ODAR Deputy Commissioner Broadcast

Here is a copy of the December 3, 2009 Office of Disability Adjudication and Review Deputy Commissioner Broadcast. Click on each page to see it full size. A few highlights:

• This past month, we reduced the disability backlog by 3,399 cases, putting us at 8,337 below the FY 2010 opening pending of 722,822. We have now reduced the disability backlog 11 months in a row. We are fortunate, however, that receipts have been well below the projections, 11% below in October and 6% below in November.
• This fiscal year, we expect to replace all of our staff losses and hire approximately 1,300 additional employees ...
• On November 20, our first class of ALJs for FY 2010 was sworn in at the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C. Congressman Earl Pomeroy delivered the keynote speech. By bringing on board 43 ALJs and 8 AAJs, we are on our way to increasing our ALJ corps to 1,450 by the end of the fiscal year.
• We have updated the ODAR map that shows our new hearing offices, satellite offices, and National Hearing Centers, plus the hearing sites scheduled to open during FY 2010. To view the map, visit http://odar.ba.ssa.gov/odarweb/DCDAR/ODARmap.pdf. [This is either a bad link in the original or only available to those inside the firewall at Social Security. I think that people on the outside would be interested in seeing this.]
  
• We have completed the FY 2009 fourth quarter reports for the Hearing Backlog Reduction Update booklets. We distributed to each member of Congress a booklet describing the progress we have made in their respective districts. To view these booklets, visit http://www.socialsecurity.gov/appeals/congressional-booklets.html.

Anything For Social Security?

The Hill reports that Democrats in Congress are in the early stages of developing a jobs creation bill that might be as much as $300 billion. Since Social Security got major funding in the last jobs bill, I hope Social Security is trying to get something out of this new bill.

Killing Off DSI

Former Social Security Commissioner Barnhart had a grand plan for resolving all the problems in disability determination at Social Security. It was called Disability Service Improvement or DSI. There were just a couple of problems with DSI. It made no sense. It did not work when implemented. It quickly became obvious that DSI would not last once Barnhart was replaced by Michael Astrue, the current Commissioner. However, some parts of DSI have continued in Social Security's Boston region. Social Security will publish proposed regulations in the Federal Register tomorrow to officially and finally kill off DSI.

Does anyone know how much money was wasted on DSI? Many people in high places at Social Security talked glowingly about the wonders of DSI while Barnhart was Commissioner. Did they really believe what they were saying?

Child Conceived By IVF Gets Benefits In Iowa

From KCRG:

A federal judge has ruled that a girl born almost two years after her father died of leukemia is entitled to the man's Social Security benefits.

A judge ruled that 6-year-old Brynn Beeler can collect Social Security survivor benefits. The girl was conceived through in vitro fertilization.

Waiting In Bakersfield

From a piece in The Bakersfield Californian written by John Tello, a local attorney who represents Social Security disability claimants:

A hearing is scheduled in April 2010 for a Bakersfield woman who has been waiting since 2006 to get approval for Social Security disability benefits. That's right, four years.

My client, who suffered a serious work-related injury, was initially denied benefits in October 2006. Her application has gone through the process of reconsideration, denial, request for hearing, denial and appeal of denial. Finally, she has been granted the April hearing. While her disabilities are serious, it is a good thing they are not fatal. Otherwise, Social Security could have waited her out, allowing death to resolve the matter.

Regrettably, that is what often happens. And with a recent spike in the number of disability applications pouring into Social Security offices, the tragic consequences of long-delayed decisions are growing

Can't Get Through In Fort Worth

From the Fort Worth, Texas Star Telegram:

With his 65th birthday approaching, Eric Martin of Arlington knew it was time to sign up for Medicare. Thirty phone calls, countless busy signals and an office visit later, he still couldn’t get the help he needed. ...

To get the ball rolling, Martin had called a national toll-free number listed on a document he received in the mail from the Social Security Administration. He was then given the phone number to its Mid-Cities field office in Grand Prairie.

That’s when the process ground to a halt.

Martin began calling the during the first week of September, with no luck.

By Sept. 24, Martin said, he had called about 30 times without getting through. So he went to the office, only to find it packed with people waiting to be seen. One person was being helped every 30 minutes, he said. By his calculation, that meant he would not be seen until the next day. ...

Nationally, more than 3 million people had a wait of more than an hour at field offices, the GAO [Government Accountability Office] said, citing the Social Security Administration but noting that it had not validated its data.

GAO also reported that more than half the people who call field offices get busy signals. ...

An employee there who would identify herself only as Miss Rojas told the Star-Telegram that the number of workers tending the phones depends on the line of people inside the building.

But Charlie Brittian, project manager for the administration’s Regional Public Affairs team, has a different take.

"We answer the phone all day long," she said and noted that the Mid-Cities office has 52 employees.

She said Martin’s experience is not common at the Mid-Cities office. The average wait time this year for individuals without appointments, like Martin, has been 35.6 minutes, Brittian said. Individuals with appointments averaged a wait of 4.8 minutes, she said.

Brittian also said the Mid-Cities office has a policy of returning calls that day, or, if necessary, the next morning.

Martin disagreed.

"That’s stupid," he said. "You don’t even get a recording, so how can they call back?"

I have said it before. We will know that Social Security field offices are adequately staffed when they are able to dispense with secret telephone numbers which are supposed to be used only by family and friends of Social Security employees and by higher ups at Social Security who need to reach the office by telephone. Contrary to the opinion of many Social Security field office employees this is not a normal situation. Few businesses need private numbers like this so.

New Forum For Social Security Disability Claimants

Allsup, which represents Social Security disability claimants mostly on behalf of long term disability insurers but which is also seeking individual cases, has just started a web forum for Social Security disability claimants.

Improper Payments Info To Become More Visible

From Government Executive:

Federal agencies soon will be required to create dashboards on their Web sites tracking the amount of money they have spent on improper payments, under a new directive from President Obama.

The executive order -- which Office of Management and Budget Director Peter R. Orszag previewed last week -- is aimed at increasing the transparency and public scrutiny of payments to beneficiaries of federal programs, contractors, grant recipients and other entities.

Chairman Of Social Security Subcommittee To Retire

Representative John Tanner, the Chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, has decided not to seek re-election in 2010. Tanner is one of the founders of the Blue Dog coalition.

Swamped

From Federal Times:

The Social Security Administration has been working for years to reduce its backlog of disability claims, which now stands at 780,000 claims. It even hired and trained 8,600 new employees last fiscal year.

But any progress it made has come to an abrupt halt. Largely because of the recession, Americans filed 400,000 more disability claims than predicted last year and the agency expects 700,000 more to be filed this year than in 2008.

SSA is not alone. Agencies across government that provide federal assistance are seeing their workloads explode as Americans seek unemployment insurance payments, health care insurance, school lunches, food stamps and college loans. Benefit claims and payouts have jumped in the last year at assistance programs run by the Labor, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Education, and Health and Human Services departments, among others.