Social Security Administration

The United States Social Security Administration (or SSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established by a law currently codified at 42 U.S.C. § 901. The SSA manages the United States' social insurance program, consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits. To qualify for these benefits, most American workers pay Social Security taxes on their earnings; future benefits are based on the employees' contributions.

SSA is headquartered in Woodlawn, Maryland, just to the west of Baltimore, at what is known as Central Office. The administration includes 10 regional offices, 8 processing centers, approximately 1300 field offices, and 37 Teleservice Centers. In all, as of April 2006, over 65,000 employees were employed by SSA. See Social Security (United States).

History

The SSA began existence as the Social Security Board (SSB), created as part of the New Deal program of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, by the Social Security Act of 1935, signed August 14, 1935. The Board consisted of three presidentially appointed executives, and started with no budget, no staff, and no furniture. It obtained a temporary budget from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration headed by Harry Hopkins.

The first Social Security office opened in Austin, Texas, on October 14, 1936. Social Security taxes were collected first in January 1937, along with the first one-time, lump-sum payments. The first person to receive a Social Security benefit was Ernest Ackerman, who was paid 17 cents in January 1937. This was a one-time, lump-sum pay-out, which was the only form of benefits paid during the start-up period January 1937 through December 1939. The first person to receive monthly retirement benefits was Ida Mae Fuller of Vermont.

In 1939, the Social Ses merged into a cabinet-level Federal Security Agency, which included the SSB, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and other agencies. In January 1940, the first regular ongoing monthly benefits were begun.

In 1946, the SSB was renamed the Social Security Administration under President Harry S. Truman's Reorganization Plan.

In 1972, Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) were introduced into SSA programs to deal with the effects of inflation on fixed incomes.

In 1953, the Federal Security Agency was abolished and the SSA was placed under the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. HEW became the Department of Health and Human Services in 1980. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed legislation returning the SSA to the status of an independent agency in the executive branch of government. See 42 U.S.C. § 901.

Headquarters

The SSA is one of the few Federal agencies to have its headquarters outside of Washington, D.C. It was located in Baltimore initially due to the need for a building that was capable of holding the unprecedented amount of paper records that would be needed. Nothing suitable was available in Washington in 1936, so the Social Security Board selected the Candler Building on Baltimore's harbor as a temporary location. Soon after locating there, construction began on a permanent building for SSA in Washington that would meet their requirements for record storage capacity. However, by the time the new building was completed, World War II had started, and the building was commandeered by the War Department. By the time the war ended, it was judged too disruptive to relocate the agency to Washington. The Agency remained in the Candler Building until 1960, when it relocated to its newly built headquarters in Woodlawn.

The road on which the headquarters is located, built especially for the SSA, is named Security Boulevard (Route 122) and has since become one of the major arteries connecting Baltimore with its western suburbs. Security Blvd. is also the name of SSA's exit from the nearby Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695). A nearby shopping center has been named Security Square Mall, and Woodlawn is often referred to informally as "Security." Interstate 70, which runs for thousands of miles from Utah to Maryland, terminates in a Park and Ride lot that adjoins the SSA campus.

Coverage

The SSA's coverage under the Social Security program originally covered nearly all non-government workers in the continental U.S. and the territories of Alaska and Hawaii below the age of 65. All workers in commerce and industry were forced into the program, except railroad, state, city, schools and local government workers. Railroad workers were covered by the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB). Coverage for non-government workers was compulsory to nearly all. In 1939, the age restriction for entering Social Security was eliminated. The RRB and the SSA merged coverage in 1946. The state, city, schools and local government workers contributed to their own retirement programs which actually invested their contributions instead of immediately distributing them. This has resulted in these workers receiving much better retirements at often lower costs than social security receipients. To counter this over the years, social security coverage was made compulsory for nearly all of them and many of these workers (some could elect to stay out on grandfather clauses) had to join Social Security. Most now have a joint Social Security and a defined benefit plans at often significantly higher cost for the same benefits.

Old Age, Survivors and Disability

The SSA administers the old age, survivors, and disability social insurance programs, which provide monthly benefits to retired or disabled workers, their spouses and children, and to the survivors of insured workers. In 2004, more than 47 million Americans received approximately $492 billion in Social Security benefits. The programs are financed by mandatory contributions which employers, employees, and self-insured persons pay. These revenues are placed into a special trust fund.

Supplementary Security Income (SSI)

SSA administers the SSI program, which is needs-based, for elderly, blind, or disabled persons. This program began in 1973. SSI recipients are paid out of the general revenue of the U.S. In addition, some states pay additional SSI funds. Approximately 7 million persons are covered by SSI.

Medicare

The administration of the Medicare program is a responsibility of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but SSA district offices and program service centers are used for determining eligibility, processing premium payments, and for some public contact.

Automation

A few of the hundreds of keypunch operators SSA employed throughout the late 1930s and into the 1950s.

While the establishment of Social Security predated the invention of the modern digital computer, punch card data processing was a mature technology, and the Social Security system made extensive use of automated unit record equipment from the program's inception. This allowed the Social Security Administration to achieve a high level of efficiency. SSA expenses were a small fraction of benefits paid.

Sources

SSA Pub. No 25-1556. Teleservice Representative Basic Training Curriculum Introduction Unit 1 Lessons 01-08 Student. Social Security Administration. April 2006.

See also

• Social Security (United States)
• Social Security number
• Government operations
• Social Security Death Index
• Jo Anne B. Barnhart Commissioner Social Security Administration
• NOSSCR National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives

External links

• Social Security Administration website
• Social Security Disability Advocacy, Debate, and Professional News
• The Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) ODAR
• Works by the Social Security Administration at Project Gutenberg
• Social Security Administration Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed

Further reading

• Social Security Disability Advocate's Handbook, by David Traver, James Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1-58012-033-4
• Social Security Handbook, Germania Publishing, 2006.