OIG Report On ALJ Oversight

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

A claimant can appeal an ALJ’s [Administrative Law Judge's] decision to deny or dismiss a disability case. Claimants file these appeals through a request for review to SSA’s AC [Appeals Council] in the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR). If the AC grants a review of the case, it will issue a fully favorable, partially favorable, or unfavorable decision; or it may remand the case to an ALJ. If the AC does not grant a case review, the earlier decision remains unchanged. 

ODAR tracks the AC’s decision on every appealed case and calculates a quality performance measure for each ALJ. The decision agree rate represents the extent to which the AC concludes the ALJ decisions were supported by substantial evidence and contained no error of law or abuse of discretion justifying a remand or reversal. At the time of our review, the national agree rate goal for ALJ decisions was 85 percent. The national dismissal agree rate goal for ALJ dismissals was 72 percent, but less than 6 percent of the AC workload related to dismissals. ...

... Regarding the 11 ALJs whose decision agree rates were 65 percent or lower for 3 consecutive years, we found ODAR managers had taken action to improve the quality of their decisions. Five ALJs had undergone a focused quality review, three were scheduled for this type of review, and one had been nominated to undergo a review. Of the remaining two ALJs, one had undergone a regional quality review, and the other was scheduled for a one-on-one counseling session with the Regional Chief ALJ. A focused quality review involves an in-depth review of a sample of an ALJ’s decisions to ensure the decisions are policy compliant and legally sufficient. If managers find a pattern of error-prone cases, they offer advice on how to correct errors and determine whether the ALJ should take additional targeted training. Three of the five ALJs who underwent focused quality reviews had completed targeted training.

     Note that there is no similar system for tracking remands and reversals by the federal courts. I think some interesting patterns would be seen if that were studied.

Is This Legit?

     Here's a website that says it's figured out a path to follow when calling Social Security's 800 number so that one can get to a human with less delay. They say the average delay when calling that number is 36 minutes, which is a lot more than Social Security claims. They also offer, for a price that's not stated, to wait on hold for you and then call you back when there's finally a Social Security employee on the other end of the phone that you can talk with.

Republican Senators Want Time Limited Disability Benefits

     From Sunshine State News:

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., joined with two Senate conservatives on Wednesday to back a proposal reforming Social Security disability benefits. 

Noting that disability benefits are consuming more Social Security funds, Rubio and U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, are co-sponsoring U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton’s, R-Ark., “Return to Work Act" which places new applicants who qualify for Social Security disability benefits in four groups based on whether medical improvement is expected, likely, possible or not expected. 

Beneficiaries in the first three groups would be given a timeline to receive disability benefits while those who are not expected to recover would not. If beneficiaries in the first three groups have not recovered at the end of their timelines--two years for those deemed expected to recover, five years for those deemed likely to recover, longer for those whose recovery is possible--they will be able to reapply for disability benefits.

     The number of people drawing Social Security disability benefits is declining. That's a fact. There's no crisis for this bill to address.
     This bill is based upon the mistaken premise that many Social Security disability recipients get better over time and should be cast off benefits. However, beneficiaries are already subject to continuing disability reviews and are cut off benefits if they have improved to the point that they can work. What's wrong with this process? Not enough claimants are cut off benefits to satisfy these Senators. I think this should lead a reasonable person to conclude that few claimants actually get better. However, if you base your judgments not upon the facts that exist but upon what you think the facts should be, you might conclude that you just have to be much sterner about cutting people off. Don't worry about whether they've improved. Just make them prove over and over and over again that they're disabled. We'll get them off benefits!
     Forcing claimants to prove over and over that they are disabled would be cruel. How many people think that schizophrenics get better over time? Not many who are actually familiar with schizophrenia. However, if you subject schizophrenics to this plan, many would lose their benefits, not because they've improved but because they're too impaired to effectively pursue new claims. Would that result please these Senators?
     By the way, I was around when the Reagan Administration did wholesale continuing disability reviews without a medical improvement standard and without interim benefits, which is the functional equivalent of what these Senators propose. It was by far the most unpopular policy of the Reagan Administration. It's how we came to have a medical improvement standard we have today. These Senators weren't around for that. If they had been, they wouldn't be proposing this.

Big Problem With Remittances

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

SSA [Social Security Administration] receives remittances for a variety of reasons, but the majority of remittances are made to repay overpaid benefits. Remittances primarily consist of checks/money orders and credit card charges. SSA also receives a small number of cash payments. SSA’s Remittance and Accounting Unit (RAU) in the Mid -Atlantic Program Service Center (MATPSC) is primarily responsible for processing remittances. However, SSA’s field offices, teleservice centers, and Office of International Operations also process some remittances ... 

RAU processed over 1.7 million remittances, totaling over $892 million, in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015. This included over 475,000 remittances, totaling over $600 million, SSA field offices received and sent to RAU for final processing. ... 

While SSA processed remittances accurately , it did not process all remittances timely . As of April 22, 2016, RAU had 84,253 unprocessed checks (those RAU received without a remittance coupon), some almost 8-months-old. Without a remittance coupon, RAU cannot scan, process, or deposit the check until it identifies the associated remittance record. RAU also had 57,636 pieces of unopened mail, some pieces almost 2-months-old. ...

[A]s of April 22, 2016, RAU’s workload report identified 57,636 pieces of unopened mail, some dating back to March 9, 2016 and 84,253 unprocessed checks, some dating back to September 1, 2015 ... 

RAU had no unopened mail or unprocessed checks at the end of FY 2012. However, the backlog of unopened mail significantly increased from about 4,000 pieces in FY 2015 to over 57,000 pieces in FY 2016. Additionally, over the same period, the number of unprocessed checks increased from 56,000 to over 84,000 ...

According to SSA, the remittance backlog primarily occurred for two reasons. First, although the number of remittance checks RAU received in FYs 2013 through 2015 remained constant at about 1.5 million, annually, staff size decreased 26 percent from 31 employees in FY 2012 to 23 in FY 2016 ... 

Second, RAU received a large number of remittances without coupons, which delays the remittance process as RAU staff must perform additional research to identify the record associated with the remittance. For example, in FY 2013, RAU received about 317,000 remittances without coupons, and it received about 402,000 in FY 2016. ... 

Because of this backlog, SSA initiated unnecessary collection actions against some beneficiaries. When SSA does not process overpayment remittances for several months, the related debt appears past due in SSA’s debt management system. The past- due rating triggers the Agency to use its external collection tools to recover the debt. For those SSA beneficiaries who are not receiving benefits, SSA may attempt to collect the debt by reporting it to a credit bureau, administrative wage garnishment, or Federal payment offset. SSA uses the Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) Treasury Offset Program (TOP) to offset a debt against an individual’s Federal income tax refund or withhold other Federal or State payments. Additionally, when debts are past due, SSA continues sending collection letters and making calls.

     The report goes on to give several examples of tax refunds seized, wages garnished and Social Security benefits reduced unnecessarily because remittances had not been timely processed.
     Social Security is taking corrective action on this problem.
     We might expect a Congressional hearing on this except for the fact that the biggest contributing factor to this mess was lack of adequate staffing caused by an inadequate budget passed by Congress.

Long Lines At Orlando Office Create Parking Problem

     From a TV station in Orlando:

If you've ever been to the Social Security office in Orlando, you may be very familiar with the long lines and sometimes difficult-to-find parking spots.

An Orlando woman wants to get results after her car was towed last week after she says she couldn't find a place to park.

The overflow has created a problem for businesses close to the office, as well.
Angel Garcia says that a few weeks ago, an elderly woman visiting Social Security decided to park in the Polo Apartment complex-- a move that is clearly prohibited if you're not a resident.

The result, he said: About $20,000 in damages.

 "She missed all of these trees. I don't know how but she came around from this direction and went right into the living room of that apartment there," said Garcia, a maintenance employee at the complex. ...

Marilyn Hernandez says the overflow of parking has become such a hindrance, the company has hired a towing company. ...

7-Eleven has a contract with a local tow company, as well. ...

We called and emailed the Social Security office.

Patti Patterson, regional communications director with the Social Security office, says that on average, about 700 people visit the center each day.

There are 169 parking spots including eight for the handicapped and public transportation is also available.

Trump Budget Proposal For Social Security

     The White House has released its "skinny" budget proposal for fiscal year 2018, which begins on October 1, 2017. The "skinny" reference is to the limited information in the proposal. If this is adopted, Social Security's operating budget would increase by 0.2%. (See page 50). Because of inflation, this would amount to a small decrease in the agency's budget. However, "program integrity" at Social Security would increase by 26.8%. By contrast, this budget proposal calls for major decreases in spending at most agencies, a 16.2% reduction at HHS, for instance.

     This budget proposal faces widespread criticism from Republican as well as Democratic legislators and won't be adopted as proposed. However, it is a sign that to some extent the message is getting across to the White House that these is no way to make even modest cuts in Social Security's operating budget without causing dramatic and very visible problems in the agency's service delivery.

Claimant Dies After Disability Benefits Ceased

     From WATE:

A mother is mourning the loss of her daughter.

Amy Schnelle, 31, died of an epileptic seizure on February 17. She died less than half a year after the government cut her benefits, including medication....

On disability for several years, Amy Schnelle was receiving powerful anti-seizure drugs and had been seizure free since 2015. Then the United States Social Security Administration threw her a curve ball in September 2016 when they informed her she was no longer sick. ...

She appealed the decision, but while her appeal was under consideration, Amy Schnelle’s benefits stopped. Nevertheless, three of the drug manufacturers provided her with sample drugs, but one did not. Sylvia Schnelle, Amy Schnelle’s mother, said without the full supply of prescription pills, her daughter relapsed in late October. ...

Writing to Congressman Jimmy Duncan, Amy Schnelle was able to convince the government to resume her benefits. That happened in January 2017, but in February 2017, from her apartment, she texted her mother she had a “bad” seizure and asked her to “please” come. Her mother rushed to Knoxville from her home in Dandridge.

“Amy was on her stomach and she had already died. She died from a seizure,” said Sylvia Schnelle through tears. ...

Tough Way To Make A Living

     The Buffalo Law Journal reports on how difficult it is to make a living representing Social Security disability claimants. Of course, it's a lot tougher being a disabled person filing a claim with Social Security.

I Knew There Was Something Good About Trumpcare!

     Matt Fuller noticed something interesting hidden in the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projection of the effects of the Republican plan for replacing the Affordable Care Act. The CBO is projecting that Social Security expenditures over the time period 2017-2026 would decrease by $3 billion under the GOP plan. The explanation is that more people will die under the Republican plan, about 17,000 in 2018 rising to 29,000 in 2026 alone. People can't draw Social Security benefits if they're dead.

HIV Ruling Rescinded

     Social Security is rescinding Ruling 93-2p on the evaluation of HIV. This is being done because of the adoption of a new Listing.