Over the past 75 years, SSA's responsibilities have involved programs as wide-ranging as unemployment insurance, child welfare, and credit union supervision, among others. As a result, SSA opened another DOC in Salinas to provide backup in case of another disaster (SSA 1976, 7). Early Social Security Board employees later recalled their training experience with enthusiasm. SSA internal document. Headquarters staff moved from D.C. to Baltimore on June 1, 1942. On Capitol Hill and in the media, Svahn stated that SSA's system was on the verge of collapse, and that timely distribution of benefit checks was at risk. Baltimore, MD: SSA. SSA designed this database assuming a peak load of 20,000 transactions a day. In some states, individual counties (or other jurisdictions) ran their own programs, and SSA had to negotiate separately with each jurisdiction. As workloads peaked, the Bureau shifted regular employees from one operation to another and used overtime rather than hiring temporary employees (Pogge 1952, 9). Social Security Administration, 1984 annual report to the Congress. Performance and accountability report for fiscal year 2009. A report of the 1965 Advisory Council on Social Security stated: SSA employees' dedication to serving the public would be a factor in successfully handling its next big challenge: implementing the 1965 amendments. The Retirement Estimator is interactive, allowing a person to compare different retirement options (SSA 2008a). The Claims Correspondence and Control Section (later known as the Control Division) was responsible for keeping the records. While the Social Security program's future was being discussed in the media, SSA employees went about their day-to-day tasks. In 1976, GAO issued a report declaring that people who were no longer disabled were still receiving benefits and that SSA was not taking action to correct the situation. The enrollment deadline for those aged 65 or older was March 31, 1966. Baltimore, MD: SSA, Bureau of Data Processing. This project would be just the first of many SSA attempts to find ways of simplifying Social Security programs (SSA 1996e). Because of this study and the GAO reports, SSA selected a random sample of DI beneficiaries for CDRs to assess criteria for establishing diaries, assumptions about the probability of medical improvement and return to work, and the accuracy of monthly disability payments. The 1950 amendments also liberalized the eligibility requirements, making about 700,000 persons immediately eligible for benefits; increased benefits substantially for about 3 million existing beneficiaries, effective September 1, 1950; raised the wage base for tax and benefit computation purposes; and provided a new contribution schedule (SSA n.d. b; Pogge 1952, 9). However, SSA would stumble in the 1970s as it attempted to implement SSI. On April 11, 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower abolished the FSA and in its place created the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). Hearing offices can also access the information, and are fully integrated into the electronic processing of disability claims (Gerry 2006). Strategic plan fiscal years 2008–2013. 97-455 permitted, on a temporary basis, beneficiaries contesting the termination of their benefits to have both their benefits and Medicare coverage continued through the hearing phase (SSA n.d. b). [chamberOfAction] => House More than 35 days typically elapsed between taking an application for benefits and payment certification. The year in review: The administration of the Social Security programs—1975. Starting in late 1970 and expanding over the next couple of years, field offices collected only the names and addresses of medical sources, and the state agencies obtained evidence. SSA had underestimated the complexity of maintaining the beneficiary rolls for a program based on income and resources. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/MedicareHelp2-pr.htm. System demand exceeded 60,000 during its first week and would soon reach 80,000. During the 2000s, SSA prepared for the onslaught of filings from baby boomers who would begin reaching retirement age in 2008 and had already reached the prime age for claiming disability benefits. Since 1998, SSA has also assisted with informing eligible Medicare beneficiaries about the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) provision, which pays Medicare premiums for beneficiaries with limited income and resources (SSA n.d. b). a new step to determine if a child's impairment had more than a minimal effect on his or her ability to function (equivalent to the severity step found in the adult rules), a new approach to satisfying the Listing of Impairments for children, called "functional equivalence," and. 1980a. Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/ml.html. ———. The original structure of Social Security operations, created in December 1935, included three operating bureaus: Public Assistance, Unemployment Compensation, and Old-Age Benefits. (See primary source document: A Program for Social Security.) Arthur Altmeyer, who had been the Board's chairman, became SSA's first Commissioner. Congress also required that SSA reevaluate each SSI child's eligibility under adult disability standards within 1 year of the child attaining age 18 (SSA n.d. b; Harmon and others 2000). Fay, Joseph L., and Max J. Wasserman. The collection of payroll taxes was to begin on January 1, 1937, and the Board had to be prepared to keep records of the earnings on which those taxes were paid. These provisions would increase payments to 1.2 million beneficiaries in 1979 (SSA 1980a). In response, SSA Commissioner Robert Ball initiated a "program simplification" project in the Program Analysis Division. Baltimore, MD: SSA. The cost of moving from "survival mode" to a modern system in 5 years was estimated at $479 million (SSA 1982b, 5). So, the Board turned to the Post Office Department for assistance (McKinley and Frase 1970, 309; Wyatt and Wandel 1937, 42). Commissioner Astrue extends Social Security's quick disability determination nationwide: Final rule will accelerate benefits to those deemed clearly disabled. Over 3 million posters were distributed, 50 million more pamphlets were dispersed, and three additional newsreel trailers were shown to some 42 million people (McKinley and Frase 1970, 364–366). Special collections: Detailed chronology. Initially, the data passed to the existing Claims Automated Processing System; by 1990, the data were passed into a completely new back-end processing system. District offices. BDI staff had to develop a substantial body of policies and procedures to implement the nonmedical provisions of the law and to ensure those provisions were reflected in published regulations. These new workloads were superimposed on substantial increases in the volume of work already seen in payment centers over the preceding few years (SSA n.d. a). SSA internal document. Finding space for the growing agency was a major problem. The remainder of the 1994 plan was basically discarded (Harmon and others 2000). 1973. However, in 1989 GAO reported that these efforts were only minimally effective and "in the absence of a comprehensive work-force plan, staffing imbalances occurred, which led to inefficient operations and ad hoc stop-gap measures to relieve problems" (GAO 1989, 25). 2005. In 2003, SSA assumed another Medicare-related responsibility when the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, more commonly known as the Medicare Modernization Act, was enacted. SSA was buying used computers just to keep operating (SSA 1995h). In 1998, in an effort to help callers file retirement and survivor claims by phone, SSA would pilot "immediate claims-taking units" at several existing call answering sites; full rollout followed in 2000. 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