Bipartisan Advisory Board Urges Social Security to Collect Better Data to Assure That Beneficiaries Have the Right Payee to Help Manage Their Benefits

The bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board last year urged the Social Security Association (SSA) to "research and evaluate the order of preference for payee selection," which was followed by enactment of the Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018. Section 204 of the act mandates the SSA Commissioner to review and reassess the selection and replacement process for payees. The board has uncovered no empirical scientific findings on the optimal model for preference ordering. An absence of data needed to inform revisions to the selection process therefore behooves SSA to collect it as quickly as possible. In keeping with federal efforts to enhance federal evidence-based policymaking, the board recommends SSA fortify its capacity to compile and apply all appropriate programmatic data to inform and support payee program decisions.