Further SSA Press Statement On Budget

The press statement linked below is only the tip of the iceberg. Social Security has issued a a 198 page Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees. Here are a few excerpts:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is now at a crossroads. Due to the aging of the baby boomers, we are facing an avalanche of retirement and disability claims at the same time that we must address large backlogs due to years of increasing workloads and limited resources. In the past, as SSA offices lost staff, waiting times increased and lines grew longer. Over 50 percent of people who called into field offices received a busy signal. Without sustained, adequate funding, this situation will only worsen. Furthermore, we must attack the disability backlogs, which have dramatically and unacceptably damaged many applicants’ lives. Since fiscal year (FY) 2000, processing times for disability hearings have grown by 200 days, which is an incredible hardship for disabled workers and their families as they cope with the loss of income, and often medical insurance as well, due to a severe disability. The problems and shortfalls we have described above are the result of limited resources, increased demand for our core services and new responsibilities. Adequate funding is critical for FY 2009 and must be sustained in the years ahead. Without it, SSA’s service crisis will deepen at a time when our aging population is increasingly counting on Social Security programs. ...

With the 2009 President’s Budget, we will be able to halt the decline in customer service by restoring staffing losses and investing in needed technology. In FY 2009, SSA plans to reduce the hearing backlog by nearly 70,000 cases, process over 200,000 more retirement and survivors claims, and handle 4 million more 800-number calls compared to FY 2008. Waiting times and processing times should decrease, especially since the increased funding will be in concert with continued productivity improvements. Lastly, the President’s Budget will allow us to process more program integrity work. ...

It is important to note that while the FY 2009 budget will make important strides in core areas, SSA will still have significant growth of backlogs in its less visible work, the work that is done after an individual is approved for benefits.

The document indicates that Social Security will have 60,293 workyears in FY 2009, up from 60,064 in FY 2008, an increase of 229 workyears or .38%. Not 38% or 3.8%, but .38%. How does one cope with an "avalanche" of claims and still make "important strides in core areas" with virtually no staffing increase? The number of workyears predicted for FY 2009, though higher than in FY 2008, would not bring Social Security's workforce back to what it was in FY 2007.

The document predicts a 16% increase in hearings held and a 6% decline in the average processing time for hearings, but gives no meaningful explanation of how this can be achieved with little or no increase in staffing.

A table predicts that Social Security's hearing backlog will decline to under 400,000 cases by 2013. That is still a huge backlog and 2013 is a long time from now and I do not see any realistic plan to achieve such a reduction.

Previously, Astrue and other Social Security officials were talking of getting up to 1,250 Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) in the current fiscal year, but this document talks of achieving this goal in "early 2009."

This document contains fulsome praise for the President's budget proposal, but curiously missing from this lengthy document is a prominent mention of the fact that the President's proposal is lower than what the Social Security Administration is asking for.