Expect A House Social Security Subcommittee Hearing On This Next Year

From the Boston Globe:

Her toddler was adorable and rambunctious, but his vocabulary was limited to “Mommy’’ and “that,’’ while other children his age knew dozens of words. When little Alfonso tried a full sentence it came out in a swirl of sounds, often followed by a major league tantrum when he realized he was not understood. And so his mother, Roxanne Roman, was not surprised when the 18-month-old was diagnosed by a specialist with speech delay.

It came as a shock, however, when she learned from relatives that Alfonso’s problem might qualify him for thousands of dollars in yearly disability payments through the federal Supplemental Security Income program. ...

Within three months, the boy’s application was approved. Alfonso receives $700 in monthly cash benefits, plus free government-paid medical coverage. Roman said her relatives told her she can pretty much count on the disability checks for Alfonso, now 5, to keep arriving in the mailbox for the rest of his childhood.

“They don’t ask many questions about the child once you’re approved,’’ Roman said. ...

Driving much of that growth is the twelvefold spike since 1997 of children approved based on a primary diagnosis of delayed speech, a sometimes persistent but more often short-lived affliction that starts in toddlerhood. ...

Government data show that Social Security officials have, over the past decade, fallen far short when it comes to conducting the regular case reviews required by statute. A typical SSI disability case is supposed to get a full medical review every three years, but from 2000 to 2008 the agency examined, on average, only 10 percent of the children on SSI. ...

Many early childhood specialists were stunned to learn that speech delay had become such a popular gateway for children’s SSI benefits and suggested that that may be because it is the easiest-to-measure impairment among preschoolers. ...

At a Social Security Administration waiting room in Lawrence one day this summer, the mother of a 9-year-old girl said her daughter was approved quickly for SSI payments as a toddler with speech delay and has never had a full review of her disability status. ...

When asked if she thinks her daughter is still severely disabled with her speech, Tina replied hesitantly, “No.’’ ...

“I know she’s not severely disabled anymore,’’ the mother said. “It’s an interesting thing, really, that she does still qualify. She gets better and better.’’ ...

Officials said they recognize that the lack of disability reviews is a major problem, one they tie to a shortage of staff and funds....

he Western Massachusetts city of Holyoke, one of the poorest in the state, provides an extraordinary window into how the SSI disability program works for some of the youngest children, for better and for worse.

Here, 1 of every 5 children living in poverty receives SSI disability benefits. And of the 939 children who qualified last year, 699, or 74 percent, were approved for behavioral, learning, or developmental delays, data show — the highest percentage among all ZIP codes in Massachusetts. One of three of those on SSI was approved after a diagnosis of speech delay, according to federal data obtained by the Globe through a public records request. ...

Expect the House Social Security Subcommittee to hold a hearing on this next year. Expect pressure on Social Security to approve fewer of these kids and to review more of their cases once they go on benefits. Expect Social Security to cut back on service in other ways in order to free up the money for these reviews and for the appeals from denials.