Sounds A Bit Orwellian

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report with the title Demand for the Social Security Administration’s Electronic Data Exchanges Is Growing and Presents Future Challenges. Here is an excerpt:

Through more than 3,000 data exchanges with federal and state agencies, SSA both receives incoming data to support its own programs and provides outgoing data to support programs of other federal and state agencies. Most of these exchanges involve collecting incoming electronic data from other agencies, primarily to support the administration of Social Security benefits programs. The outgoing data from SSA to other federal and state agencies typically provide Social Security number verifications or are used to implement payment offsets in support of other agencies’ business operations. In this regard, the agency performs more than a billion transactions to verify Social Security numbers for federal and state agencies each year. To carry out these data exchanges, SSA relies on a network of electronic information systems and an infrastructure that communicates with a variety of external systems used by the agency’s partners.

SSA faces three primary challenges to supporting its existing and future data exchanges:

• meeting increasing demand for its data exchange services;
• ensuring privacy and security of data provided to its data exchange partners; and
• establishing effective practices for implementing and managing data exchanges.

Recognizing these challenges, the agency has undertaken an initiative to better manage its data exchange environment and address current and future challenges and limitations. If effectively implemented, the initiative could address the challenges GAO has described. Members of the initiative have drafted a report that includes recommendations for improving the management of its data exchanges. However, SSA has not established milestones for completing the report and acting on its recommendations. Thus, it cannot be assured that the recommendations will be addressed and implemented in a timely manner. In addition, the agency developed a summary inventory of its data exchanges to further support this initiative. However, while the inventory lists data exchanges and partners, among other things, it does not include comprehensive information on the agency’s data exchange systems, because, according to SSA officials, its purpose was only to provide summary data. Nonetheless, an inventory that provides comprehensive information on the data exchanges, such as the supporting information systems and the status of privacy and security compliance requirements, is an important tool that could help the agency make credible and timely decisions to ensure effective management of its growing data exchange environment.

A Parting Shot

With Barack Obama's inauguration coming up in just a few days, the Bush Administration Treasury Department has just issued its sixth and final issue brief on Social Security "reform." Is anyone other than Andrew Biggs and me paying attention?

Forever is a long time, but I will say it nevertheless. Except as a gleam in the eye of the right wing, privatization is dead forever, but then I am not sure it was ever truly alive.

By the way, if you wonder what would have happened had George Bush gotten his way and Social Security had been partially privatized, take a look at what happened in Italy.

Democrats Announce House Appropriations Subcommittee Members

The Democrats have announced the following members for the 111th Congress for the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, which includes the Social Security Administration:

• Chair: Dave Obey, Wisconsin
• Nita M. Lowey, New York
• Rosa L. DeLauro, Connecticut
• Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., Illinois
• Patrick J. Kennedy, Rhode Island
• Lucille Roybal-Allard, California
• Barbara Lee, California
• Michael Honda, California
• Betty McCollum, Minnesota
• Tim Ryan, Ohio
• James P. Moran, Virginia

I can find nothing indicating that the Republicans have decided on their members for the Committee, much less the Subcommittees.

Social Security Problems Detailed

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, has posted a white paper that it has prepared for the Obama transition. It provides sobering details of Social Security's problems. Here are a few highlights:

• [I]n FY [Fiscal Year] 2007, 45% of the approximately 54 million callers who tried to reach a [Social Security] Field Office by telephone said that they had received a busy signal or a recording that all lines were busy. Because many of these callers may have called more than once and on multiple days, the actual busy rate is likely much higher than the 45% indicated by the study.
• Waiting times in Field Offices are increasing with many customers having to wait hours before they receive service.
• SSA [Social Security Administration] projects a backlog of workloads that occur after individuals become entitled to benefits (post-entitlement work) of 2,000 to 3,000 work years in FY 2009 if the agency receives the level of funding proposed by the President. Based on current budget projections, the agency also anticipates the work year backlog to increase by 2,000 to 3,000 work years in FY 2010.
• In the first nine weeks of FY 2009, the state DDSs [Disability Determination Services] have received over 5 percent more new disability claims and 13 percent more requests for reconsiderations than the same time last year.
• SSA also has a backlog of about 1.7 million unworked medical Continuing Disability Reviews and has drastically reduced the number of SSI Redeterminations conducted because of budget shortfalls. Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs) save $11.70 in program costs for every $1 spent in administrative dollars. The unworked backlog is costing taxpayers over $10 billion dollars.
• SSI eligibility redeterminations save $10 for every $1 spent in administrative dollars above SSA’s base level. In FY 2008, 1.2 million SSI redeterminations were performed. This is 1 million fewer annual SSI redeterminations than earlier this decade. This is also a contributing factor in the increase of the SSI overpayment error rate from 6.4 percent to 9.1 percent from FY 2005 to FY 2007. The overpayment error rate is currently at its highest rate in over 30 years. There is a direct correlation between the increasing error rate and the decline in the number of SSI redeterminations completed. In FY 2007 the projected overpayments were $3.9 billion. Thus the unworked SSI redeterminations are also costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

• SSA currently manages over one petabyte of data (one million gigabytes).... The agency’s National Computer Center (NCC) is almost 30 years old and its design is no longer optimal to support the critical systems necessary to SSA’s mission. Its mechanical and electrical systems are nearing the end of their useful lives. Other components of the current NCC such as the cabling and fire suppression capabilities are disintegrating. A fire within the NCC would be devastating. Moreover, the NCC’s capacity to keep up with increasing volumes of work, new and expanded responsibilities, and new ways of doing business is severely limited. The storage capacity needs of the NCC will nearly quadruple by FY 2014. Much of this is due to the anticipated increase in the number of Internet transactions between the American public and SSA. Performing any type of maintenance or repairs on the current NCC is very difficult as SSA must keep its systems running 24/7. For the reasons stated above, it is imperative that work begin quickly, as the project will take several years to complete. If the NCC is not replaced, SSA’s ability to fulfill its responsibilities to the American public could be severely compromised, leading to catastrophic service disruptions. The total cost of replacing the NCC, which includes the facility and IT equipment costs, is approximately $750 million.

Have you ever seen the word "petabyte" before? This is the first time for me. That is an almost inconceivable amount of data.

More On Tanner

Some more information on Representative John Tanner, the new Chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee from Wikipedia:

It is reported that Tanner could have been appointed to the United States Senate by governor of Tennessee Ned McWherter in 1992 to replace Al Gore but he declined the offer, and Harlan Mathews was appointed as a caretaker instead. Tanner became nationally known briefly when it was alleged that President Clinton was on the telephone with him in 1995 during one of Clinton's sexual encounters with Monica Lewinsky. Tanner was a founder of the Blue Dog Democrats and has denied rumors that he might switch parties, and has an earned reputation as a moderate.

Tanner is strongly in favor of balancing the budget and paying down the national debt, and has been a strong opponent of the fiscal policies of President George W. Bush, voting against virtually all tax cuts passed since his taking office. Tanner was one of the few Democrats in the House to vote in favor of CAFTA and has long distanced himself from the majority of his party on issues such as bankruptcy law and lawsuit reform. He voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment, the ban on "partial-birth" abortions, limiting death penalty appeals, and has voted against most gun control measures. On other issues he is more liberal: he often votes with his party on separation of church and states issues, and has consistently voted against the Flag Desecration Amendment. Tanner voted with the majority of his party to expand stem cell research and against renewing the controversial portions of the Patriot Act. He also supports affirmative action and public education. Tanner was firmly opposed to Bush's attempt to reform Social Security. ...

In 2004, Congressman Tanner made a brief but unintended cameo appearance alongside Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11, where Moore was trying to get Congressmen to have their children enlist in the Military to go to Iraq. ...

After both his district and state chose the former first lady,^[1] Congressman Tanner endorsed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign in April 2008.^[2]

Social Security Subcommittee Assignments

The House Ways and Means Committee has released its Subcommittee assignments for the 111th Congress and already one of my wild ass guesses (or maybe hopes) is proven false. I had hoped for a different chairman. Here is the list for the Social Security Subcommittee:

• John S. Tanner, TN-Chairman
• Earl Pomeroy, ND
• Allyson Y. Schwartz, PA
• Xavier Becerra, CA,
• Lloyd Doggett, TX
• Ron Kind, WI
• Joseph Crowley, NY
• Linda Sanchez, CA
• John Yarmuth, KY

Update: I should have made it clear that these are the Democratic members. The Republicans have yet to designate their members for the Subcommittees.

Tanner is the co-founder of the Blue Dog group of conservative Democrats. He has repeatedly called for Social Security "reform" and very much wants a commission on Social Security's future. He has called for more funding for the Social Security Administration to help it deal with its backlogs, but remember that while Ways and Means is powerful, it does not control Social Security's appropriations.

Interim Benefits Cut In Colorado

The Coloradoan newspaper of Fort Collins is reporting that the interim benefits that Colorado provides to the disabled who are waiting and waiting for Social Security to adjudicate their disability claims has been cut from $230 to $200 a month.

What Does This Mean?

From today's New York Times:

President-elect Barack Obama said Wednesday that overhauling Social Security and Medicare would be “a central part” of his administration’s efforts to contain federal spending, signaling for the first time that he would wade into the thorny politics of entitlement programs. ...

Speaking at a news conference in Washington, he provided no details of his approach to rein in Social Security and Medicare, which are projected to consume a growing share of government spending as the baby boom generation ages into retirement over the next two decades. But he said he would have more to say about the issue when he unveiled a budget next month.

January 9 Deadline For Comments On Scheduling Regulation Proposal

The final day to post comments on the proposed regulations that would allow the Social Security Administration to remove any control that an individual Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has on scheduling hearings is January 9, 2009. If you have something to say on this topic, say it now. Comments may be filed online.

Here are the comments that I filed:

I have been representing Social Security claimants for almost thirty years. I think this is a bad proposal for six reasons.

First, this is distraction from the real problem causing the hearing backlogs -- lack of staff. This proposal does not have the capacity to significantly reduce these backlogs, but may cause Congress to delay giving Social Security the funding it needs to hire the employees who can actually reduce the backlog.

Second, my opinion is that many ALJs are already holding more hearings than they should. I have noticed a significant decline in the quality of the process as ALJs struggle to do something about the backlogs. Forcing ALJs to hold even more hearings is a bad idea. It will just make the process even more deficient than it is now. I get the feeling that high officials at Social Security wish to hold down the number of ALJs and then work backward from some predetermined number of ALJs to decide how many hearings an ALJ should hold. We need to decide how many hearings an ALJ should be expected to hold and then base the number of ALJs upon that. My opinion is that ALJs should be asked to issue 400-500 decisions per year, not 500-700. My opinion is based upon long experience. Where does the 500-700 figure come from other than a desire to hold down the number of ALJs?

Third, I think this proposal places the sole responsibility on ALJs for the number of hearings they hold now. This is just not true. Many ALJs would hold more hearings if their staffs could get more cases ready for hearings.

Fourth, this proposal concentrates upon a small number of ALJs who seem to have low productivity, without noticing that many of these low producing ALJs are in supervisory positions or were out of work due to illness or retirement during a large portion of the reporting period. Many of the rest have health issues, including psychiatric problems that limit their effectiveness. ALJs are human. Inevitably, some of them have psychiatric problems. There is no way of eliminating these psychiatric problems and Social Security has no ready means of quickly firing ALJs who struggle with psychiatric problems.

Fifth, if this is adopted, I expect significant practical problems as Social Security tries to schedule hearings on a national basis when there are so many local variables. There are the schedules not just of the ALJ, hearing reporter, vocational expert, medical expert and attorney, but often scheduling issues at the hearing site, including arranging security guards. I think it is a pipe dream to think that some computer program is going to take account of all of this. Social Security has quite a history of believing that new computer software will perform miracles and then being disappointed when the computer software is put to the test. Do not believe everything that the salespeople say.

Sixth, ALJs who do not feel ready to hold a hearing scheduled for them can easily defeat this proposed system by continuing the case at the last minute. I expect that this will happen regularly with some ALJs. Last minute continuances actually waste resources.

Oversight Committee Report -- Social Security Wasting Most Money Of Any Federal Agency

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has issued a report with the title Inspectors General: Implementing Thousands Of Open Recommendations Could Save Taxpayers Almost $26 Billion. Guess which agency had the biggest share of that $26 billion. This agency could save the taxpayers $8.63 billion annually according to the report, even more than the $7.70 billion at Department of Health and Human Services and far more than the paltry $1.51 billion at the Department of Defense. You guessed it -- the Social Security Administration.

How could there be that much money to be saved at Social Security? Here is a quote from the report about one area where Social Security could save money, "In April 2006, the Social Security Administration IG estimated that the agency could save more than $2 billion annually by ceasing payments to people who no longer meet the eligibility criteria for disability benefits due to medical improvement or employment status." There is a simple explanation why Social Security has not implemented this recommendation -- they lack enough personnel to implement it. It would probably take thousands of additional personnel to fully implement this. It might cost a few hundred million dollars a year to do it. That has been completely out of the question, so far out of the question that Social Security's Commissioner, Michael Astrue, has been unable to bring himself to even ask Congress for the funding. The explanation is probably the same for most of the other unimplemented Inspector General recommendations at Social Security. Spending money to save money is an unfathomable paradox for some.

Update: This report is starting to draw attention from the media and Social Security gets mentioned prominently.