March Fee Payment Stats

Social Security has released statistics on payments of fees to attorneys and others entitled to direct payment for representing claimants in March 2006. Fee payments were up 30% in March over February 2006 and up 35% over March 2005. The following are the 2006 payment figures:

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-06	18,752	$64,848,326.02
Feb-06	20,426	$70,312.586.15
Mar-06	26,227	$91,045,934.83

Barnhart Touts Part D

Newszap.com reports that Jo Anne Barnhart, the Commissioner of Social Security, will be in her home state of Delaware today to encourage seniors to sign up for Part D of Medicare, the prescription drug benefit.

Senator Grassley Says SSA Paying $9.1 Billion To Ineligible Beneficiaries Annually

According to WAVE, Senator Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee which has jurisdiction over Social Security, has apparently issued a press release attacking Social Security's handling of the disability program. The press release saying that Social Security's Office of Inspector General has issued a report that estimates that the agency is paying out $9.1 billion annually to ineligible beneficiaries. The report is not listed on the OIG website.

Rep Payee Fraud in Raleigh

The Raleigh News and Observer reports on a disability advocate who became a representative payee for Social Security disability recipients. He stole at least $69,000 from claimants and may have stolen over $100,000.

First Group of Board Certified Specialists in Social Security Disability Advocacy

According to a handout available at the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) meeting in Boston, the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) has certified the first group of specialists in Social Security Disability Advocacy. NBTA certifications of specialization are accepted in some, but not all states.

Here is the list of those who have recently been certified by NBTA as Social Security Disability Advocacy specialists:

• William T. Coplin, Jr, Demopolis, Alabama
• Terry LaPorte, San Jose, California
• Donna M. Lefebvre, Knoxville, Tennessee
• David J. Linden, Napa, California
• Kenneth A. Miller, Knoxville, Tennessee

Do Employee Buy-Outs Make Sense?

Social Security and other federal agencies are now "buying-out" many of their long time employees, that is offering them incentives to retire. The effect is to reduce the average experience level of Social Security employees. SSA and other agencies have explained employee buy-outs by saying that the government can save money by replacing these older employees who have high salaries with younger employees who receive lower salaries. The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA) is questioning this logic. The notes of a recent meeting of the NCSSMA board contain this interesting statement:

Our research shows that the benefit costs for new employees are much higher for new employees under FERS [Federal Employees Retirement System, which covers all federal employees first hired beginning in 1987] than the CSRS [Civil Service Retirement System, which only covers federal employees who started their government careers before 1987] employees they are replacing. The difference is 15.4% if you include matching the 5% thrift contribution. The question was raised why we offer early outs if it costs the agency more to do so. Linda McMahon [SSA Deputy Commissioner for Operations] responded that she likes to give this opportunity to people who want to leave to do so. It also gives the agency the opportunity to bring in fresh perspectives and new energy with new hires.

Social Security CLE Live Webcast

Stetson University Law School's Social Security CLE on May 19 and 20 is now set for live webcast.

Status of EDIB

Martin Gerry, Deputy Commisioner for Disability and Income Security Programs at SSA, submitted a statement for the record for a hearing before the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the House Ways and Means Committee on the usage of technology to improve public benefits administration. Here is what he had to say about the status of the implementation of EDIB (and he did refer to it as EDIB, rather than AEDIB, removing the word "accelerated" from the name):

This year, I expect each of the DDSs and OHA to be using electronic disability folders on a regular basis, and I expect all 50 states to be fully IDA certified [fully able to function independently using EDIB] by the end of calendar year 2006. The President’s FY 2007 administrative budget of $9.496 billion for SSA would provide the resources to allow SSA to make the necessary technological investments in eDib to maintain service levels and continue to improve the way we do business in the disability process.

Inspector General Gives SSA Good Marks on "Independence Day"

"Independence Day" is what SSA is calling the day they certify a state agency as having made a full transition to the Electronic Folder (EF), used in EDIB. The process of assessing a state's readiness for Independence Day is being called the Independence Day Assessment (IDA). SSA's Inspector General has issued a report giving SSA on the IDA process.

SSA Donating Computers

The Social Security office in Madison, OH is donating 31 used computers and 6 laser printers to the local school district, according to the Mansfield News Journal. This can be taken as a sign of technological progress at SSA, since it was not long ago that any computer equipment that SSA was disposing of would have more properly belonged in a museum of computer history.