From a Social Security news release:
The Social Security Administration held its second public hearing on compassionate allowances - a way to expedite the processing of disability claims for applicants whose medical conditions are so severe that their conditions obviously meet Social Security’s standards. At the hearing, Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, announced that the agency had entered into a first-of-its-kind agreement with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH will provide technical assistance to Social Security to help ensure that elements of the compassionate allowance initiative are based on sound, up-to-date medical science. ...I have news for Commissioner Astrue. Social Security and Disability Determination Service employees are not stupid or uncaring; at least, the vast majority are not. They already issue quick decisions in such cases. That is not a problem. Going ahead with this compassionate allowance silliness demonstrates that Commissioner Astrue has no idea what goes on in the field. He wishes to concentrate upon his own fantasies that the backlogs are a problem that can be addressed with simple, easy solutions instead of accepting than the reality that there is no solution for Social Security's backlogs that does not call for spending a lot more money and hiring a lot more employees. But, then, perhaps Astrue does realize this and these hearings are nothing more than empty gestures. In either case, whatever money is being spent on these hearings would have done more good if it had been spent on hiring another employee or two
The hearing, held today in Boston, featured some of the nation’s leading oncology experts presenting testimony and sharing their views about the best ways to determine compassionate allowances for children and adults with cancers. Once implemented, Social Security can quickly target the most obviously disabled individuals for allowances based on confirmation of the diagnosis alone; for example, acute leukemia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and pancreatic cancer. The agency plans to begin piloting compassionate allowances later this year and plans to hold two more public hearings on the initiative as well.
5 comments:
I do not know why Astrue even took the job. He is accomplishing nothing of substance, from the perspective of the field, and apparently has no plans to. He is a place-holder who will be quickly forgotten soon after he leaves.
It is worse than that. He's doing affirmative harm to the agency.
Having known him from his first trip around SSA/HHS, I had some hope that he'd be able to dig in quickly and do something positive. I was wrong. This foppery about compassionate allowances just confirms the views expressed above.
The software that identifies Quick Disability Decision cases does not identify them until the claim is completed and transferred to DDS. It is of no value in developing the medical evidence in the FO. It merely alerts the FO to complete the non-medical development after the fact. This is supposed to be part of "Compassionate Allowances" but is an indication of the hollowness of the idea.
From my experience working in the DDS, I know that there is nothing more rewarding than quickly allowing claims of those who meet listings or are otherwise "clearly disabled" and can be allowed without much bureaucratic ado (how soon these claims are paid are beyond DDS jurisdiction, e.g., if we quickly allow Title II claimants still within the "waiting period".). No one usually complains to the media when this happens. Mr. Hall is entirely correct: neither hearings about compassionate allowances nor regs on "QDD" (which we already did in reality) will change this.
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