federal agency responsible for managing, executing and overseeing retirement, survivor, old-age and disability benefits. There are over 1,500 Social Security offices and over 65,000 employees nationwide (SSA, 2013). SSA manages at least five disability benefit programs: Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Disabled Widow(er) Benefit (DWB), Childhood Disability Benefit (CDB), though …

An Overview Of The U.S. Retirement Income Security System And The Principles And Values It Reflects, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article is designed to provide an overview of the U.S. retirement income security system from a comparative law perspective. Like many countries, the U.S. has a three tier pension or retirement income system, with the three tiers consisting of (1) Social Security, (2) employment-based pensions, and (3) individual savings. Thus, superficially, the U.S. retirement income security system resembles that of many around the world. Yet, in other ways, such as its focus on individual rights and responsibility, the U.S. system is unique.

The article begins by discussing the nine guiding principles of the U.S. Social Security system as identified …

The Future Of Social Security: Principles To Guide Reform, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

On February 12, 2008, the nation's first Baby Boomer, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, was the first of her generation to receive a Social Security retirement benefit. Born one second after midnight on January 1, 1946, Ms. Casey-Kirschling was born just eleven years after the Social Security system was originally enacted, nine years after the first Social Security payroll taxes were collected, and six years after the system first began to pay monthly retirement benefits.

"As the nation's first Baby Boomer, Ms. Casey-Kirschling is leading what is often referred to as America's silver tsunami. Over the next two decades, nearly eighty million Americans …

Social Security Reform: Fundamental Restructuring Or Incremental Change?, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In light of Social Security's long-term deficit, reform of the system appears inevitable. Commentators and policymakers have offered a wide range of possible reforms. This Article describes and analyzes five possible types of reform: (1) individual accounts, (2) progressive price indexing, (3) general revenue and/or estate tax revenue financing, (4) increasing the maximum taxable wage base, and (5) increasing the normal retirement. The Article opposes the first two proposed changes, individual accounts and progressive price indexing, because they would fundamentally restructure the current system. The Article recommends that Social Security's financing difficulties be addressed by a combination of estate tax …

Lessons From The French Funding Debate, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The French retirement system, like the American social security system, is facing long-term funding difficulties. As a result, the French are debating whether to expand the role of pre-funded retirement plans. The economic arguments presented in this debate are virtually identical to the economic arguments presented in the American debate on whether the American social security system should be partially privatized.

The French and American debates, however, diverge once history and ideology are considered. The French have a history of failed funded pensions in contrast to the United States where the failure of prominent underfunded pension led to the enactment …

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 …

The Best Of Times And The Worst Of Times: Lessons From Recent Reforms Of The French Retirement System, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Principally because of increasing life expectancy and the fact that the baby boom generation is reaching retirement age and is followed by a much smaller generation, the American social security system is facing a long-term funding deficit. The Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors and Disability Trust Funds predicts that unless corrective action is taken, social security benefits will exceed dedicated tax revenues by the year 2016, and the social security system will become insolvent, that is, unable to pay benefits in full, by the year 2038.

The United States is not alone in facing these circumstances. …

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, …

Redistribution Under The Current Social Security System, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Arguably the most successful program of the modern welfare state, Social Security has been enormously successful in lifting the elderly out of poverty. Thirty years ago, almost 30% of the elderly were in poverty, a poverty rate that was more than twice as high as the rate for the population as a whole. Today, in contrast, only about 12% of the elderly are subject to poverty, a rate that is about the same as the rest of the adult population.

This Article describes how the current system redistributes income. The Article does not attempt to develop a mathematical model to …

Privatization Of Social Security: Misguided Reform, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article begins by briefly describing the social security program. It then discusses the reasons for social security's widespread popularity and its impending funding crisis. The article goes on to briefly describe some of the pending privatization proposals. The article concludes by discussing the practical and theoretical problems with privatizing social security. Specifically, it describes the investment risk participants face under a privatized system and the transition problems created by converting to such a system. Finally, this article explains why the privatization proposals promote misguided paternalism and misconceive the role social security should play in our national retirement system.

Redistribution Under A Partially Privatized Social Security System, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Once viewed as a radical recommendation, proposals to privatize Social Security abound. Moreover, proposals to privatize partially Social Security are beginning to receive serious consideration. Accordingly, this Article will address the likely effect of partial privatization on Social Security's ability to redistribute income. For the purposes of this Article, privatization will refer to proposals that involve individuals directing their own pre-funded individual accounts and bearing the risk of investing in the private market and not to proposals that involve the federal government investing in the private market and bearing the risk. This Article will treat proposals that "add" a defined …

Effectiveness Of The Social Security Review System In Disability Cases, William D. Popkin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.