Blast E-Mail From Acting Commissioner

I want to share with you the good news about our operating budget for fiscal year (FY) 2014. 

We began FY 2014 without an appropriation, which was followed by continuing resolutions.  I am pleased to report that Congress has approved, and the President has signed, legislation that provides funding for the remainder of the fiscal year.  With this funding, we will be able to expand our capacity to complete more of our cost-effective continuing disability reviews (CDR), improve our service to the American public, and enhance our vigorous fraud prevention efforts. 

Our FY 2014 funding will allow us to bolster our program integrity activities that reduce improper payments and help combat fraud, waste, and abuse.  Protecting taxpayer dollars has always been a priority, and the recent budget debates have magnified its importance.  While program integrity is a priority, service to the public is, of course, job one.  We will use our funding to increase overtime and restore some staffing losses in critical frontline positions.  This will help us reduce backlogs and wait times in many of our workloads. 

I commend you for enduring the last few years of uncertainty and difficult circumstances.  Through it all, you continued to provide the compassionate services that Americans depend on at the most critical times of their lives.  It is because of your steadfast commitment that we find ourselves in better circumstances today.  Our approved funding indicates that Members of Congress recognize all that you do and that they can count on you to use this funding to enforce greater program integrity and improve our world-class public service. 

Thank you for your hard work, dedication, and patience.  You have always been, and always will be, our most valuable asset.  I know I can count on you to continue your unwavering commitment to serve the American public.

Carolyn W. Colvin
Acting Commissioner

Partial Layoffs At Allsup

     From the Belleville News-Democrat:

Belleville-based Allsup Inc. [which represents Social Security disability claimants, mostly at the behest of long term disability insurance companies] will reduce the number of hours some of its employees work as the Social Security Administration is witnessing fewer disability claims reviews, a spokeswoman said.

In a statement released Monday, Rebecca Ray, the company's director of corporate public relations, said the move will not mean layoffs and all employees will continue to receive health insurance benefits and retirement. But some employees' work weeks will be cut to fewer than 40 hours.

The number of hours cut will be specific to an individual's job and work load and may not be the same across the board.

Ray said the hours reduction will go into effect next month. She could not comment on how many of the company's 700 employees will be affected.

Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/2014/01/27/3025748/allsup-cutting-some-employees.html#storylink=cpy

Out Of Control Bureaucracy

     The Social Security Administration had 3,500 employees at its Baltimore offices near the Lexington Market in 2001. That's down to 1,600 employees now. They'll soon be moving to a newer, smaller office complex in uptown Baltimore. A local merchant remembered that at noon there used to be "massive amount of people" coming out of the current buildings. It's down to a "little trickle" now.

     The reduction in staffing didn't happen because Social Security moved those employees elsewhere. It happened because Social Security's workforce declined.

A Quad's View Of Social Security's Work Incentives

     A working quadriplegic talks with the Washington Post about Social Security's work incentives. By the way, it's naive to think that if a quadriplegic can work, anybody can work regardless of their impairments. Pain and mental illness are different ball games. Age reduces the ability to make vocational adjustments. People with lowered intellectual capacity have diminished ability to make vocational adjustments. The biggest factors, though, are pain and mental illness. I'd rather be a quad than a schizophrenic or to suffer from chronic, severe pain. Most Social Security disability claims involve mental illness or chronic pain.

Facts And Figures From Social Security

Plans To Expand Social Security Becoming More Popular With Congressional Democrats

     Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is proposing a new program to be administered by Social Security that would give workers up to 12 weeks of benefits at two-thirds of their usual salary at times of family crisis. It would be funded by employer and employee contributions of 0.2% of workers' wages.

     Does this have a realistic chance of passage at this point? Of course it doesn't. Tea party Republicans control the House of Representatives. However, this proposal and Senator Warren's proposal to increase Social Security benefits significantly are both signs that Democrats increasingly view expansion of Social Security as a political winner today and something that will become feasible in the not too distant future. Democrats may well decide that proposing to increase Social Security benefits is their best path to win back the House of Representatives.

Social Security Benefits Eaten Up By Medical Costs

Differing Proposals On Unemployment Benefits And Disability

     From a piece in U.S. News & World Report (they're still in business?) by Chad Stone:

The other major policy issue that derailed the emergency [unemployment] benefits program was a proposal to curtail the joint receipt of unemployment insurance and disability benefits. Reid included a proposal from President Obama's budget to do that. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, had his own proposal, which he said would merely "[end] double-dipping between unemployment and disability benefits," and that it's "in the president's budget." As my CBPP [Center for Budget and Policy Priorities] colleague Paul Van de Water points out, however, the Portman proposal would go well beyond merely ending "double-dipping" and is far different from the president's proposal.

To receive disability benefits, an applicant must have a severe impairment that has prevented him or her from engaging in "substantial gainful activity," defined as earning more than $1,070 a month, for at least five months. In other words, it allows a recipient to work a modest amount, and thus be exposed to a job loss that would legitimately qualify the recipient for unemployment insurance.

The Portman proposal would define receiving unemployment insurance as a substantial gainful activity that, as Van de Water explains, would not only prevent people from receiving both benefits simultaneously – what Portman calls "double-dipping" – but would also delay eligibility for both disability and Medicare for some people with serious disabilities and hasten benefit losses for others. 

The Reid/Obama proposal is quite different from Portman's – and far preferable. It would eliminate "double-dipping" by reducing disability benefits dollar-for-dollar by the amount a person receives in unemployment benefits. In effect, a person who was legitimately eligible for both sets of benefits could receive the higher of the two – but not both.

Incidence Of Disability Going Down

     From a report by Social Security's Office of the Chief Actuary:

The projected probability of becoming disabled before normal retirement age has decreased for insured men between the 1966 and 1993 cohorts [that is, people born in 1966 and 1993], but has increased for insured women. For the 1993 insured cohort, we project that the probability of surviving from age 20 to normal retirement age without ever being disabled is 64 percent for males and 69 percent for females. Comparable probabilities projected for the 1966 insured cohort are 58 percent for males and 70 percent for females. Between the 1992 and 1993 cohorts, the projected probability of death before normal retirement age decreased slightly for both sexes.

Central Offices Closed Due To Weather

     Social Security Administration offices in the Washington-Baltimore area are closed today because of severe weather conditions. They're expecting 5-8 inches of snow and wind gusts to 25 miles per hour.