AFGE Questions Progress On Backlogs

From a press release:

The American Federation of Government Employees questions the validity of SSA management claims that progress is being made on disability claims backlogs; and that efficient management practices are improving office performances. “While resources are limited and field office staffing levels have not increased in relation to additional workloads, SSA management continues to use smoke and mirrors in measuring the amount of work completed at field offices,” noted Witold Skwierczynski, president of AFGE’s Council of Field Operations Locals for the Social Security Administration. “SSA management has been manipulating the disability claims process, making it appear that offices have become much more efficient due to management improvements, when the biggest increase has been in claims that are denied on technical grounds.”

Such manipulations include processing claims for individuals who clearly are ineligible for benefits, and padding statistics by taking unnecessary actions such as reissuing Medicare cards to every client in the office whether or not they request such cards. ...

“It’s outrageous that some SSA managers are condoning the practice of using system tricks and having employees do unnecessary work to better statistical performance. These practices adversely affect service delivery at SSA and detract from the mission of the agency to assist those in need,” concluded Skwierczynski.

The Importance Of Social Security

Doubleclick on the thumbnail of a page from a recent Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation poll to get an idea of what Americans think about Social Security.

Benefits Slashed In Britain

From the Daily Mail:

Hundreds of thousands of claimants are to lose their disability benefits as Britain’s bloated welfare budget takes the strain of public spending cuts.

More than £1billion is due to be slashed from the disability living allowance bill, forcing around 400,000 to seek work. ...

[Chancellor George] Osborne also plans to introduce tough new medical assessments for the three million claiming disability living allowance.

President Favors Raising Income Cap

From Reuters:

President Barack Obama said on Thursday he favored raising more revenue for Social Security to prolong the solvency of the U.S. retirement fund, rather than just cutting benefits or making people work longer.

Obama told a televised youth town hall event that he thought the best approach was to increase the amount of income subject to Social Security taxes above the current cap set around $106,000, but he did not rule anything out.

Resignation From OIDAP

Professor Mark Wilson has resigned from the Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (OIDAP). Click twice on the thumbnail to read his letter of resignation. Note that he says that "I no longer feel that the management of this project can bring about the occupational information system that the agency and the country needs and that the panel envisioned."

It's Official: No COLA This Year

The Social Security Administration has made it official. There will be no cost of living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security benefits this year.

Vote On $250 Payments To Social Security Beneficiaries -- After The Election

The Associated Press is reporting that the House of Representatives will vote on Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Earl Pomeroy's plan for a $250 bonus payment to each Social Security beneficiary since there will be no cost of living adjustment (COLA) this year. The vote will come in the lame duck session of Congress after the election.

I am unable to comprehend why Democrats did not schedule this vote done before the election. I have to guess that Representative Pomeroy pressed for a vote before the election.

Non-Attorney ALJs?

From the Federal Register:

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing to eliminate the licensure requirements for incumbent administrative law judges who are covered under the Administrative Law Judge Program.

SSI Computation Problem

I have no idea whether this is serious but Social Security has issued an emergency message to its field offices telling them to stop work on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) "5B diaries, 5H diaries, and the associated redeterminations and limited issues" because of incorrect or duplicative data received from the IRS. This may affect just a few people or a lot. It appears that it would have affected the computation of SSI benefits.

An Embarrassment

From The Oregonian:

A federal magistrate on Wednesday ordered Social Security lawyer Daniel A. Bernath to undergo anger management counseling after an altercation with a judge on a downtown Portland elevator last spring.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul J. Papak found Bernath guilty of disorderly conduct for the March 31 dust-up with Dan R. Hyatt, a judge in Social Security's disability hearing office.

Papak dressed Bernath down for his behavior -- such as lampooning Hyatt on his web site as a Ku Klux Klansman and behaving like a pre-schooler fighting for a swing -- and said officers of the court are expected to treat judges with respect.

"This trial," said Papak, "is an embarrassment, in my mind."

The tiff on the lift climaxed a three-year war of words between Bernath, of Tigard, who represents clients in disability cases, and Hyatt, one of the judges who hears those claims at the Portland hearing office. Their squabbles -- which include dueling bar complaints, claims of slander and a $10 million lawsuit -- were chronicled in a July story in The Oregonian.