Friday, January 29, 2021
ABA BIFOCAL Latest Issue Released
The ABA Commission on Law and Aging has published vol. 42, Issue 3 (Jan.-Feb.2021), its current issue of BIOFOCAL. The issue contains several articles, including a couple on Social Security Rep Payees, with the lead article, How Does Social Security Select Representative Payees for Adults? Results of an Independent Research Study
Almost four million older adults and adults with disabilities have representative payees appointed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to manage their Social Security or SSI payments. How does SSA determine if a payee is needed? How do SSA staff select a payee? How do they choose an individual versus an organizational payee? What are the considerations in long-term care residential facilities serving as the payee? What about guardians serving as payee? How and to what extent does SSA maintain consistency in payee determinations?
In 2018, the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) charged researchers at Virginia Tech and the ABA Commission on Law and Aging to conduct an independent study focusing on these compelling questions. The study team addressed SSA processes for selection of payees for adults. The underlying assumption was that a better understanding of selection practices ultimately could lead to process improvements, as well as a reduction in the potential for misuse and abuse of beneficiary funds while maintaining beneficiary rights.
A pdf of the full issue is available here.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/elder_law/2021/01/aba-bifocal-latest-issue-released.html