Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, announced that the Social Security Administration made progress in the 2007 fiscal year (FY) toward making faster decisions on disability claims.

“Better systems and business processes were essential to the progress we made in 2007,” Commissioner Astrue said, “but we cannot overlook the tens of thousands of overtime hours put in by the hardworking men and women of the Social Security Administration.”

Commissioner Astrue announced that SSA's National Hearing Center (NHC) is open for business, in this December 17, 2007 press release. The NHC is one of the many steps the agency has taken to address the backlog of disability cases at the hearing level.

The status of SSA’s Initiatives to Eliminate the Social Security Administration Hearing Backlog is provided as of March 28, 2008 in this report which we will update periodically.

A Summary of Initiatives to Eliminate the SSA Hearings Backlog was outlined by Commissioner Astrue during a May 23, 2007 appearance before the Senate Finance Committee.

SSA's Plan to Reduce the Hearings Backlog and Improve Public Service is further detailed in this September 13, 2007 report.

SSA's PAR for FY 2007 incorporates SSA's Annual Performance Report with the agency's audited financial statements to provide full disclosure of SSA's financial and programmatic operations. 

On October 10, 2007, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction in AFL-CIO, et al. v. Chertoff, et al. (N.D. Cal. Case No. 07-CV-4472 CRB). The preliminary injunction enjoins and restrains the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration from implementing the Final Rule entitled "Safe-Harbor Procedures for Employers Who Receive a No-Match Letter."

Each year SSA receives approximately 245 million wage reports on Forms W-2 from employers covering approximately 153 million workers. To help improve the accuracy of the wage reporting process, SSA issues Educational Correspondence (EDCOR) letters, commonly known as the Employer “No-Match” letter, when an employer submits Forms W-2 where a significant number of employees' names or corresponding Social Security numbers can not be matched to SSA's records.

Other Information

Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 54 million Americans will increase 2.3 percent in 2008, the Social Security Administration announced today.

Effective October 1, 2007, the Social Security card included new security features. These changes are the result of recommendations made by the Interagency Task Force that was created as part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA), P.L. 108-458. SSA further strengthened and safeguarded the card from counterfeiting, tampering, alteration and theft by implementing the task force recommendations.

The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, P.L. 108-173, enacted December 8, 2003, required SSA to undertake a number of additional Medicare-related responsibilities. Detailed information about SSA's activities under the prescription drug legislation is available here.

Current information about the status of Social Security totalization agreements with other countries. Also available: a Fact Sheet and Press Release on a Totalization Agreement with Mexico.