SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION (SSA)

Statement of Regulatory Priorities

We administer the Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance programs under title II of the Social Security Act (Act), the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program under title XVI of the Act, and the Special Veterans Benefits program under title VIII of the Act. As directed by Congress, we also assist in administering portions of the Medicare program under title XVIII of the Act. Our regulations codify the requirements for eligibility and entitlement to benefits and our procedures for administering these programs. Generally, our regulations do not impose burdens on the private sector or on State or local governments, except for the States' disability determination services. We fully fund the disability determination services in advance or by way of reimbursement for necessary costs in making disability determinations.

The ten entries in our regulatory plan (plan) represent issues of major importance to the Agency. We describe the individual initiatives more fully in the attached plan.

Improving the Disability Process

Since the continued improvement of the disability program is of vital concern to us, we have initiatives in the plan addressing disability-related issues. They include:

Three proposed rules and four final rules updating the medical listings used to determine disability-evaluating neurological impairments, respiratory system disorders, hematological disorders, genitourinary disorders, mental disorders, visual disorders, and congenital disorders that affect multiple body systems. The revisions reflect our adjudicative experience and advances in medical knowledge, diagnosis, and treatment.

Enhance Public Service

We will revise our rules to establish a 12-month time limit for the withdrawal of an old-age benefits application. The final rules will permit only one withdrawal per lifetime.

We propose to revise our rules to maximize our capability to conduct hearings by video teleconferencing.

We will finalize portions of the rules we proposed in October 2007 that relate to appearing by telephone and the timeframe requirement for objecting to the time or place of a hearing. We expect that these rules will make the hearings process more efficient and continue to reduce our backlog.

Retrospective Review of Existing Regulations

Pursuant to section 6 of Executive Order 13563 "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review" (Jan. 18, 2011), the following Regulatory Identifier Numbers (RINs) have been identified as associated with retrospective review and analysis in our final retrospective review of regulations plan. Some of these entries on this list may be completed actions, which do not appear in The Regulatory Plan. However, you can find more information about these completed rulemakings in past publications of the Unified Agenda on Reginfo.gov in the Completed Actions section for that agency. You can also find these rulemakings on Regulations.gov. The final agency plans can be found at: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/open/regsreview/EO-13563-Final-Plan.html.