FEE CAP

UPDATE ON NADR’S FEE CAP INCREASE DISCUSSION WITH SSA

Update on NADR’s Fee Cap Increase Discussion with SSA

SSA recently reached out to NADR in response to Greg Cates’ April 27th letter to Commissioner Saul asking that he use his administrative authority to raise the cap on representative fees. They said that the Commissioner recognizes that good representation is vital for the claimant and that representatives are due adequate compensation for their work, and acknowledged that SSA and NADR have a mutual interest in a business relationship and a partnership in serving our mutual clients. They know that the fee cap has not been raised for a while and indicated that the Commissioner is not opposed to increasing the cap. At the same time, they want to look at the fee model and the hearings model more broadly to see what works best for the claimant, the representatives and the agency. They asked us to give them a business proposal including other changes that would improve service delivery and that takes into consideration all parties’ interests.

Among the issues they asked us to think about are scheduling improvements; the availability of representatives for hearings; obtaining and submitting evidence; timely submission and payment of fee petitions; and IT improvements to quickly associate the 1696 with the claimant file. They requested that representatives recognize that under the current system - which they are working to change - it can take 2-3 weeks to process a 1696. They noted that re-faxing the 1696 multiple times only adds to the problem. Instead, noting that local Field O ce numbers are now on the website, they asked that representatives call to inquire about the status of a 1696 rather than re-faxing, and ask to talk to the manager if the issue isn’t resolved.

SSA indicated that this session was to first of a series of discussions they hope to have in the next 30 days in order to develop a set of short-term, tactical cooperative actions to improve the process. We look forward to continuing these discussions and to the prospect of SSA’s timely action to address the fee cap.

Jeanne Morin NADR Public Policy Advisor