Learning about Social Security: Readings

readings

References for use throughout the course, in alternative downloadable formats

Martin on Social Security, 167 pages (rtf format) (pdf format)
Social Security Act, 177 pages (rtf format) (pdf format)
Social Security Regulations, Subpart D (the catalog of benefits), 53 pages (subpart D) (rtf format ) (pdf format)
(While additional discrete portions of CFR are assigned readings for particular topics below, this subpart is uniquely important across multiple topics.)
Fast Facts and Figures (SSA 2007) 36 pages (pdf format) (alternative html version)

Assignments to these materials are marked with an asterisk below.

Topic 1: Overview of the Program -- Who receives benefits, under what circumstances. Relationship between payments in and benefits received. Key legal issues and the program's procedures for their resolution.

Assigned:
- Fast Facts and Figures (SSA 2007) 36 pages (pdf format) (alternative html version) *
- Program Description and Legislative History, Annual Statistical Supplement, 2006 (SSA 2007) (pdf format) (alternative html version)
- Social Security: The Problem of Terminology (Martin 2000)
- Martin on Social Security § 100 - 920 *
- Collier v. Barnhart, 473 F.3d 444 (2d Cir. 2007)
Background:
- Adjustment of Social Security Parameters for 2008, 72 Fed. Reg. 60703 (Oct. 25, 2007) (pdf format) (alternative html version)
- Program statistics, Annual Statistical Supplement, 2006 (SSA 2007)

Topic 2: Program History -- Important stages in the program's evolution and the politics that shaped them.

Assigned:
- Social Security Act of 1935
  - Text of Act
  - FDR: Statement to Congress (Jan. 1935)
  - Contemporary Commentary (Nation magazine)
- Helvering v. Davis and background
- Patricia Martin & David Weaver, Social Security: A Program and Policy History, 66 Social Security Bulletin 1 (2005) (pdf)
- Social Security Bulletin: Annual Statistical Supplement, 2006
  - Tables 2.A20 - 2.A22 (pdf)
Background:

Topic 3: Retirement Benefits -- Coverage and benefit calculation, the individual connection between payment of tax and receipt of benefits.

Assigned:
- Act: 42 U.S.C. §§ 402(a), 409, 410, 411, 405(c) *
- Regulations:
  - Subpart C - Computing Primary Insurance Amounts
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.210-404.213
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.270-404.278
  - Subpart I - Records of Earnings
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.801-404.831
  - Subpart K - Employment, Wages, Self-Employment, and Self-Employment Income
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1001-404.1096
  - Adjustment of Social Security Parameters for 2008, 72 Fed. Reg. 60703 (Oct. 25, 2007) (pdf format) (alternative html version)
- Martin on Social Security: §§ A 200, A 210, A 220, A 300, A 310, A 320, A 400, A 500, A 510, A 520, A 530, A 540, B 100, B 150, B 200 *
- Cases:
  - Bethel Baptist Church v. United States, 629 F. Supp. 1073 (M.D. Pa. 1986)
  - Minnesota v. Apfel, 151 F.3d 742 (8th Cir. 1998)
  - Highfill v. Bowen, 832 F.2d 112 (8th Cir. 1987)
  - Acierno v. Barnhart, 475 F.3d 77 (2d Cir. 2007)
  - Biddulph v. Callahan, 1 F. Supp. 2d 12 (D.D.C. 1998)
  - Butts v. Secretary, 706 F.2d 107 (2d Cir. 1983)
  - Hermes v. Secretary, 926 F. 2d 789 (9th Cir. 1991)
Background:
- SSA, Online Calculators for Estimating Benefits
- Martin, The Art of Decoupling: Keeping Social Security's Promise Up-to-Date
- Reno & Lavery, Social Security and Retirement Income Adequacy

Topic 4: Derivative Benefits for Spouses -- Benefits for spouses, former spouses, and surviving spouses.

Assigned:
- Act: 42 U.S.C. §§ 402(b), 402(c), 402(e), 402(f), 402(g), 402(h), 416(b), 416(c), 416(h)(1) *
- Regulations:
  - Subpart D - Old-Age, Disability, Dependents' and Survivors' Insurance Benefits; Period of Disability *
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.330-404.349
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.723-404.728
- Martin on Social Security: §§ H 000 - H 800, K 100 - K 500, M 100 - M 400 *
- National Economic Council Interagency Working Group on Social Security, Women and Retirement Security (1998)
  (for updated numbers see SSA, Women and Social Security)
- Cases:
  - Everetts v. Apfel, 214 F.3d 990 (8th Cir. 2000)
  - Burks v. Apfel, 233 F.3d 1220 (10th Cir. 2000)
  - Barron v. Apfel, 209 F.3d 984 (7th Cir. 2000)
  - Green v. Shalala, 51 F.3d 96 (7th Cir. 1995)
Background:
- Martin, Social Security Benefits for Spouses
- Meyer, Wolf, & Himes, Linking Benefits to Marital Status: Race and Social Security in the US (2005)
- Levine, Mitchell, & Phillips, A Benefit of One's Own: Older Women's Entitlement to Social Security Retirement (2000)

Topic 5: Derivative Benefits for Children -- Benefits for children in varying types of relationship with the "wage earner": including children born within and outside of marriage, adopted children, stepchildren, grandchildren.

Assigned:
- Act: 42 U.S.C. §§ 402(d); 416(e); 416(h)(2) *
- Regulations:
  - Subpart D - Old-Age, Disability, Dependents' and Survivors' Insurance Benefits; Period of Disability *
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.350-404.368
  - Subpart H - Evidence
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.730-404.736
  - Subpart E - Deductions; Reductions; and Nonpayments of Benefits
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.402-404.404
    - 20 C.F.R. § 404.415
- Martin on Social Security: §§ J 000 - J 900 *
- NCCP, Whose Security? - What Social Security Means to Children and Families (2005)
- Cases:
  - Gillett-Netting ex rel. Netting v. Barnhart, 371 F.3d 593 (9th Cir. 2004)
  - Casserino v. Sullivan, 921 F.2d 862 (9th Cir. 1990)
  - Jones v. Chater, 101 F.3d 509 (7th Cir. 1996)
  - Mack v. Sullivan, 813 F. Supp. 760 (D. Kan. 1993)
  - Allen v. Callahan, 120 F.3d 86 (7th Cir. 1997)
  - Hutcheson v. Califano, 638 F.2d 96 (9th Cir. 1981)
  - Reutter v. Barnhart, 372 F.3d 946 (8th Cir. 2004)
Background:
- Fast Facts and Figures - Children and Social Security *
- Newcomb, Demographic and Economic Characteristics of Children in Families Receiving Social Security, 65 Social Security Bulletin, No. 2, 2004
- Formula for calculating family maximum from individual's PIA (SSA)
- Washington State Dep't of Soc. & Health Servs. v. Estate of Keffeler, 537 U.S. 371 (2003)

Topic 6: Continuing Earnings, Age, and Benefits -- How the program's "retirement test" reduces benefits in relation to continuing earnings and "retirement age" affects benefit amount.

Assigned:
- Act: 42 U.S.C. §§ 402(q); 403(b); 403(f); 416(l) *
- Regulations:
  - Subpart E - Deductions; Reductions; and Nonpayments of Benefits
- Martin on Social Security: §§ 604, 605, 606, B 300, B 310, B 320, B 330, B 640 *
- Song, Evaluating the Initial Impact of Eliminating the Retirement Earnings Test, 65 Social Security Bulletin, No. 1, 2004
- Anzick & Weaver, The Impact of Repealing the Retirement Earnings Test on Rates of Poverty, 63 Social Security Bulletin, No. 2, 2000
- Cases:
  - Rand v. Sullivan, 924 F.2d 159 (9th Cir. 1990)
  - Adams v. Sullivan, 928 F.2d 725 (6th Cir. 1991)
  - Das v. Department of Health & Human Services, 17 F.3d 1250 (9th Cir. 1994)
Background:
- Friedberg, Testimony Before the House Ways and Means Comm., Feb. 15, 2000
- Greenstein, Testimony Before the House Ways and Means Comm., Feb. 15, 2000
- Apfel, Testimony Before the House Ways and Means Comm., Feb. 15, 2000
- Greenbook 2004, Tables 1-13 - 1-29

Topic 7: Disability Benefits -- The standard.

Assigned:
- Act: 42 U.S.C. § 423 *
- Regulations:
  - Subpart P - Determining Disability and Blindness
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1501-404.1599
- Martin on Social Security: §§ N 100 - N 840, P 100 - P 680, P 800 - P 930 *
- Cases and Rulings:
  - Duration
    - Barnhart v. Walton, 535 U.S. 212 (2002)
  - Substantial gainful activity
    - Thompson v. Sullivan, 878 F.2d 1108 (8th Cir. 1989)
    - Jones v. Shalala, 21 F.3d 191 (7th Cir. 1994)
  - Severity (see Bowen v. Yuckert for background)
  - Listed impairment or equivalent
    - Winans v. Bowen, 853 F.2d 643 (9th Cir. 1987)
  - Ability to perform past relevant work
    - Social Security Ruling SSR No. 82-62
    - Manso-Pizarro v. Secretary, 76 F.3d 15 (1st Cir. 1996)
    - Rater v. Chater, 73 F.3d 796 (8th Cir. 1996)
    - Moad v. Massanari, 260 F.3d 887 (8th Cir. 2001)
    - Vertigan v. Halter, 260 F.3d 1044 (9th Cir. 2001)
    - Barnhart v. Thomas, 540 U.S. 20 (2003)
  - Medical-Vocational Guidelines
    - See Heckler v. Campbell for background
    - Beckley v. Apfel, 152 F.3d 1056 (8th Cir. 1998)
  - Failure to treat and other medical issues
    - Lovelace v. Bower, 813 F.2d 55 (5th Cir. 1987)
  - Vocational component
    - Jenkins v. Bowen, 861 F.2d 1083 (8th Cir.1988)
    - Hayes v. Chater, 73 F.3d 769 (8th Cir. 1996)
Background:
- Annual Statistical Report on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program, 2006 (2007)
- Social Security Advisory Board, Charting the Future of Social Security's Disability Programs (2001) (pdf)
- 2001 Statement of Larry G. Massanari
- 2000 "Green Book"of the House Ways and Means Committee, Disability Determination and the Claims Process
- Income of Disabled-Worker Beneficiaries (SSA Jan. 2001)
- 2000 Testimony Before the House Ways and Means Committee
  - Edward D. Berkowitz (Historic background)
  - Marty Ford (Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities)
- Key Supreme Court decisions:
  - Bowen v. Yuckert, 482 U.S. 137 (1987) ("severity")
  - Heckler v. Campbell, 461 U.S. 458 (1983) (the "grid")

Topic 8: Disability Benefits -- The administrative process.

Assigned:
- Act: 42 U.S.C. § 405 *
- Regulations:
  - Subpart J - Determinations, Administrative Review Process, and Reopening of Determinations and Decisions
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.900-404.999d
- Martin on Social Security: §§ E 000 - E 960 *
- Excerpts from Nov. 2003 GAO Report on SSA Disability Decision Making, GAO 04-14 - 12 page excerpt | full report
- Flowchart of disability determinations FY 2006
- Delays in the process: Senate Hearings May 2007
- SSA, Plan to Reduce the Hearings Backlog, Sept. 2007
- Cases and Rulings:
  - Need to exhaust administrative remedies
    - Harper v. Bowen, 813 F.2d 737 (5th Cir. 1987)
  - Missing deadlines for "good cause"
    - SSR No. 91-5
  - Reapplying and administrative res judicata
    - Chavez v. Bowen, 844 F.2d 691 (9th Cir. 1988)
    - King v. Chater, 90 F.3d 323 (8th Cir. 1996)
  - ALJ Hearing
    - Brown v. Shalala, 44 F.3d 931 (11th Cir. 1995)
    - Poulin v. Bowen, 817 F.2d 865 (D.C. Cir. 1987)
    - Burnett v. Bowen, 830 F.2d 731 (7th Cir. 1987)
    - Yancey v. Apfel, 145 F.3d 106 (2d Cir. 1998)
    - Fargnoli v. Massanari, 247 F.3d 34 (3d Cir. 2001)
    - Blea v. Barnhart, 466 F.3d 903 (10th Cir. 2006)
  - Appeals Council Review
    - Culbertson v. Shalala, 30 F.3d 934 (8th Cir. 1994)
    - Lovejoy v. Heckler, 790 F.2d 1114 (4th Cir. 1986)
Background:
- Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389 (1971)
- Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319 (1976)
- Nash v. Bowen, 869 F.2d 675 (2d Cir. 1989)
- SSA's budget for administration FY 2007
- The ALJ hiring process
- edib: status (11/06); representative access to file (2/07)
- Social Security Advisory Board, Improving the Social Security Administration’s Hearing Process (Sept. 2006)
- NOSSCR, Improving the Disability Determination Process While Protecting Claimants' Rights (2002)
- Social Security Advisory Board, Charting the Future of Social Security's Disability Programs (2001) (for full report see Topic 7) - 7 page excerpt
- Feb. 2002 GAO Report on SSA's Efforts to Improve the Claims Process, GAO 02-322
- Jan. 2003 GAO Report on Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: Social Security Administration, GAO 03-117 - 5 page excerpt | full report

Topic 9: Disability Benefits -- Areas of particular difficulty.

Assigned:
- Act: 42 U.S.C. §§ 423(d), 421(h), 422(e) *
- Regulations:
  - Subpart P - Determining Disability and Blindness
- Martin on Social Security: §§ P 710 - P 760 *
- Cases and Rulings:
  - Pain and other subjective elements
    - SSR No. 96-7p
    - Robbins v. Social Security Administration, 466 F.3d 880 (9th Cir. 2006)
    - Muncy v. Apfel, 247 F.3d 728 (8th Cir. 2001)
    - Singh v. Apfel, 222 F.3d 448 (8th Cir. 2000)
    - Light v. SSA, 119 F.3d 789 (9th Cir. 1997)
    - Rose v. Shalala, 34 F.3d 13 (1st Cir. 1994)
  - Mental impairments
    - SSR No. 85-16
    - Ekeland v. Bowen, 899 F.2d 719 (8th Cir. 1990)
    - McCall v. Bowen, 846 F.2d 1317 (11th Cir. 1988)
    - Reeder v. Apfel, 214 F.3d 984 (8th Cir. 2000)
    - Gutierrez v. Apfel, 199 F.3d 1048 (9th Cir. 2000)
  - Alcohol and substance abuse
    - Bustamante v. Massanari, 262 F.3d 949 (10th Cir. 2001)

Topic 10: Judicial Review -- How one secures judicial review of an individual determination, on the one hand, and of a regulation or administrative practice affecting many, on the other.

Assigned:
- Act: 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) *
- Martin on Social Security: §§ D 000 - D 800 *
- Cases:
  - Sims v. Apfel, 530 U.S. 103 (2000)
  - O'Dell v. Shalala, 44 F.3d 855 (10th Cir. 1994)
  - Randall v. Sullivan, 956 F.2d 105 (5th Cir. 1992)
  - Ripley v. Chater, 67 F.3d 552 (5th Cir. 1995)
  - Melkonyan v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 89 (1991)
  - Forney v. Apfel, 524 U.S. 266 (1998)
  - Grant v. Shalala, 989 F.2d 1332 (3d Cir. 1993)
  - Heckler v. Day, 467 U.S. 104 (1984)
  - Schweiker v. Chilicky, 487 U.S. 412 (1988)
Background:
- Paul Verkuil & Jeffrey Lubbers, Alternative Approaches to Judicial Review of Social Security Disability Cases (2002)
- Topic 8 cases -- especially:
  - Harper v. Bower, 813 F.2d 737 (5th Cir. 1987)
  - Burnett v. Bowen, 830 F.2d 731 (7th Cir. 1987)

Topic 11: Lawyers and Social Security -- Social security representation: Who does it and on what terms and conditions.

Assigned:
- Act: 42 U.S.C. §§ 406(a), 406(b) *; 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A)
- Regulations:
  - Subpart R - Representation of Parties
    - 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1700 - 404.1799
- SSA, Overview of Representatives' Fees
- Martin on Social Security: §§ T 000 - T 800, U 000 - U 400 *
- Robert Rains, Professional Responsibility and Social Security Representation: The Myth of the State-Bar Bar to Compliance with Federal Rules on Production of Adverse Evidence, 92 Cornell L. Rev. 363 (2007)
- Cases:
  - McNatt v. Apfel, 201 F.3d 1084 (9th Cir. 2000)
  - Buchanan v. Apfel, 249 F.3d 485 (6th Cir. 2001)
  - Gisbrecht v. Barnhart, 535 U.S. 789 (2002)
  - Shalala v. Schaefer, 509 U.S. 292 (1993)
  - Flores v. Shalala, 49 F.3d 562 (9th Cir. 1995)
  - Hodges-Williams v. Barnhart, 400 F. Supp. 2d 1093 (N.D. Ill. 2005)
Background:
- 2003 Testimony of Arthur Kaufman, NADR
- 2003 Testimony of Richard Morris, NOSSCR

Topic 12: The Relationship Between Social Security and Other Earnings Replacements -- How Supplemental Security Income, Workers Compensation, Private Pensions, and Medicare interact with Social Security and vice versa.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
- Assigned:
  - Program summary
  - Current program data
  - Martin on Social Security: §§ 280, 455, A 250, A 260, A 270, A 280, A 450, A 460, A 550, A 580, A 950, B 350, B 355, B 360, B 370, B 610, B 620 *
- Background:
  - Act: 42 U.S.C. §§ 1381-1383f (Title XVI of the Social Security Act, §§ 1601-1637)
  - Regulations:
  - Part 416 - Supplemental Security Income for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled
    - 20 CFR §§ 416.101- 416.2227
  - Martin, Public Assurance of an Adequate Minimum Income in Old Age: The Erratic Partnership Between Social Insurance and Public Assistance
  - SSA, Fast Facts and Figures (SSA 2007): Children Receiving SSI
Workers Compensation and DI
- Assigned:
  - Martin on Social Security: § Q 300 *
  - Act: 42 U.S.C. § 424a *
  - Regulations:
    - Subpart E - Deductions; Reductions; and Nonpayments of Benefits
Private pension integration
- Background:
  - Karen Burke & Grayson McCouch, Social Security Reform: Lessons From Private Pensions, 92 Cornell L. Rev. 297 (2007)
  - C. Slusher, Pension Integration and Social Security Reform
  - K. Bender, Characteristics of Individuals with Integrated Pensions
Medicare and Medicaid
- Assigned:
  - Brief Summaries of Medicare and Medicaid (CMS 2007)

Topic 13: Selected Issues -- Current Social Security "reform" proposals and other issues of interest to the class

Assigned:
- P. Martin, Changing Social Security to Achieve Long-Term Solvency and Make Other Improvements – A Discussion Paper, 3/30/2008 (pdf)
- Testimony of SSA Chief Actuary before Senate Finance Comm., 2/2/2005 - video (17 minutes) | text & charts (pdf)
- Testimony of CBO Director before Senate Finance Comm., 2/2/2005 - video (6.5 minutes) | text & charts (pdf)
- Marmor & Mashaw, Understanding Social Insurance Fairness, Affordability, and the "Modernization" of Social Security and Medicare, 15 Elder L.J. 123 (2007) [Lexis][Westlaw]
Background:
- Neil Buchanan, Social Security and Government Deficits: When Should We Worry?, 92 Cornell L. Rev. 257 (2007)
- Benjamin Templin, Comment on Buchanan, 92 Cornell L. Rev. 291 (2007)
- Kathryn L. Moore, Social Security Reform: Fundamental Restructuring or Incremental Change? 11 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 341 (2007)
- V. Reno & J. Lavery, Options to Balance Social Security Funds Over the Next 75 Years (NASI 2005) (pdf)
- Social Security Advisory Board, Social Security: Why Action Should Be Taken Soon (2001) (pdf)
- 2008 OASDI Trustees Report
- GAO Rpt: Social Security: Criteria for Evaluating Social Security Reform Proposals. T-HEHS-99-94. March 25, 1999. (pdf)
- Final Report of the President's Commission (Dec. 2001) (pdf)
- Colleen Medill, Challenging the Four Truths of Personal Social Security Accounts: Evidence from the World of 401(k) Plans, 81 North Carolina L. Rev. 902 (2003) (pdf)
- Poll of Public Attitudes Toward Privatization (2002)
  - But see March 2005 CNN poll and report on two other March polls in Media Matters