U.S. Is Suspending Hearings On New Disability Payments
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With money for administrative expenses running short at the end of the fiscal year, the Social Security Administration has suspended hearings in September for people seeking disability benefits. With money for administrative expenses running short at the end of the fiscal year, the Social Security Administration has suspended hearings in September for people seeking disability benefits. The order to put off hearings will also affect Medicare beneficiaries, because the Social Security judges hear appeals under Medicare, the Federal health insurance program for 33 million elderly and disabled people. Officials said they hoped that hearings would resume after Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year, when they expect to receive an infusion of money. The officials said they believed that the suspension was the first ordered because of a shortage of funds. The order for administrative law judges to curtail hearings was delivered today and Monday in messages to field offices. ”We are getting more claims than we budgeted for,” Louis D. Enoff, Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, said in an interview today. ”We can’t spend what we don’t have.” The Social Security trust fund, from which benefits are paid, has a surplus. But money for hearings and appeals comes from a special account, which contains $3.8 billion earmarked by Congress to cover salaries of administration employees, computers and other administrative expenses. And that account is running low. The $3.8 billion comes from the Social Security trust fund. But Congress sets a statutory limit on the amount of the trust fund that can be spent for administrative purposes. Even though there is a surplus in the fund, the Government cannot exceed that limit. More : query.nytimes.com |