Informing Social Security's Process for Financial Capability Determination (2016) / Chapter Skim
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6 Conclusions and Recommendations
6 Conclusions and Recommendations
Pages 153-162
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From page 153... ...
• The committee distinguishes between financial competence (i.e., the financial knowledge and judgment one possesses) and financial per formance (i.e., the degree of success in handling financial demands in the real world)
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From page 154... ...
Some informants may have im paired judgment themselves, or may have an incentive to under- or overestimate the individual's financial abilities. • Because many informants, including medical and nonmedical pro fessionals, are not trained specifically in the assessment of financial performance, they would benefit from detailed direction as to the type of performance information that is helpful to SSA in making a determination of financial capability.
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From page 155... ...
Evidence of beneficiaries' degree of financial competence also can help inform interpretations of the evidence regarding beneficiaries' financial performance. • As with financial performance, detailed guidance and sample ques tions aimed at the assessment of financial competence would assist informants in providing relevant information about beneficiaries' finan ial knowledge and judgment, and would be likely to improve c the strength, quality, and consistency of the evidence provided to SSA.
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From page 156... ...
Asking informants to provide information based on a common set of questions in areas relevant to beneficiaries' financial performance and competence would help improve and standardize the information received by the field offices. To enable SSA to judge the validity of information from informants, it is important that evidence provided for capability determinations specify how well and for how long the informant has known the individual and the nature of their relationship.1 It is also important to specify the extent to which (1)
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From page 157... ...
In addition, interpretations of evidence regarding beneficiaries' financial performance can be informed by evidence of beneficiaries' degree of financial competence. SYSTEMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF ADULT SSA BENEFICIARIES AT RISK FOR FINANCIAL INCAPABILITY Risk Criteria The following conclusions and recommendations address systematic identification of individuals who are at risk for financial incapability.
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From page 158... ...
Prior to large-scale implementation, the success of the resulting approach in identifying incapable beneficiaries who would otherwise not have been found could be tested. Dual Beneficiaries • A 2012 SSA-OIG report indicated that more than 6,000 individuals who were receiving benefits from both the Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance programs had been assigned a representative payee in one program but not the other.
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From page 159... ...
The U.S. Social Security Administration should develop systematic mechanisms for recognizing and responding to changes in beneficiaries' capability over time.
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From page 160... ...
SSA might also implement a process to survey payees and/or beneficiaries periodically, similar to that of OPM, integrating screening questions that could trigger the need to further investigate the beneficiary's financial capability. INNOVATION AND EVALUATION Supervised Direct Payment • The decision to appoint a representative payee affects the benefi ciary's autonomy, and hence should occur only when clearly neces sary to ensure that the beneficiary's basic needs will be met.
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From page 161... ...
The U.S. Social Security Administration should implement a demonstration project to evaluate the efficacy of a super vised direct payment option for qualified beneficiaries.
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From page 162... ...
The U.S. Social Security Administration should develop and implement an ongoing measurement and evaluation pro cess to quantify and track the accuracy of capability determinations and to inform and improve its policies and procedures for identifying beneficiaries who are incapable of managing or directing the manage ment of their benefits.
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