United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-05-17 monographic deposited born digital 23 p. GA 1.13:GAO-01-710T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-710T P0b002ee18039206b f:d01710t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-710T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-710T GAO-01-710T Lawyers Disability benefits Disability insurance Information systems Legal fees Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund Testimony A01017

To ensure that people claiming the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Disability Insurance program benefits can obtain legal representation at a fair price, the Social Security Act requires that SSA regulate the fees that attorneys charge people to represent their disability claims before the agency. Balancing the needs of the claimants with those of their attorneys, the act limits the amount of fees that attorneys can charge claimants, but also guarantees that those fees will be paid from the claimants' past-due benefits. Inefficiencies in the current process increase both the time it takes to pay the attorney fees and the cost of administration. One segment of attorney fee processing--the fee approval process--was substantially simplified in 1991. Systems support could streamline the second segment of the processing--the fee payment--thus lowering the annual administrative costs and cutting processing time. If SSA automated this final segment of the fee process, it could help improve customer service for both claimants and their attorneys. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-710T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-710T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-710T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-710T.pdf GAO-01-710T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-710T Testimony GAO-01-710T; Social Security Administration: Systems Support Could Improve Processing Attorney Fee Payments in the Disability Program; Lawyers Disability benefits Disability insurance Information systems Legal fees Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund Title 42 Section 406 42 U.S.C. 406 Public Law 101-508 Public Law 106-170