In general, a Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income claimant will be found not disabled if they fail, without good cause, to follow prescribed treatment that can restore the ability to work. However, the Social Security Administration will consider a claimant’s mental limitations when determining if they have good cause for not following prescribed treatment. A claimant can have good cause for not following prescribed treatment when they have a psychiatric impairment and that impairment causes their refusal to follow prescribed treatment. (HALLEX II-5-3-1, updated June 7, 2021.)
Summaries of select CalWORKs, CalFresh, Health and Housing Regulations
SSI
Express Interviews for evidence and Social Security cards
Effective May 28, 2021, Field Offices and Social Security Card Centers nationwide will begin offering the new Express Interview option. Express interviews are brief interviews, lasting approximately 5-7 minutes, which allow eligible individuals to apply for an original or replacement Social Security card and submit necessary evidence in person.
Although this process is intended for Social Security card customers, Express Interviews are also available for gathering evidence for processing claims and workloads.
To qualify for an Express Interview, individuals must be unable to use automated or online services AND meet current critical appointment criteria such as:
- original cards for individuals age 12 or older;
- replacement cards for individuals who need to update or correct their information to obtain income, resources, medical care or coverage, or other services or benefits (e.g., filing a tax return, applying for housing, or seeking an Economic Impact Payment)
Individuals unable or unwilling to send original evidence documents by mail are also qualified for an Express Interview.
Individuals must call the Field Office to pre-screen for an Express Interview. If they meet the criteria above, the employee must consider all other virtual or drop-off options available before approving an Express Interview. Non-citizens should not mail or drop off immigration documents, as non-citizens are required to have their immigration documents in their possession at all times.
Instructions on conducting the in-person interviews are listed in the Emergency Message. (EM-21041, May 27, 2021)
COVID-19 Social Security waiver of overpayments during COVID-19
The Social Security Administration has issued an interim final rule regarding waiver of certain overpayments that accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overpayments incurred between March 1, 2020 and September 30, 2020 that Social Security did not manually process because of its cession of certain activities are eligible for a streamlined waiver process. Social Security will assume that these overpayments were the result of Social Security ceasing certain operations and that it would be against equity and good conscience to collect them and will waive the debt.
Overpayments that qualify for the streamlined waiver process include overpayments caused by suspended Title XVI redeterminations, not processing information in the claimant’s file, and other suspended actions. Overpayments identified through automated processes such as computer interfaces with the Veterans Administration are not eligible for streamlined waiver because those matches continued to be processed during COVID-19.
Streamlined waiver will not apply to overpayments caused by fraud or misuse of funds by a representative payee. Only the portion of an overpayment that occurred between March 1, 2020 and September 30, 2020 is eligible for streamlined waiver.
Auxiliary beneficiaries may be eligible for streamlined waiver even if the primary beneficiary is not eligible for streamlined waiver for the overpayment.
Overpayments that are not eligible for streamlined waiver may still be eligible for the regular waiver process.
Social Security will not issue refunds outside of the regular waiver process for overpayment recovery that occurred during the pandemic period.
The streamlined waiver process applies to qualifying overpayments that Social Security identifies before December 31, 2020.
Between August 31, 2020 and December 31, 2020, overpayment notices will direct beneficiaries to contact their local field office about their overpayment or to request an overpayment waiver. Field offices will review the case to determine if streamlined waiver applies. If it does, the field office will document the waiver request and attest to the beneficiary’s signature. The beneficiary will not be required to complete the full SSA-632 Request for Waiver or provide supporting information about their income and expenses to make the waiver determination.
Beginning August 31, 2020, Social Security intends to resume its normal workload.
This interim final rule is effective on August 27, 2020. Comments on the rule are due on October 26, 2020. (Waiver of Recovery of Certain Overpayment Debts Accruing During the COVID-19 Pandemic Period, 85 Fed. Reg. 52909.)
COVID-19 Interim Assistance Reimbursement agreements
Counties can be reimbursed for General Assistance/General Relief paid to claimants from retroactive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. One condition of this reimbursement is the claimant signing an agreement for interim assistance reimbursement called the SSP 14.
The Social Security Administration has agreed to allow telephone attestations instead of wet signatures on the SSP 14 form for the duration of the COVID-19 state of emergency. (ACL 20-64, June 4, 2020.)
COVID-19 individual stimulus payment for dependents of Social Security, SSI and VA benefits
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a special alert that Social Security and Railroad Retirement recipients who enter information on the IRS portal by noon Eastern time on April 22, 2020 can get the $500 per dependent payment at the same time as their individual stimulus payment. After noon Eastern Time on April 22, 2020, Social Security recipients the will no longer be available to enter dependent information. After noon Eastern time on April 22, 2020, Social Security and Railroad Retirement recipients will only be able to get the $500 per dependent payment by filing a tax return and the $500 per dependent payment will be issued sometime after the $1,200 individual payment.
SSI and VA benefits recipients will have more time to enter dependent information into the portal. Their deadline has not yet been determined. Note that a Social Security press release states that the deadline will be in April. After that deadline, SSI and VA benefits recipients will need to file a tax return to get the $500 per dependent payment. (IR 2020-76, April 20, 2020.)
COVID-19 temporary suspension of all consultative examinations
The Social Security Administration has temporarily suspended all consultative examinations (CEs) until further notice because of COVID-19. All pending CEs should be temporarily cancelled and no new CEs should be scheduled or rescheduled until further notice. (Disability Determination Services Administrators’ Letter No. 998, undated, no link because unable to locate online.)