*This is a selection from the book titled "Catastrophe Claims: Insurance Coverage for Natural and Man-Made Disasters," Chapter 18A by Dennis J. Wall (©May 2017, Thomson Reuters). This selection is reprinted with permission of Thomson Reuters. Any further reproduction without the consent of the publisher is expressly prohibited.
- § 18A:2: The Social Security Act's Method.
The same method is followed throughout the genesis provision of the Social Security Act, Section 402, which is the provision that sets out the requirements for all forms of old-age insurance. The statutory method is to answer the same questions for each type of Social Security insurance benefit: Who, What, When and How (Much).[1] These approaches provide answers similar to the answers to questions that newspaper reporters used to address in their reporting.[2]
Overall, "Old-age insurance benefits" are provided to every individual meeting three criteria: First, that she or he is a "fully insured individual";[3] second, that the individual has reached age 62, and finally that the individual in question has either filed an application for old-age insurance benefits or was entitled to disability insurance benefits within certain stated parameters.[4] This answers the "Who" question concerning these benefits.
The "What" question, i.e., what does the individual get, is that in the opening section of the Act the individual receives "an old-age insurance benefit."[5] The amount of an old-age insurance benefit ("How (much)") is determined elsewhere in the same statute.[6]
The question of "When" an individual begins receiving "old-age insurance benefits" is answered by several statutory criteria as well.[7]
And so the process continues, each form of insurance benefits listed in the Act receiving its own individual answers to the same basic questions of "Who," "What," "How (much)," and "When." It is important to understand that the Social Security Act provides a framework, and that the framework was written to answer these questions, yes, but in the context of the nuclear family. The subsections of Section 402 which follow its disposition of "old-age insurance benefits" in the first subsection, provide for a continuing list of persons who receive their own particular insurance benefits:
- "Wife's insurance benefits."[8]
- "Husband's insurance benefits."[9]
- "Child's insurance benefits."[10]
- "Widow's insurance benefits."[11]
- "Widower's insurance benefits."[12]
- "Mother's and father's insurance benefits."[13]
and
- "Parent's insurance benefits."[14]
Section 402 is, again, the seminal or originating section of old-age insurance benefits in the Social Security Act. Section 402 reads like a manual. It is a manual.
Statutes especially federal statutes are often aggravating because they are often long and complex. That reaction to interpreting the statute will be an obstacle to understanding Section 402 in particular and the Social Security Act in general.
To say again, Section 402 is a manual. It is intended to be set upon administrators' desks. Then the administrators could leaf through to the particular issues that confront them in each individual matter or subgroup of matters.
As we have already seen, section 402 covers the figures of the entire nuclear family in its first eight subsections. In its 18 remaining subsections, section 402 addresses the issues that are peculiar to some claims in some cases, and also the issues that are inherent in many if not all claims for old-age insurance benefits.[15] Against the backdrop of the previously discussed social history of social insurance,[16] and the framework of the Social Security Act discussed in this section, the price to pay for taking social security away will be considered in the next section.
Next: The Price to Pay for Taking it Away.
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[1] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402, current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256.
[2] Another question that newspaper reporters once asked of their reporting, "Where," is unnecessary to ask of the Social Security Act. The Act's reach is national, i.e., throughout the United States. See Section 18A:1, supra.
[3] A "fully insured individual" is defined in 42 U.S.C.A. § 414(a), current through P.L. 114-254 and also including P.L. 114-256 to 114-260, and P.L. 114-271. In basic terms, a "fully insured individual" is one who qualifies with at least the stated number of quarters of coverage. "Additional definitions" are provided in a Section with that title: 42 U.S.C.A. § 416, also current through P.L. 114-254 and also including P.L. 114-256 to 114-260, and P.L. 114-271.
[4] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(a)(1)-(3), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256.
[5] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(a), unnumbered fragment following 402(a)(3), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256.
[6] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(a), unnumbered paragraph following 402(a)(B), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256.
[7] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(a)(A) and (B), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256.
[8] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(b), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256. "Who" is entitled to claim a "wife's insurance benefits" is answered by subsections (b)(1)(A) through (D), and (b)(4)(A) and (B); "what" and "how much" are answered by the unnumbered fragment following (D) and by subsection (b)(2); and "when" is answered by subsection (b)(1)(i)-(ii) and (E) through (K).
When I first read the title of this subsection, "wife's insurance benefits," I thought that it was an anachronism, perhaps a relic from 1935 when the subsection was first enacted. Now, I see that this title is neither an anachronism or a relic from a past time. Instead, it is clearly a part of the statutory framework discussed in the text.
[9] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(c), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256. "Who" is entitled to claim a "husband's insurance benefits" is prescribed by subsection (c)(1)(A) through (D); "what" and "how much" the benefits are, are questions answered by subsection (c) in the unnumbered fragment following (D) as well as (c)(2); and "when" these insurance benefits are payable is provided for in subsection (c)(1)(i)-(ii) and (E) through (K), and (4).
[10] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(d), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256. The answer to the question of "who" may claim a "child's insurance benefits" is set out in subsection (d)(1)(A) through (C)(iii); "what" and "how much" are set forth in the unnumbered fragment of subsection (d) following (C)(iii) and in subsection (d)(2); while "when" is answered by resort to the second set of (i)-(ii) found in subsection (d)(1), and in (d)(1)(D) through (H). Many further provisions are set forth as to a child's insurance benefits in the long remainder of subsection 402(d).
[11] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(e), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256. "Who" is answered by consulting subsection (e)(1) through (D); "what" and "how much" are essentially governed by the unnumbered fragment of subsection (e) following (D), and by subsection (e)(2)A); and "when" is answered by the provisions of subsection (e)(1)(E). Once again, the many remaining provisions of the subsection govern many contingencies concerning claims for a widow's insurance benefits.
[12] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(f), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256. "Who": Subsection (f)(1)(A) through (D); "what" and "how much": Unnumbered fragment following (f)(1)(D), and subsection (f)(2)(A); "when": subsection (f)(1)(E)-(F). There are many other provisions following those that have been listed from subsection 402(f), and they too set forth requirements for widower's insurance benefits.
[13] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(g), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256. "Who": subsection 402(g)(1) & (3); "what" and "how much," and also "when": unnumbered fragment following subsection 402(g)(1)(F)(ii), and subsection 402(g)(2).
[14] 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(h), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256. "Who" may claim a parent's insurance benefits: subsection 402(h)(1)(A) through (E), and subsection 402(h)(3). "What" and "how much": unnumbered fragment following subsection 402(h)(1)(E), and subsections 402(h)(2), and (h)(4).
[15] See 42 U.S.C.A. § 402(i) through (z), current through P.L. 114-254, and including P.L. 114-256.
[16] See § 18A:1, supra.
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