COBRA Assistance For The Disabled?

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) includes assistance for individuals who elect to continue their health care insurance under COBRA after "involuntary termination" from employment. Section 3001, page 396. The unemployed individual need only pay 35% of the health care insurance premium. This applies only to individuals who become unemployed between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009.

Query: Does the term "involuntary termination" include people who cease work due to illness?

I am unable to find anything on the Department of Labor website that answers the question.

Before you say that "involuntary termination" cannot possible cover the situation of an individual who has to stop work due to illness, consider that unemployment benefits are denied to those who voluntarily leave employment without good cause attributable to their employer, but in many states, perhaps most, leaving employment due to illness is considered an involuntary leaving which does not disqualify one from receiving unemployment insurance benefits. (If that were not so, why would we keep having cases with the issue of whether receiving unemployment insurance benefits should disqualify one from receiving Social Security disability benefits?) Remember that the Department of Labor will probably be the agency most involved in interpreting the COBRA part of the ARRA. Unemployment insurance is partially federal and the Department of Labor administers the federal part. This "involuntary termination" language comes closer to the unemployment insurance laws than anything else I can think of. A New York Times article mentions issues concerned with the interpretation of "involuntary termination" although not this one.

The Act provides for expedited review by the Department of Labor or the Department of Health and Human Services for anyone appealing from a denial of coverage -- and they do mean expedited -- since the review is supposed to be completed within 15 business days.

Free PACER?

From Wired:

The head of a powerful Senate committee wants the federal courts to explain why its online database still charges 8 cents a page for court documents, and why many of those documents still contain Social Security numbers and other sensitive information. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut), who helms the Senate's government affairs committee, is annoyed ...

He's asking Judge Lee H. Rosenthal to explain why in the age of Google the Public Access to Court Electronic Records, or PACER, system isn't free for citizens. He'd also like to know why federal courts still aren't blacking out sensitive information in court documents as required in the 2002 E-Government Act (a piece of legislation dear to Lieberman).

ABLE Account Legislation

From the Disability Policy Collaboration:

The bipartisan Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2009 (ABLE Act), H.R.1205/S. 493, was introduced in both the House and Senate on February 26. The bills would allow individuals and families to establish special accounts for meeting the future needs of children and adults with disabilities. Funds in the accounts and expenditures which meet the requirements of the bills would not affect the individuals' eligibility for federal benefits. Using these accounts, parents would be able to save funds for a child's future in a manner similar to the special "529 accounts" currently used to save for a child's future educational expenses. The House bill was introduced by Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-FL) along with Representatives Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), and Kendrick Meek (D-FL). The Senate bill was introduced by Senator Robert Casey, Jr. (D-PA) along with Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Richard Burr (R-NC), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Edward Kennedy (D-MA). The bills were referred to the House Ways and Means and the Energy and Commerce Committees and to the Senate Finance Committee....

This sounds like an excellent idea. Your heart goes out to parents who want to provide resources to sustain their disabled children. They need and deserve something better than current law.

"They Need To Get More Employees Or Something"

The photograph is of a line outside the Social Security field office in Jersey City, NJ. The office did not open yesterday due to the weather. Here is a little of what the Jersey Journal wrote about the office closure:

When Asin Bashir, 25, called the toll-free information number engraved on the entrance door, he was transferred to an office in New Mexico. An employee at that office told him that to his knowledge, the Jersey City office was supposed to be open, Bashir said.

When a reporter called the same number several times, a recording played, announcing a 10-minute wait for service. Calls to the regional SSA press office in New York went unanswered.

Richard Turner, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Albio Sires, said his office inquired about the closure, but couldn't get an answer. ...

Bashir, who came to replace an ID card he lost a few months ago, complained that even when the office is open, service is lousy.

"People can wait three to four hours to get a transaction done," he said. "They need to get more employees or something."

Update: The Jersey City office was not the only Social Security office in the area to be closed and locals are still upset, according to the Jersey Journal.

Further update: The area director has publicly apologized, saying that all Social Security offices in the state were closed. It looks like the area director made sure that employees knew the office was closed, but may have made no effort to notify the public.

Astrue On Solvency

From the Associated Press:

Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue is hopeful the Obama Administration will address the solvency of the system before the 2012 elections. But in a speech on Monday in St. Louis, Astrue declined to speculate on exactly how the administration plans to fix it. ...

Speaking to business leaders on the campus of Washington University, Astrue said the new administration is dealing with the economy and health care before turning its attention to Social Security.

"I do think the appetite with getting on with Social Security reform after that is very high and they will focus on trying to get something done before the next presidential election," Astrue said. ...

As for how specifically the administration will address Social Security's shortfall, Astrue said he isn't sure.

"This administration is still too new for it to really be clear to me which way they're going to go," he said.

If You Can't Get Through To Someone At Social Security Central Offices

There is a reason you cannot get through to many people at Social Security central offices today. They are having a snowstorm in the area. Hearty folks from more snow prone areas can leave their comments.

Update: The Office of Personnel Management says Washington area federal offices are opening two hours late. Does that include Social Security central offices?

Budget For Reducing Improper Payments May Go To $4.5 Billion

From the Federal Times:

The budget would set a base level for funding to be spent on reducing improper payments at each of those programs [including Social Security], and then give Congress the option to increase that funding up to a predetermined ceiling. Many budgets dedicated to reducing improper payments could more than double over the next few years as a result.

At the Social Security Administration, for example, the base funding level for reviews to ensure benefits are correctly distributed is set at $273 million. The ceiling for 2010 would allow Congress to add another $485 million above that level — effectively tripling the program’s budget. That ceiling is raised for each of the next five years, so by 2014, the program’s budget could reach $4.5 billion.

New Insert With PEBES For Younger People

From Emily Brandon's Planning To Retire Blog at U.S. News & World Report:

The Social Security Administration is reaching out to 20 and 30-somethings. Beginning this month, workers between the ages of 25 and 35 will receive a new insert with their Social Security statement [known as a Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statment or PEBES at Social Security]. “This two-sided supplement provides younger workers with information about ways to save and invest, and also shows how saving even a little bit can make a big difference over time,” says Jason Fichtner, acting deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

The Obama Budget And Reducing Waste At Social Security

From Dow Jones:

A budget proposal released by the White House Thursday would seek tens of billions in savings through cracking down on improper payments for Social Security ...

The budget framework proposes $759 billion [they meant to say million, not billion] for efforts to find Social Security overpayments, and the White House estimates that the federal government could save a whopping $12.1 billion over five years by making sure that only eligible people receive Social Security payments.

Information Week On Astrue's Plans

Here is an excerpt from Information Week:

When Michael Astrue was appointed commissioner of the Social Security Administration in 2007, he found a desperately inefficient agency. Now, armed with $1 billion in funding from the federal government's stimulus bill, he's set to build a $750 million mega-data center and develop new software to reduce a massive backlog of disability claims.

I understand Information Week wanting to think that the National Computer Center and some new software is going to slay the backlog dragon. It is a naive thought, but their focus is on Information Technology, so you expect that sort of thing from them, but giving Commissioner Astrue this kind of credit? The agency was in desperate shape when Commissioner Astrue came on board, but not because of inefficiency. The problem was lack of adequate staffing, a point that Commissioner Astrue now acknowledges, but which he spent two years downplaying. If John McCain had been elected President, Astrue would still be downplaying the staffing problem and the backlogs would not be getting better. It is not Commissioner Astrue but the election results that are leading to positive change at Social Security.