There Oughta Be a Law!

There Oughta Be a Law!
If you printed out the entire Social Security Administration's Program Operations Manual System, or POMS, it would fill about 20 three-ring binders. Harry Huber/Shutterstock
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Readers are always asking me to explain various Social Security rules and regulations. But sometimes they want more. They want to see something official—something in black and white. In other words, they want me to give them a legal reference for whatever rules I am explaining to them.

I sort of know where they are coming from. Frequently, they have heard one thing from a friend or from a supposed trusted source, like maybe a financial adviser or even a Social Security representative. And then they read something different from me. I understand their confusion.

Tom Margenau
Tom Margenau
Author
Tom Margenau worked for 32 years in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration before retiring in 2005. He has served as the director of SSA’s public information office, the chief editor of more than 100 SSA publications, a deputy press officer and spokesman, and a speechwriter for the commissioner of Social Security. For 12 years, he also wrote Social Security columns for local newspapers, and recently published the book “Social Security: Simple and Smart.” If you have a Social Security question, contact him at [email protected]
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