Income Security Issues Issue Area Plan--Fiscal Years 1996-97 (Letter
Report, 06/01/96, GAO/IAP-96-17).

GAO presented its Income Security issue area plan for fiscal years 1996
and 1997.

GAO plans to: (1) promote more efficient, cost-effective government
services; (2) evaluate the Social Security Administration's (SSA)
services and operations; (3) identify opportunities to manage welfare,
retirement, and disability programs more efficiently; (4) evaluate
federal and state efforts to preserve families and protect children; (5)
identify waste, fraud, and abuse in social programs; (6) assess how SSA
balances serving the public and managing its limited resources; and (7)
evaluate SSA reengineering implementation plans.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  IAP-96-17
     TITLE:  Income Security Issues Issue Area Plan--Fiscal Years 1996-97
      DATE:  06/01/96
   SUBJECT:  Income maintenance programs
             Welfare benefits
             Retirement benefits
             Reengineering (management)
             Cost control
             Fraud
             Cost effectiveness analysis
             Program abuses
             Disability benefits
             Child abuse
IDENTIFIER:  Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program
             AFDC
             Supplemental Security Income Program
             Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance Program
             Social Security Disability Insurance Program
             Social Security Trust Fund
             Medicaid Program
             Medicare Program
             
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Cover
================================================================ COVER


Health, Education, and Human Services Division

June 1996

INCOME SECURITY ISSUES - ISSUE
AREA PLAN FOR FISCAL YEARS 1996
AND 1997

GAO/IAP-96-17



Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV


FOREWORD
============================================================ Chapter 0

As the investigative arm of the Congress and the nation's auditor,
the General Accounting Office is charged with following the federal
dollar wherever it goes.  Reflecting stringent standards of
objectivity and independence, GAO's audits, evaluations, and
investigations promote a more efficient and cost-effective
government; expose fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in federal
programs; help the Congress target budget reductions; assess
financial and information management; and alert the Congress to
developing trends that may have significant fiscal or budgetary
consequences.  In fulfilling its responsibilities, GAO performs
original research and uses hundreds of databases, or creates its own
when information is unavailable elsewhere. 

To ensure that GAO's resources are directed toward the most important
issues facing the Congress, each of GAO's 32 issue areas develops a
strategic plan that describes the significance of the issues it
addresses, its objectives, and the focus of its work.  Each issue
area relies heavily on input from congressional committees, agency
officials, and subject-matter experts in developing its strategic
plan. 

Income Security Issues focus on programs and policies at the Social
Security Administration (SSA), the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS), and the Department of Labor (DOL), which account for
nearly 40 percent of all federal spending.  Millions of Americans
rely on income security programs for financial support.  However, the
high costs and rising caseloads of many of these programs are the
subject of congressional concern.  Designed decades ago, some of
these programs, such as Aid to Families With Dependent Children, are
the object of major reform and experimentation; others, including
disability programs, are expected to be redesigned over the next few
years.  On the pages that follow, we outline Income Security's most
significant planned work in the following pivotal areas: 

  -- ensuring that public assistance program funds are spent
     efficiently and protected from fraud and abuse;

  -- improving SSA's service to the public at reduced cost;

  -- evaluating the adequacy of Social Security, and public and
     private pension systems for future retirees;

  -- redesigning the nation's disability programs to provide disabled
     people with greater opportunities to work;

  -- monitoring government efforts to move welfare recipients from
     welfare to work and to reduce their dependence on welfare; and

  -- assessing government efforts to preserve families and protect
     vulnerable children. 

Because events may significantly affect even the best of plans and
because periodic measurement of success against any plan is
essential, our planning process allows for updating the plan
responding quickly to emerging issues.  If you have any questions or
suggestions about this plan, please call either me or Diana Eisenstat
or Mark Nadel, Associate Directors, at (202) 512-7215. 

Jane L.  Ross
Director
Income Security Issues


CONTENTS
============================================================ Chapter 1


   FOREWORD
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:1

1


   TABLE I:  KEY ISSUES
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:2

4


   TABLE II:  PLANNED MAJOR WORK
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:3

8


   TABLE III:  GAO CONTACTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:4

9


TABLE I:  KEY ISSUES
============================================================ Chapter 2

Issue                         Significance
----------------------------  --------------------------------------------------
Promoting a more efficient,   Public assistance programs continue to be plagued
cost-effective government:    by fraud, waste, and abuse, with billions of
How adequate are government   dollars in overpayments to both eligible and
efforts to ensure public      ineligible applicants. GAO's work and media
funds are efficiently         reports have been critical of fraud, waste, and
spent?                        abuse in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
                              program, which has experienced tremendous growth
                              in recent years. Social Security Administration
                              (SSA) oversight and management of the SSI program
                              are lacking, and opportunities to increase program
                              efficiency are not pursued. The federal government
                              is also spending more than $2.6 billion to collect
                              child support for Aid to Families With Dependent
                              Children (AFDC) and non-AFDC parents but collected
                              less than 20 percent of the more than $35 billion
                              owed.







Improving SSA service and     SSA administers retirement, survivor, disability,
operations:                   and welfare programs that annually provide over
How can SSA reduce costs and  $300 billion in benefits to about 47 million
improve service to the        recipients. With growing workloads and shrinking
public with fewer             resources, SSA faces some significant challenges:
resources?                    better understanding customer needs and measuring
                              customer satisfaction, discovering and
                              implementing cost-effective service delivery
                              strategies, redesigning and automating processes
                              to improve agency performance and service to the
                              public, and supporting its workforce.


Ensuring adequate retirement  The prospective retirement of the "baby boom"
benefits:                     generation raises questions about the ability of
Can the current Social        Social Security, state and local governments, and
Security, public, and         private pension systems to provide retirement
private pension systems       incomes. The Social Security system, for example,
ensure adequate income for    currently provides income to about 43 million
retirees in a society with    beneficiaries (not including SSI-only
an aging population?          beneficiaries). This number will grow rapidly
                              early in the next century as the baby boom
                              generation retires. While the Social Security
                              Trust Funds are expected to grow to more than $3
                              trillion by 2020, the funds are expected to be
                              exhausted by 2030. Modifications to the program
                              (including some benefit reductions) will need to
                              be made if most benefit promises are to be kept.
                              In addition to questioning the adequacy of funding
                              for Social Security benefits, many are concerned
                              with the overall adequacy of retirement income.



Redesigning disability        Over 7 million Americans receive Disability
programs: How can federal     Insurance (DI) and Supplemental Security Income
disability programs be        (SSI) cash benefits at an annual cost of $60
redesigned to take advantage  billion, plus $50 billion more for Medicaid and
of greater opportunities for  Medicare coverage. SSA reports that fewer than 1
people with disabilities to   out of every 500 beneficiaries on the disability
work?                         rolls ever return to work. However, promising
                              disability management progress in the private
                              sector and recent medical, technological, social,
                              and legal changes suggest that more people with
                              disabilities can work. Significant legislative and
                              programmatic changes would be necessary for SSA to
                              assist beneficiaries to develop this return-to-
                              work potential.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Objectives                                Focus of work
----------------------------------------  --------------------------------------
1. Identify fraud, waste, and abuse and    Evaluate SSA efforts to ensure
internal control problems in SSI and      integrity of SSI program.
welfare programs.                          Examine sufficiency of federal and
                                          state efforts to address welfare
2. Identify opportunities to manage       fraud.
welfare, disability, Social Security,      Identify improvements to SSA's
and child support programs more           overpayment collection practices.
effectively and at lower costs.            Identify means to improve initial
                                          and continuing eligibility decisions.
3. Examine federal and state               Examine alternative financing
contributions to disability and child     structures and state privatization
welfare programs.                         efforts for the child support
                                          enforcement program.
                                           Examine efficiency of alternative
                                          means of delivering welfare services.
                                           Determine whether multiple funding
                                          streams in disability and child
                                          welfare programs lead to duplication
                                          of services or accountability
                                          problems.

1. Assess how effectively SSA balances     Examine SSA efforts to identify
serving the public and managing its       customer needs and approaches to
limited resources.                        meeting its service delivery
                                          challenges.
2. Provide information to the Congress     Evaluate SSA's reengineering
on SSA's efforts to reengineer its        implementation plans.
disability claims process.                 Assess SSA's overall performance.

3. Assess SSA's performance as an
independent agency.


1. Study issues related to Social          Evaluate trends in factors
Security's long-term funding problems.    contributing to Social Security's
                                          funding problems.
2. Evaluate adequacy of various sources    Examine options to address Social
of retirement income.                     Security's funding problems.
                                           Assess trends in retirement income.








1. Examine potential for reducing the      Examine alternative designs for
number of people coming onto the          disability programs.
disability rolls.                          Determine feasibility of adopting
                                          private and nonprofit return-to-work
2. Assess alternatives for helping        programs.
beneficiaries to enhance their ability     Assess work/earnings history and
to work.                                  potential of applicants and
                                          beneficiaries.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issue                         Significance
----------------------------  --------------------------------------------------
Moving from welfare to work:  The federal goverment and the states spent about
What are the effects of       $22 billion in fiscal year 1995 to provide AFDC
government efforts to move    benefits to nearly 4.9 million families. The
welfare recipients into work  Congress and the administration are currently
and reduce welfare            considering sweeping changes to AFDC and related
dependency?                   welfare programs; states are already proceeding to
                              make changes. Proposed changes are aimed at
                              capping federal expenditures, reducing welfare
                              dependency, moving adult AFDC recipients from
                              welfare into the workforce, and giving states more
                              flexibility to design and manage programs.
                              Regardless of how welfare programs are
                              restructured, ensuring that federal funds are used
                              efficiently, and that programs are focused on
                              outcomes, will remain important.


Preserving families and       Dramatic increases in child abuse and neglect,
protecting children:          exacerbated by the drug epidemic and the growth in
How adequate are government   single-parent families, have fueled public
efforts to preserve families  dissatisfaction with the nation's child welfare
and protect vulnerable        system. The federal government and the states will
children?                     face challenges in the years ahead, as they
                              attempt to operate this system more efficiently
                              and effectively within greater budget constraints.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Objectives                                Focus of work
----------------------------------------  --------------------------------------
1. Identify implementation issues and      Monitor implementation of state
promising programmatic approaches in      welfare experiments.
state welfare reform experiments.          Assess capability of state and
                                          county governments to evaluate and
2. Assist congressional efforts to        report on implementation of waivers or
evaluate policies designed to ensure      block grants.
that incentives are greater for work       Evaluate availability of child care
than for welfare.                         for low-income workers.





1. Examine options to address and          Determine the shortcomings in
prevent child abuse and neglect.          federal and state efforts to address
                                          child abuse and neglect.
2. Examine federal and state efforts to    Evaluate how states are managing
minimize the time children spend in       foster care caseloads.
foster care.                               Analyze federal contributions to
                                          family preservation efforts.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE II:  PLANNED MAJOR WORK
============================================================ Chapter 3

Issue                      Planned major job starts
-------------------------  -----------------------------------------------------
Promoting a more            SSA's overall management of the SSI program
efficient, cost-            SSA's use of computer matching to identify
effective government       ineligible SSI recipients in nursing homes
                            SSI income eligibility criteria for children and
                           adults
                            Appropriateness of family cap in the SSI program
                            Federal and state efforts to prevent and detect
                           welfare fraud
                            Adequacy of SSA's quality assurance program for
                           detecting and correcting program errors
                            SSA's use of computer matching, eligibility
                           reviews, and on-line access
                            SSA's use of waivers, suspensions, and penalties
                           for overpayments
                            Administrative feasibility of moving to a voucher-
                           based welfare system
                            Alternative financing structures for the child
                           support enforcement program
                            Federal, state, and local funding shares in
                           disability and child welfare programs


Improving SSA service and   SSA's customer service plans and challenges
operations                  Assessment of SSA's 800 number telephone service
                            How can SSA improve its capacity to record earnings
                           reported for workers?
                            How can SSA better provide one-stop service?
                            Efficiency and accuracy of post-entitlement changes
                           to benefit amounts
                            Administrative Law Judge/Disability Determination
                           Service disability decision outcomes
                            Results of administrative officer position and
                           other reengineering pilot tests
                            Status of information systems needed to support
                           reengineering
                            SSA's performance in its first year as an
                           independent agency


Ensuring adequate           Efforts of other countries to address Social
retirement benefits        Security financing problems
                            Impact of further increasing Social Security
                           retirement ages
                            Retirement income policy issues
                            SSA's implementation of the windfall elimination
                           and government pension offset provisions
                            Investment options chosen by participants in self-
                           directed defined contribution plans
                           ï¿½Advantages/disadvantages of investing Social
                           Security assets in private securities


Redesigning disability      Alternative means of making disability
programs                   determinations
                            Characteristics and prior return-to-work exposure
                           of SSA applicants and beneficiaries
                            Employability of disability applicants and
                           beneficiaries
                            Alternative systems for delivering and financing
                           return-to-work services
                            Impact of alternative disability decision-making on
                           program size and costs


Moving from welfare to      Implementation of state welfare-to-work strategies
work                        Outcomes of state implementation of time-limited
                           welfare benefits
                            Extent to which current law and waiver policies
                           limit state welfare strategies
                            Coordination between state and local child support
                           and welfare programs
                            Child care issues for low-income workers
                            Comparability and utility of data on states'
                           changes to welfare programs


Preserving families and     How are states addressing reports of child abuse
protecting children        and neglect?
                            Should foster care be restructured to respond to
                           the drug crisis?
                            State efforts to reduce time for permanent
                           placement of foster care children
                            Impact of work requirements on child abuse and
                           neglect and foster care caseload
                            Protection needed for children of drug-addicted
                           families who are placed in foster care
                            State expenditures of federally provided family
                           preservation funds

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE III:  GAO CONTACTS
============================================================ Chapter 4


      DIRECTOR
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.1

Jane L.  Ross (202) 512-7215


      ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.2

Diana S.  Eisenstat (202) 512-7215
Mark V.  Nadel (202) 512-7215


      ASSISTANT DIRECTORS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.3

Cynthia Bascetta
David Bixler
Christopher Crissman
Cynthia Fagnoni
Roland Miller
Michael Packard
James Wright
Michael Blair (Atlanta Regional Office)
Robert MacLafferty (San Francisco Regional Office)


*** End of document. ***