Some Social Security Home Cooking Planned For Eric Conn's Former Clients

     I posted yesterday about the special rules that Social Security has cooked up to try to prevent Eric Conn's former clients from ever seeing the evidence of "fraud or similar fault" that is supposed to justify requiring them to prove all over again that they're disabled. Of course, these special rules also block any hearing on that issue. Let's look now at the special rules that the agency has adopted to make these readjudications easier for the agency. Below are some excerpts from section I-1-3-25 of Social Security's hearing and appeals manual, HALLEX, on Processing Multiple Cases When Fraud or Similar Fault Involved (“Redeterminations”). These were adopted last summer, obviously for Conn's former clients. My bolded and italicized comments are interpolated:

• When redetermining a claim(s), an adjudicator will be directed to consider the claim(s) only through the date of the final and binding determination or decision on the beneficiary's application for benefits (i.e., the original allowance date). But what if the claimant wasn't disabled at the time of the prior decision but has become disabled since then. How does this issue get adjudicated? The statute provides that a Social Security claim stays in effect until a final decision on the claim. 42 U.S.C. §402(j)(2). How can one say that there was a final decision on these cases if the agency is vacating the prior decisions? Shouldn't these cases be treated like remands where everything is up for grabs? Back benefits on a claim for Disability Insurance Benefits can only go back up to one year prior to the date of the claim. Supplemental Security Income benefits can only go back to the beginning of the month after the month in which the claim is filed. Note that in these cases we would be talking about reduction of an overpayment rather than actual benefits to be paid but that's still important to these claimants since the overpayments may be collected out of their future benefits. A new claim filed now can't make a claimant whole yet these claimants couldn't have filed new claims while they were drawing benefits. Unless Social Security comes up with some new process these claimants can't file new claims while these adjudications are proceeding.
• During redeterminations based on fraud or similar fault, SSA will not generally develop evidence beyond the original allowance date. However, an adjudicator may consider evidence submitted by the beneficiary that post-dates the original allowance date if that evidence relates to the period at issue in the redetermination. For example, if a beneficiary submits evidence of an IQ test dated after her original allowance, and that evidence, with the remaining evidence of record, supports her claim that she met Listing 12.05C as of the date of her original allowance, SSA will consider that evidence during a redetermination. How convenient for you! There's a period of years with no medical evidence in the record but you absolve yourself from any obligation to obtain this evidence. Remember, many, perhaps most, of these claimants will be unrepresented.
• If the beneficiary submits evidence of a new impairment unrelated to those alleged in the application being redetermined, and the onset date is after the original allowance date, the adjudicator will usually not consider or develop the evidence of the new impairment during the redetermination, unless objective evidence shows a new critical or disabling condition. In that instance, the ODAR adjudicator will consult with ODAR management to determine the appropriate course of action.  I-1-3-25. What's a "new critical or disabling condition"? Why does the condition have to be new? What's the statutory justification for this? How can you tell what's new and what isn't? If the evidence at the time the claimant was originally found disabled showed that he or she was a diabetic and the evidence now shows that the claimant has lost a leg due to that diabetes, is that a new condition? You've already said that you're not going to adjudicate disability after the date of the original approval. Now you say you might but that "ODAR management" will tell ALJs whether they can. What's the process here? How does the claimant ask for this? Who in ODAR management makes this decision? When do they make it? Can the decision be appealed? It sounds like this section of HALLEX was drafted by a committee and that there was disagreement on this whole issue. This was probably a compromise solution but it just doesn't make sense. These claimants and their attorneys, to the extent they have attorneys, would like to know the rules going into this process. Is that unreasonable?

     If the issue is only whether the claimant was disabled at the time of the prior decision approving the claim let's use round numbers and say that 50% of the claimants will be approved. However, if the issue is whether the claimant was disabled at that time or any subsequent time, I'd guess that 75% or more will be approved with some onset date found. Most Social Security disability claimants keep getting sicker as time goes on. This is a big deal. Sure, maybe they would be approved on a new claim but that may take three years and they won't be able to mitigate their overpayment as much as they should.