**GAO-08-5**                      Published: Oct 15, 2007. Publicly Released: Oct 15, 2007.                  

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## Highlights

The Social Security Protection Act of 2004 temporarily expanded the practice of paying representatives' fees directly out of a claimant's benefits. This practice, known as fee withholding, was previously available only to attorneys in Disability Insurance (DI) cases. It has been extended to attorneys in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) cases, and to nonattorneys--who meet eligibility criteria--in both DI and SSI cases. The act also mandated that GAO examine (1) the professional experience of disability representatives, (2) how judges and claimants view representatives' performance, (3) how the implementation of fee withholding for nonattorneys has been viewed, and (4) the impact of fee withholding in the SSI program. GAO surveyed representatives and judges, and interviewed claimants and Social Security Administration (SSA), state, and other officials.

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## Topics

Worker and Family Assistance

Claims settlementDisability benefitsDisability insuranceEligibility criteriaEligibility determinationsstate relationsFeesLawyersLegal feesOverpaymentsPerformance measuresSocial security benefitsStatistical dataSupplemental security incomeSurveys