Federal Register Items

Social Security has adopted new rules that say that "any [representative] payee who previously satisfied the payee investigation criteria, including a face-to-face interview, and currently serves as a payee generally need not appear for another face-to-face interview when subsequently applying to become a payee unless we determine within our discretion, that a new faceto- face interview is necessary."

The proposed rules that I have discussed here and here that would take away the right of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to schedule his or her hearings and let the Social Security Administration do the scheduling are the the Federal Register today. This may sound technical, but it is a big deal.

Finally, Commissioner Astrue has scheduled a public hearing for November 18 in Fort Myer, VA on his Compassionate Allowance plan and it is clear that he is planning to hold the hearing himself. In and of itself, the public hearing, like the Compassionate Allowance plan itself, is trivial but scheduling this is an indication that Michael Astrue is not leaving his position as Commissioner in the immediate future.

An Allegory On The Plan For Higher ALJ Productivity

In case you missed it, take a look at what I am referring to.

Automation Updates

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, has posted a summary of a recent meeting their board had with officials from Social Security's Office of Automation Support (OAS). This gives a good deal of information about the current status of information technology updates at Social Security.

Byrd Stepping Down As Chair Of Senate Appropriations Committee

Senator Byrd is stepping down as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee to be replaced by Senator Inouye, according to Reuters. Senator Byrd's health has been declining.

Comments On Proposed Representation Regulations From Organizations

Here are links to comments filed on the proposed regulations on representation of claimants coming from important organizations:

• National Association of Disability Representatives (NADR)
• National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR)
• Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities -- Social Security Task Force

Today is the deadline for filing comments. You can post your comments online.

Proposed Rules On Scheduling Hearings Coming Out Monday

The Social Security Administration is having a set of proposed regulations entitled "Setting the Time and Place for a Hearing before an Administrative Law Judge" published in the Federal Register on Monday. Here is Social Security's summary:

We propose to amend our rules to clarify that the agency is responsible for setting the time and place for a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ). Consistent with our regulations at lower levels of the administrative process, we propose to use “we” or “us” in the rules setting the time and place for a hearing. These changes will ensure greater flexibility in scheduling hearings both in person and via video teleconferencing and will aid us in our effort to increase efficiency in the hearing process and reduce the number of pending hearings. The number of cases awaiting a hearing has reached historic proportions, and efforts toward greater efficiency are critical to addressing this problem.

The notice says "We expect that we will need to exercise this authority in only those situations where an ALJ is not scheduling the number of hearings that we consider sufficient." However, this limitation is not an enforceable promise. The apparent intent here is to centralize the scheduling of hearings, at least for some ALJs, giving those ALJs no control over their docket. Each ALJ involved will get their hearing schedule for a month and they will jolly well hear those cases or else. As the notice puts it "... through this proposed rule, we could ensure that those ALJs who do not process a sufficient number of cases have enough of them docketed for hearings to drive down and eliminate the backlog by 2013."

Incidentally, the proposal estimates huge costs for going ahead with this -- as claimants have their hearings quicker and get on benefits quicker.

In my opinion, the idea that this is the solution for Social Security's backlog problem is absurd. The problem is lack of personnel. ALJs are already hearing too many cases. The quality has already been badly affected. Trying to go ahead with this is just going to cause quality to decline even further and create a huge number of practical problems.

Restrictions On Sending Evidence To CE Doctors

When a Social Security Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) sends a claimant out for a medical examination at Social Security's expense, called a Consultative Examination (CE), typically the ALJ sends some part of the claimant's medical records along as background information. I have heard from a well placed source that ALJs across the country have recently been told informally that they are limited to a certain number of pages of medical records they can send to the CE physician. Some have been told that they are limited to ten or twenty pages. This is problematic since ten or twenty pages may not be nearly enough to give the CE physician enough background on the claimant.

Comments On Proposed Representation Regulations

Here are links to some of the longer comments filed on the proposed regulations on representation of claimants:

• Max Rae
• James Allsup (I'm not sure about his claim that Allsup is the largest non-attorney entity representing Social Security claimants. That title may belong to Binder and Binder.)
• Cynthia Berger
• Sheryl Mazur
• Mike McNulty, Chairman, House Social Security Subcommittee Very interesting!
• Disability Group, Inc.

Today is the deadline for filing comments. You can post your comments online.

Waiting In South Carolina

From WSPA in Greenville-Spartanburg, SC:

It’s a monstrous problem, one we hear about dozens of times each day here at News Channel 7. Viewers in our area filing for Social Security Disability insurance benefits and waiting years for answers. ...

“My life has changed dramatically since that one fateful day back in January of ‘06,” said Penny Knight.

That’s when Knight says she lost consciousness from a violent seizure.

“I know that my body is contorting and something is happening,” she said.

She says it’s all due a head injury she got during a car wreck more than 20 years ago. Knight says she used to stock shelves 6 days a week and was on her feet 10-12 hours each day. She says she can’t do that anymore because the of seizures and depression. In 2006, she applied for disability benefits with the Social Security Administration and was denied. She appealed and has been waiting two-and-a-half years for a hearing in front of a judge.

“It is a waiting game and a paper pushing game,” said Knight.

When 7 On Your Side got involved Knight got a hearing within weeks and a final answer a week later.

Amazing how quickly things happened for Ms. Knight after. a television reporter called Social Security just before an election. Now, if a few hundred thousand other people could just get the same treatment, things would be great!

Trouble Brewing In California

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced that all California state employees will be furloughed for one day each month for the next year and a half. Note that I said "all" California state employees. (See the attached letter. Click on each page to see it full sized.) This includes the California Disability Determination Services (DDS) unit that makes decisions at the initial and reconsideration levels for Social Security disability claims, even though the California DDS is funded by the Social Security Administration. This could make backlogs much worse in California. It is an enormous headache for Social Security.

California is not the only state with severe budget problems. My state, North Carolina, has a huge shortfall and a state constitution that requires a balanced budget. California may not be the only state to use generalized partial furloughs of state employees.