Social Security Administration (SSA)

The Social Security Administration is the federal agency that administers the Social Security program and Supplemental Security Income. The Social Security Act provides: "There is hereby established, as an independent agency in the executive branch of the Government, a Social Security Administration," and gives it the duty of administering two programs: Social Security's retirement, survivors and disability benefits under Title II, and Supplemental Security Income under Title XVI. It is headed by the Commissioner of Social Security.

The agency and the program share a name, and the difference is worth keeping straight. Social Security is the benefit program, financed mainly by payroll taxes and paid from the Social Security trust funds. The Social Security Administration is the agency that takes applications, decides eligibility, calculates and pays benefits, and keeps the records the program depends on.

What it administers. The core is the old-age, survivors and disability program, meaning retirement benefits, benefits for spouses, children and survivors, and Social Security Disability Insurance. It also runs Supplemental Security Income, the means-tested program for people who are aged, blind or disabled with limited income and resources, which is paid from general revenue rather than payroll taxes.

Numbers and records. SSA assigns Social Security numbers, and its regulations explain why: "The Social Security Administration (SSA) maintains a record of the earnings reported for each individual assigned a social security number." That earnings record is what retirement, disability and survivors benefits are calculated from, which is why the Social Security Statement is worth checking for missing years.

Its Medicare role. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services runs Medicare, but Medicare.gov tells people who need to enroll to "contact Social Security," and online sign-up happens "at Social Security." SSA also determines the income-related monthly adjustment amount that higher-income beneficiaries pay on top of Part B and Part D premiums.

How independence came about. Public Law 103-296, enacted August 15, 1994, rewrote the governing section to make SSA an independent agency, and the change took effect March 31, 1995, separating it from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Disagreeing with a decision. SSA's regulations set out an administrative review process taken in order: an initial determination, reconsideration, a hearing before an administrative law judge, review by the Appeals Council, and then a lawsuit in federal district court. Each step usually has to be requested within a set period.

Its rulebook is public. The Program Operations Manual System (POMS) is, in SSA's words, "a primary source of information used by Social Security employees to process claims for Social Security benefits," and its public version is posted online, which makes it the place to read how the agency applies a rule.

1. Get a number. A Social Security number can be requested by application, by a parent through a state's birth registration process, or through the immigration process.

2. Build the record. Employers and the self-employed report earnings, and SSA posts them to the worker's record.

3. Check it. A my Social Security account shows the earnings record and benefit estimates.

4. Apply. Retirement, spousal, survivors, disability and SSI claims, and most Medicare enrollments, are filed with SSA, online or at a local Social Security office.

5. Appeal if needed, through reconsideration, an administrative law judge hearing, the Appeals Council and federal court.

Pros

• One agency keeps a lifetime earnings record and pays benefits from it, so a worker's history follows them across employers and states.
• Much of its business can be done online through a my Social Security account.
• Its decisions can be appealed through a defined process, and its operating manual is public.

Cons

• Responsibility for Medicare is split with CMS, so which agency to contact depends on the question.
• An error in the earnings record can lower a benefit until someone finds and corrects it.
• Each appeal step generally has to be requested within a set period, and a late request may not be accepted.