NOSSCR Comments On OIDAP

The National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) has submitted comments on Social Security plans for a new occupational information system. NOSSCR has many urgent concerns but probably the most urgent is that Social Security wants to go it alone rather than working with the Department of Labor. In my opinion these are the key sentences from NOSSCR's comments:

For SSA [Social Security Administration], this decision raises significant concerns: It is an enormous project that falls outside SSA’s area of expertise; it will take years to complete; and it will be extremely expensive at a time of limited resources. In addition, the involvement of the DOL [Department of Labor] would address the perception that SSA wants to create its own OIS [Occupational Information System] so that it can control the outcome of disability determinations.

Why is it so important to Social Security to do this on its own unless it does want to control the outcome of disability determinations? The staff of the Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (OIDAP) seems unable to answer this or any other question without resorting to obfuscating jargon. This makes me suspicious.

The deadline for submitting comments on the OIDAP proposal is June 30. Comments may be submitted online. I hope that others will be able to submit comments online without problems. I found it impossible to do so. The system demanded that I enter a "Category" for my comments but it was flatly impossible for me to do so. Comments may also be submitted by fax to (410) 597-0825 or by mail to the Office of Program Development and Research, Occupational Information Development Project, Social Security Administration, 3-E-26 Operations Building, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21235-6401. As tedious as this may seem, it is vitally important. This is the most important policy matter addressed by Social Security in more than 30 years.