Martin J. O’Malley Sworn in as Commissioner of Social Security Administration
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: December 20, 2023
Martin J. O’Malley was sworn in today by Senator Ben Cardin as Commissioner of Social Security to a term that expires on January 19, 2025.
Commissioner O’Malley expressed his gratitude for being chosen to lead the Social Security Administration. “I am honored for the opportunity of a lifetime to lead Social Security’s outstanding public servants forward, together, in such an important mission to help the agency to deliver critical services to the American people,” said Commissioner O’Malley. “Social Security is the most far-reaching and important act of social and economic justice that the people of the United States have ever enacted. For tens of millions of Americans across our country, Social Security is the difference between living with dignity or living in poverty.”
A lifelong public servant, Commissioner O’Malley brings a vast amount of experience to the position. He served as Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015, following two terms as Mayor of the City of Baltimore. Prior to being elected Mayor, he served as a member of the Baltimore City Council from 1991 to 1999 and Assistant States Attorney for the City of Baltimore before that.
Commissioner O’Malley is a pioneer in using performance-management and customer service technologies in government and has written extensively about how to govern for better results in the Information Age by measuring the outputs of government on a real-time basis.
As Commissioner, Mr. O’Malley will be responsible for administering the Social Security retirement, disability, and survivors insurance programs that pay over 1.4 trillion dollars annually in benefits to more than 66 million beneficiaries, as well as the Supplemental Security Income program that provides cash assistance to approximately 7.5 million people with limited income and resources. The agency has a workforce of about 61,000 employees and 1,500 facilities across the country and around the world.
Since 2016, Commissioner O’Malley has lectured on public administration at numerous universities and institutions, including the University of Maryland, Harvard University, Georgetown University, and Boston College School of Law.
Commissioner O’Malley graduated from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., in 1985, and earned his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1988. He and his wife of over 30 years, Judge Katie Curran O’Malley, have four children, Grace, Tara, William, and Jack.
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Dorothy L.
Please help me to support my brother. This is an urgent matter. My 65 year old brother’s medicare application is pending. The application was transferred to the office in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania for the next steps. He is diabetic, with severe neuropathy in his toes and feet. He was recently released from a Rehab facility after a 6 week stay, without medication and post-care services. He is in dire need of a medical procedure which would enable a steady flow of blood through his arteries. If he doesn’t receive this procedure soon, amputations could be the result. Would you please provide a contact to which he can check the status of his application and or assist in some way to move it forward?
Respectfully,
Dorothy Hunt
S.D.
Hi, Dorothy. We’re sorry to hear about your brother’s situation. For privacy reasons, we do not have access to his personal information in this venue. We encourage you and your brother to work with his local Social Security office. He can ask to speak to a supervisor on his next call or visit. He can also check the status of his Medicare application with his personal my Social Security account. For details, check out our Frequently Asked Questions. Or, he can call us at 1-800-772-1213 and say, “application status.” We hope this is resolved soon.
Dorothy L.
Hello Sue. The representative at our local social security administration gave him a number to a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania office. He’s left several messages on voice mail. No response.
Dorothy L.
Hello Sue. My brother is having difficulty accessing information on the social security portal. The system is not accepting his email or password. The customer service number reports his medicare status as processing as of today. What does this mean? Also, he was told that his case is being transferred back from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Silver Spring? What does this mean?
Bryana J.
Hi I am trying to get help on my daughter’s claim. My daughter was Diagnosed with ADHD and is now taking medication. I first applied 12/1/2018 when she was 2 because I was seeing signs of ADD at the time but there in the same family. This whole time I was waiting for Social security to respond until 1/5/2023 I took matters in my own hands and I applied again. I took my daughter to her doctor and he been diagnosed her but we were waiting for correspondence from Social security on how to go about the next steps. We never received a response until January of 2024. Her doctor diagnosed her with ADHD and she takes medication we were denied said she was workable. We applied for an appeal because my daughter is going through something and with her teacher also agreeing with her changes in behavior, We sent in teacher notes about her not focusing and being very emotional and crying a lot like they asked and her doctor seeing the signs he went up on her meds for ADHD. Now I am being told I may have to wait another year after already waiting 5 years to get help. This is right in the state of Florida Pensacola Florida to be exact. We are dealing with hardship right now and it seems like they do not care and it’s been 5 years 4 months on the 1st already. What should we do? They have everything they need and with Governor Santis law my child should qualify she is being prescribed medication and therapy that’s not enough? What should we do
S.D.
Thanks for reading our blog and for your questions, Bryana. For your security, we do not have access to private information in this venue. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a needs-based program that provides payments to children and adults with disabilities who have limited income and resources. To be eligible for SSI as a minor child, your daughter must have a condition that very seriously limits her activities, and the condition(s) must have lasted, or be expected to last, at least one year or result in death. To learn more about the process we use to determine if a child is disabled, check out Understanding SSI: If You Have a Disability or Are Blind. You’ll find information about the appeals process here. We hope this helps.
Glenna F.
Please remove the SSI marriage penalty, we have a family but cannot live in the same household due to losing benefits. This doesn’t seem like a fair law or one that is moral in God’s eyes. Please help so we can be a normal family and be back in church together.
S.D.
Hi, Glenna. Thanks for reading our blog and for your comment. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a needs-based program for people with disabilities and people 65 and older who have limited income and resources. If you’re married and you and your spouse live in the same household, the law requires that we count your spouse’s income and resources when we determine your SSI eligibility and payment amount. If you’d like to submit feedback, visit our How can we help? webpage. From there, select the “Email Us” link. This will take you to the “Email Our Support Team” form where you can submit a suggestion, compliment, or complaint. We hope this helps.
Connie D.
I received a letter a few weeks ago stating I owe $55789.70 of overpayment. SSA ceased my disability payments immediately. At the same point I was given 30 days to pay this back. I have filed all the waivers, requests, etc., every time I call I am told different information. I truly hope and pray Commissioner O’Malley is true to his word and is going to help us who don’t understand what this is all about. I am afraid beyond belief I am being held responsible for something I don’t understand and yet the folks who are “in charge” can’t really give you any answers. I am told to be patient meanwhile, I have a due date coming quickly to pay this money to you. Please tell me who to get to help me with this. Please!
Denise
Only 55789 !!! They act like we will write a check. lol. I got letter for 14005.00
Christine E.
I’m in the same boat! They are taking 95.00 out of my check! Meanwhile I asked why should I be punished for their mistakes when I did everything right. Cola increase they gave us they took that n added 65.00 to it!! Gotta love USA
S.D.
We’re sorry to hear about your situation, Christine. For your security, we do not have access to private information in this venue. Please continue to work with your local Social Security office. To learn about the most recent updates to our overpayment recovery process, please read our blog and press releases. We hope this helps.
Holly S.
Social Security Administration, the Courts and Congress AGREED to REMOVE AND CLEAR the 2020 Overpayment Payment Center Cases. Please start removing and clearing the NON RECIPIENTS FIRST please. It’s affecting us.
Susan D.
Overpayments are being pursued by Individuals claiming to be with the social security administration and are threatening individuals, companies, employers not to hire or do business with the Individuals the social security administration is pursuing with the alleged secretive debt they’re not suppose to know exists. The social security administration debt collectors tell neighbors, family, acquaintances and anyone their targeted Individual comes across, that they’re intentionally causing poverty because the individual is in a POVERTY PROGRAM which belongs to the SSA. They laugh and smile about the oppression and despair they are causing. They tell people that the Individual has “debt” that they are “not suppose to know about” and the community tells them, then why are y’all after them? If they are not allowed to work or know that a debt exist? And they simply smile and mention all the money theyre making while the government is WASTING money.
Helena P.
I urge Commissioner O’Malley to take a look at the workers’ compensation system in California for a fast and efficient way to process claims. Please use technology and AI to wipe out the delays. It’s unforgivable to force people to pay into a broken system, and wait for years to get approved or denied, based on rules created 50 years ago or the opinions of subjective judges. This is not due process.
Ed L.
The Social Security Act was signed by President Roosevelt in 1935. Only twice since that time have the Social Security benefits been under threat of curtailment as a result of the Old-age and Survivors’ Insurance (OASI) “trust fund” (in quotes because this is not a real trust fund as most people understand it) running out of money: in 1982 and, now again, forecasted for 2033.
The first time it happened, Congress authorized a temporary borrowing of funds from the Disability Insurance (DI) and the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) trust funds to the OASI trust fund which were repaid in 1985 and 1986. While the DI and HI trust funds were sufficiently solvent to permit the borrowing at the time, that is no longer the case (the HI trust fund is projected to be insolvent itself in 2030).
Of all the proposals for resolving the projected shortfall in the OASI trust fund being examined by the Social Security Administration, the Congressional Budget Office, and the American Academy of Actuaries, to my knowledge, not one or even a combination will avoid benefit curtailment at the projected insolvency date. While the most practical (and likely) solution would be to allow the OASI trust fund to borrow from general revenues, the bigger issue is the program changes in the form of future benefit reductions and tax increases that Congress will tack on.
While tax increases are unlikely to be imposed on lower wage earners, benefit reductions in the form of increasing the retirement age for receiving unreduced benefits (being considered on account of improving life expectancy), if applied to everyone below a certain age, would be especially harmful to lower-wage earners, disproportionately people of color, because of their substantially lower life expectancy and life expectancy improvements compared to higher wage earners.
“Saving” Social Security requires a thorough understanding of its design and financing which, unfortunately, does not seem to be present in Washington (here is more information for those who want to take the time https://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_1042.pdf).
Fact is, as former Fed Chairs Greenspan and Bernanke have said, the issue is not whether the US can afford Social Security as it presently exists (it can), but whether the US will produce sufficient real goods and services to avoid an inflation impact in the future. For those who take time to understand it, President Biden’s Build Back Better Framework is focused on just that. Resolving the immigration issue without the draconian forced removal of undocumented immigrants would be another.
lawrence b.
i got a letter saying my social security would be stopped for 8 months because of over payments, my pay started back january 2024 ,march 2024 saying my check would be stopped again for 8 month, i wil be 66 in may, possibility i could have cancer ,could this people just leave me alone and stop trying to take money i worked 50 years to earn preying on seniors ,i saw a story a white women getting 8 hundred a month check was stopped because her husband was over paid she file a appeal check restored within weeks, i filed a appeal told my check would resume no futher action be seeing that im months form someone sees away to gather more money before birthday ,this is 2024 social security wants you to keep your income to 20,000 poverty level why there is know adjustment since 1950 ,so your color matters just stop letting people take money early but why would they do that because when you walk in to get your money a year later you owe them 20,000 then you die and they keep it all
Michael R.
My name is Michael A I’m a 63 year old disabled veteran. I live in Happy Valley Oregon. I have applied for social security disability because of my mental health condition. Please forgive me for what I’m about to say. I’m so damn sick and tired of getting the same excuse time and time again. This have been going on for months now. I told my mental health specialist and my therapist I’m upset with how this matter is handled. I can’t go in because of my mental health issues. I’m a kind of gentle old man I have a lovely family which are my rock. Please help me get this resolved please. I can’t get my service dog until this issue is fixed. You can contact at my email. Thank you and God bless
C.B.
Hi, Michael. Thanks for using our blog. The length of time it takes to receive a decision on your disability claim can vary depending on several factors. Primarily, the nature of your disability, how quickly we obtain medical evidence from your doctor or other medical sources, and if your claim is randomly selected for a quality assurance review of the decision. We care about our customers and are working as fast as we can. To check the status of your application, you can use your personal my Social Security account or our automated telephone services that are available 24 hours a day. Call us at 1-800-772-1213 and, at the prompt, respond “application status.” For more information, visit our Frequently Asked Questions. We hope this information is helpful.
donald c.
i am an 89 year old disabled veteran , who because of my disbursement date is causing me great hardship. i got covid and due to medical expenses i ran late with my lot rental. ( i live in an over 55 mobile park) i receive my SSI check on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. so thats about the 19th or 20th day. However the lot rent is due in the first with late charges starting on the 15 day. thus for the past year and until i die i will be paying $30.00 a month in late charges. I ve spoken to the owner but he is unbending saying if I change the due date for you I have to do it for everyone. What hes not saying is thats its a great source of income with no expenses.
My question is there any way my disbursement date can be moved to the second Wednesday or even the first,.
S.D.
We’re sorry to hear about your situation, Donald. Social Security payment dates are based on your date of birth. If you were born on the 11th through 20th, your payment date is the third Wednesday. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments are made on the first of the month. You cannot change the date you receive your benefits. For more information, visit our Frequently Asked Questions.