More Comments On Proposed Procedural Regulations

Again, this is my idiosyncratic choice from the 551 comments posted so far on the proposed regulations online. The comment period has closed, but the Social Security Administration may still be processing faxes and snail mail.

National Association Of Disability Representatives (NADR)
David Traver
Rudolph Patterson
Paul Eaglin
Lyle Lieberman

Fraud Allegation In South Dakota

From the Rapid City Journal:

A Rapid City couple accused of collecting more than $120,000 in illegal Social Security payments now face federal charges.

Lonnie G. Holloman, 54, and Margaret R. Holloman, 52, pleaded not guilty in U.S. Magistrate Court to charges of conspiracy, Social Security fraud, false statement and theft of government funds.

According to federal court documents, the Hollomans are accused of fraudulently collecting $123,333 in Social Security Disability Income payments between November 1998 and July 2006.

Prosecutors say the couple reported to the Social Security Administration that Lonnie Holloman was unable to work because of a back injury in 1991. However, they say Holloman worked 40 hours per week between 1998 and 2001 for Doug Faul Trucking Company as a dispatcher and long-haul truck driver.

Way And Means Committee Opposition To Proposed Procedural Regulations

The letter signed by Charles Rangel, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and many other committee chairmen concerning Social Security's proposed changes in its procedural regulations, designed to cut benefits payments by $2 billion, has been out for some time. The depth of Ways and Means Committee opposition to this proposal is becoming clearer. Take a look at the web page created by the Ways and Means Committee devoted just to this issue. I have not seen anything like this before.

The Ways and Means web page on this regulatory proposal contains a link to a New York Times article from 1988 about a proposal at that time that parallels the current proposal. That proposal would have required that all evidence be submitted seven days before a Social Security hearing. It just goes to show that there are no truly new ideas about Social Security. We just endlessly recycle old ideas.

One minor point from the old New York Times article is that it mentioned that Eileen Bradley was under consideration in 1988 to become Commissioner of Social Security during the George H. W. Bush Administration. I am getting a cold shiver just thinking about that twenty year old idea! Is Ms. Bradley still working for the Social Security Administration?

Ohio DDS Endorses End To Disability Waiting Period For Terminally Ill

From the Associated Press:

A state agency that handles Social Security disability claims has asked Ohio’s congressional delegation to back a proposal that would allow terminally ill patients to receive payments quickly.

The seven-member Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission [a state Disability Determination Service or DDS] , which handled 169,392 disability claims in Ohio last year, endorsed the bill proposed by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and called for his Ohio colleagues on Capitol Hill to support the measure, which would waive a five-month waiting period for such patients. ...

The five-month wait reflects a standard back-to-work benchmark and is meant to avoid paying benefits to those who don’t have a long-term disability, U.S. Social Security Administration spokeswoman Carmen Moreno said Friday.

Carmen Moreno knows so little that she should not be a spokesperson for the Social Security Administration. "A standard back-to-work benchmark?" Give me a break. Nobody in the world other than the U.S. Social Security Administration has a five month waiting period for disability benefits. The statute already requires that disability must last at least a year. That excludes shorter term disabilities. The only reason for the five month waiting period is to save money.

Debit Cards Coming To Social Security

From Reuters:

The Treasury Department is set to offer a prepaid debit card for Social Security recipients and has chosen Dallas-based Coamerica Bank as the card issuer, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The report said the card is targeted at Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients who don't have bank accounts, and is also aimed at providing cheaper and more secure payments by shifting away from paper checks.

Iowa Field Office To Close?

From the Storm Lake, IA Pilot Tribune:

There is a "possibility" that the Storm Lake Social Security office could be closing in the not-too-distant future.

No decisions have been announced, but several of the employees in the office will reach potential retirement status in 2008, and the Storm Lake office is currently considered one of the four smallest offices in the state. ...

According to a regional official of the Social Security Administration out of Kansas City, no formal proposal has been made to close the office at this time. The process, if the office were to close, would include notification of employees and Congressional representatives as well as the community. "We would not try to hide anything," he said.

More From Eric Schnaufer

I had given a link to comments that attorney Eric Schnaufer had posted on Social Security's proposed procedural regulations. I had noticed that there were several other comments posted by Mr. Schnaufer, but I did not read them. I thought he was just having technical problems and had posted the same thing repeatedly. I was wrong. He had divided his comments into several sections and had posted each separately. Here is the list of links to his truly exhaustive comments:

• Rebuttal evidence and procedural due process
• Contents of appeal, Review Board issue exhaustion
• Period adjudicated on remand and consolidated hearings
• Scope of review, administrative issue preclusion, CDRs, subsequent applications
• Harmless error
  

A Tidbit That Tells You About Social Security Field Office Problems

My firm sent a reconsideration request to the Rocky Mount, NC District Office on July 31, 2007 in a case I will call "Victoria E." Ms. E's reconsideration request was not logged in at the District Office until November 28, 2007, almost four months after it reached the office. The case file has still not reached North Carolina Disability Determination Services. Ms. E's appeal is not being considered because it cannot reach the people who must work on it.

Is Ms. E's case typical? No. Most cases are not delayed this badly, but there are too many that are. Is this the fault of lazy, incompetent bureaucrats? No. They are just overwhelmed with work.

As far as I know, no one is even keeping track of this sort of backlog. This sort of backlog must be nearly invisible to Social Security employees who do not work in Field Offices. Is Michael Astrue aware, even vaguely, of this reality? I cannot say. We will get some idea of whether Astrue understands the severity of his agency's staffing problems when we see his budget request for the Social Security Administration for fiscal year 2009. I believe that will be available in late January.

"They Evidently Don't Want To Find A Solution To This"

From the Omaha World-Herald:

Nebraska and Iowa residents are waiting longer and longer for a review of their denied Social Security disability claims. ...

The wait takes a toll on people like Dwayne Webb, 46, who lives near Pacific Junction, Iowa.

Webb hopes to receive a hearing in February or March on his claim for Social Security disability benefits. That would be about two years after he asked for a judge to review his denial of benefits.

It has been almost a year since Webb and his wife gave up the house they were renting in Glenwood, Iowa, because they could no longer afford the utility bills. The couple now live in a camper at a campground off Interstate 29. ...

Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said he was assured by Social Security officials a year ago that they had plans for combating the backlog in the Omaha office. Instead, the situation has only gotten worse.

"It's embarrassing for Social Security," Terry said. "They evidently don't want to find a solution to this."

Newspaper Finds Backlog Decreases By 0.39% In Columbus, OH In Last Year -- And SSA Responds

From the Columbus Dispatch:

The Social Security Administration says it is making progress toward easing a crushing backlog of disability claims.

But disability attorneys in Columbus, with one of the worst backlogs in the country, say long waits still are the rule. Major improvements have been slow in coming since complaints were aired [in the Columbus Dispatch].

"If there's any improvement at all, it is very, very minimal," said Eileen Goodin, a Social Security disability attorney in Columbus who says her clients are waiting an average of 25 to 28 months for a hearing.

As of Oct. 30, 10,532 cases were pending in the Columbus office, said a spokeswoman for the agency in Washington, D.C. That's 41 fewer than exactly one year earlier.

And Social Security's response to this? Apparently, the agency put out a press release in Ohio touting "Quick Disability Determinations." It is a shame that Quick Disability Determinations is nothing more than a new name for something that has been around for decades, but that word "quick" sure impresses the uninitiated.