Annual Statistical Report On Disability Insurance Program

The Social Security Administration has released its Annual Statistical Report On The Social Security Disability Insurance Program 2008.

SSI Stats By County

Social Security has released the 2008 edition of its report on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients by state and county. The disparities between rich and poor counties in my state, North Carolina, are stunning. One of 18 residents of Robeson County, NC is on SSI. Only one of 87 residents of Wake County, NC is on SSI.

Social Security Bulletin Released

The May edition of the Social Security Bulletin, a publication of the Office of Research, Statistics & Policy Analysis at Social Security, has been released. As usual, it includes basic statistical information about Social Security as well as statistically oriented scholarly articles.

Backlog Growing

This is from the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) Forum. Click on the image to view it full size. Note that despite increasing productivity and considerable overtime there appears to be no sign of progress on reducing the backlogs. Depending upon how you look at it, the backlog may be growing.

Fee Payment Stats

The Social Security Administration has released updated statistics on payments of fees to attorneys and others for representing Social Security claimants:

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-09	28,423	$101,128,880.69
Feb-09	31,352	$112,791,207.17
Mar-09	29,199	$104,155,187.96

2008 Annual Statistical Supplement Released

Social Security has released its Annual Statistical Supplement for 2008. This contains every imaginable statistic on Social Security other than basic data on operations at the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, which for some perverse reason is never presented. Here is one table of interest:

Number of work years, fiscal years 1995–2007

Year	Full-time permanent staff	Total work years
1995	62,504	67,063
1996	62,133	66,726
1997	61,224	69,378
1998	59,943	67,210
1999	59,752	66,459
2000	60,434	65,521
2001	61,490	65,562
2002	61,914	65,742
2003	63,569	65,343
2004	63,186	66,154 c
2005	63,696	68,026 d
2006	61,692	66,878
2007	60,206	63,939

Simplifying SSI

It is nearly certain that change is coming for the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program administered by Social Security. Income and resource requirements have not been adjusted for inflation in decades. There is widespread agreement that things have to change. The change may go well beyond an inflation adjustment. I have been hearing for some time that the Social Security Administration wants simplification of SSI, but I have heard little about exactly what Social Security wants. The latest issue of the Social Security Bulletin is out. The Bulletin is mostly a tedious statistical journal, but this issue has an article about what may be at the top of Social Security's list of desired SSI changes, a change in the in kind support and maintenance rules. Here is an excerpt from the article:

... [S]implifying policy on food or shelter support to recipients from family and friends is especially compelling. Current policy on such in-kind support requires that recipients answer detailed questions about household composition, household expenses, and any contributions from the recipient and members of the household toward household expenses. This detailed household information is collected not only for initial applications, but also when there are changes in address, household composition, or household expenses. Moreover, although this information is collected for most recipients, much of it is unverifiable. ... [T]here is a consensus among policymakers and program administrators that current SSI policies on in-kind support and maintenance (ISM) are complex, intrusive, and sometimes inequitable. In addition, these policies create a disincentive for families and friends who might otherwise increase food or shelter support to recipients. Finally, year-after-year ISM is shown to be a major source of payment error ...

Over the years, policymakers have evaluated several alternatives to ISM ... Of these alternatives, benefit restructuring has emerged as an interesting option because it simply eliminates all ISM-related benefit reductions, assuring program simplification. The benefit restructuring options considered here incorporate a cost neutrality constraint; that is, the cost of increasing benefits to recipients with ISM is fully offset by other benefit reductions. ...

Under benefit restructuring, benefit reductions for ISM recipients would be eliminated and, to offset the program cost increases, a smaller benefit reduction would be implemented for the large number of adult recipients who live with other adults.

Status Of Appropriations -- Are You Wonk Enough To Try To Understand It?

Congress is tied up now with the President's vast and vastly important economic stimulus package, but this is slowing action on two other vital budget matters.

Almost all federal agencies are operating under a continuing funding resolution which allows them to spend money only at the same rate they were spending it in the last fiscal year, which ended September 30, 2008, more than four months ago. This CR (Continuing Resolution), as it is called, expires on March 6. Neither the White House, nor either of the Appropriations Committee chairmen, has released any plan for the omnibus (one big bill for everything, rather than several separate bills for various parts of the government) appropriations bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 -- although much work is going on behind the scenes. Congress Daily reports that there may be action next week on the FY 2009 omnibus, but that the March 6 deadline may not be met and a new CR may be needed. This is not good news for Social Security which will certainly be getting a good deal more money once the FY 2009 appropriation is passed.

The FY 2010 appropriations are also being held up. The new administration needs to get a budget ready to submit to Congress. This is always a challenge but it is especially a challenge with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) already working overtime on the economic stimulus and the FY 2009 budget. OMB is not promising a full budget proposal for FY 2010 until March, which makes it hard for Congress to finish its appropriations work in time to accomplish what everyone desires -- passage of appropriations bills before the beginning of FY 2010, October 1, 2009.

Complicating everything for Social Security is the fact that Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue is a Republican trying to work with a Democratic OMB and a Democratic Congress. Astrue's willingness to even ask for the sort of budget his agency needs is open to question. To what extent OMB and Congress will listen to what he has to say about his agency's appropriation is also open to question. Outside groups are lobbying on Social Security's appropriation and they are being heard, but there is no sign of any coordination between these groups and Commissioner Astrue.

What happens on these bills will have a dramatic effect upon the quality of service that the Social Security Administration offers the public and the working environment for Social Security employees. As wonkish and confusing as this may be, if you are reading this blog this is very important to you.

New Freedom Of Information Policy In Obama Administration

While Social Security has never been a terribly secretive agency (except when it comes to Social Security claimant records), it is my impression that, like the rest of the executive branch, it did become more secretive during the Bush Administration. This is likely to change in the Obama Administration. From the Associated Press:

In an attempt to deliver on pledges of a transparent government, Obama said he would change the way the federal government interprets the Freedom of Information Act. He said he was directing agencies that vet requests for information to err on the side of making information public — not to look for reasons to legally withhold it — an alteration to the traditional standard of evaluation.

Just because a government agency has the legal power to keep information private does not mean that it should, Obama said.

Major OMB Appointments

The Lost in Transition blog reports that Robert Gordon, pictured to the left, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, will be associate director for education, income maintenance and labor at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). "Income maintenance" sure sounds like Social Security and one can infer the same thing from looking at the OMB organizational chart. Here is some biographical information on Gordon. OMB Watch reports that Cass Sunstein, pictured to the right, a law professor at the University of Chicago, has been appointed director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Policy at OMB.

OMB is the most important actor in determining Social Security's appropriation and the gatekeeper for any regulations that the Social Security Commissioner wants to adopt. Without OMB approval, proposed and final regulations do not go in the Federal Register. For Social Security, Gordon is in charge of the budget and Sunstein is in change of the regulations. OMB mostly operates behind the scenes, but it is enormously powerful.

SSI Stats Released

Social Security's Office of Policy has released its monthly compilation of statistics concerning the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

There were 7,355,596 recipients of SSI in September 2007. This had risen to 7,509,397 in September 2008, an increase of 2.1% in a year. The number of recipients on account of age actually dropped over this time period, while the number of disability benefit recipients increased by 2.4%, undoubtedly due to the aging of the baby boomer generation.

SSI Stats Released

The Social Security Administration has released its monthly statistical package for the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

SSI Monthly Stats

Social Security's Office of Policy has issued its monthly statistical package for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The number of people on SSI has gone up by 139,062 or 2% in the last year. All of this increase is in disability recipients. The number of people drawing SSI on account of age decreased slightly over the last year.

I Had Wondered About This

You knew about disability claims for children under Title XVI of the Social Security Act, but did you realize there can be disability claims for children under Title II of the Social Security Act? They do and curiously enough, Social Security applies adult standards to these child disability claims. Seems odd to me. Here is some information from a recent addition to Social Security's Program Operations Manual Series (POMS):

Effective 9/1/81, P.L. 97-35 discontinued spouse's, mother's, and father's benefits when the youngest child-in-care attains age 16, unless the child is disabled. Although the spouse’s, mother’s, or father’s benefits may cease, the child's benefits continue to age 18 regardless of whether he or she is disabled. A disability determination for the alleged DMC [DisabledMinor Child] is needed only to entitle the mother or father to continue to receive benefits. ...

To determine if a child is disabled for the child-in-care provisions use the sequential evaluation process applicable to Title II Adult and CDB claims. See “Sequential Evaluation” (DI 22001.000).

At step 3 of the disability evaluation process (Does impairment(s) meet or equal a listing?), consider Part “B” of the listings first. If the child’s alleged impairment(s) does not meet or equal a Part “B” listing, consider the Part “A” listings.

NOTE: The “functional equivalence” policy applicable to Title XVI child cases (see DI 25225.001) does not apply to DMC, or any other Title II cases.

It is not clear to me from this whether the adult listings apply or the child listings. It would be weird to refuse to apply the child listings, but everything else about this policy is weird.

SSI Monthly Stats

Social Security's Office of Policy has released its monthly statistical package for the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

2007 Technical Panel Report

This is definitely the "wonk zone."

The Social Security Advisory Board has finally released a report that it received last year from a technical panel it assembled to review the Social Security Administration's actuarial projections.

The report's "executive summary" needs an executive summary of its own, but as anyone familiar with Social Security's highly regarded actuarial operations would expect, there is no real criticism in the report.

Stats By Congressional District

The Social Security Administration has released a set of statistics by Congressional District.

Social Security Bulletin Released

The Social Security Administration has released the most recent issue of the Social Security Bulletin, a scholarly journal mostly devoted to statistical research papers.

SSI Monthly Stats

The Social Security Administration has released its monthly package of statistics from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

SSI County Data Released

Social Security's Office of Policy Data (is that a new name?) has issued a report entitled SSI Recipients by State and County, 2007. Useful for those objecting to a field office closure. Useful to an attorney who wonders where potential clients might live.