Kijakazi Calls For Greater Administrative Funding

    From Think Advisor:

On Wednesday, Acting Social Security Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi offered the opening remarks at a retirement equity forum held by the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis and the Economic Policy Institute. ...

Kijakazi says her focus is now squarely on advocating that Congress pass President Joe Biden’s proposed fiscal 2023 budget, which would direct about $14.8 billion to the Social Security Administration, an increase from the agency’s $13.3 billion budget for fiscal 2022.

According to Kijakazi, the SSA is currently operating with one of its lowest levels of staffing on record, and the SSA’s staff are grappling with significant backlogs and challenges, especially when it comes to the review and approval of Social Security disability claims. ...

New OHO Caseload Analysis Report

    Social Security has posted the Caseload Analysis Report for its Office of Hearings Operations for October 2022, the first month in the new federal fiscal year. These are basic operations statistics. Click on the image to view full size.

Why So Much Variation?

     Social Security has posted the allowance rates on disability claims at the initial and reconsideration levels for the 2022 federal fiscal year, which ended on September 30, 2022. Last year when these numbers were revealed, I asked why there was so much variation from state to state. I still have the same question. Sure, there are some demographic differences but why are 69.5% of disability claims approved at the initial level in Alaska but only 29.8% in D.C.? Demographics can't account for a difference that great. Closer to home for me, why did North Carolina have a 35.9% allowance rate at the initial level but in the neighboring states of Virginia and South Carolina the allowance rates were 41.3% and 42.8% respectively?

The ORS?

     I just saw that the National Association of Disability Representatives (NADR) has scheduled training on the Occupational Requirements Survey. They ask if it might be a replacement for the long outdated Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) that Social Security uses. This is the first I've heard of the ORS. Anyone else have info on it?

What Is The Incidence Of Severe Long Covid?

     From U.S. News & World Report:

... The Social Security Administration has identified about 40,000 disability claims that “include indication of a covid infection at some point,” spokesperson Nicole Tiggemann said. How many people with long covid are among the more than 1 million disability claims awaiting processing by Social Security is unknown.

In recent months, about 5% of new disability claims filed by Allsup, an Illinois-based firm that helps people apply for Social Security, involved people dealing with covid, said T.J. Geist, a director at the firm. Other firms report similar figures. ...

A recent report from the Brookings Institution estimates that 2 million to 4 million people are out of work because of long covid. A study published in September by the National Bureau of Economic Research puts the number at 500,000. ...

    By this point I'm sure that the majority of my disability clients have had Covid. That's because the majority of people in this country have had Covid. Merely having had Covid at some point doesn't mean that your disability claim is due to Covid. It's more likely your knee or your multiple sclerosis or something such. Of the few clients I've seen with disability related to Covid, their current diagnosis isn't so much long Covid as post-ICU syndrome, which was well known before Covid. That's post-ICU syndrome as in if you have to spend an extended period of time in the ICU your health may never be the same again regardless of why you were in the ICU so long.

Missed This Earlier — New Native Affairs Office

      From an October 4 press release:

Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi announced that the Social Security Administration (SSA) established an Office of Native American Partnerships within the Office of the Commissioner.

This office will elevate and centralize efforts to administer comprehensive programs and policies related to American Indians and Alaska Natives. It will enhance the agency’s relationship with Tribes and serve as the primary point of contact on Tribal affairs for all stakeholders. …

Veterans Day 2022

 

Information About Claims Backlogs

VA Backlogs

    The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) puts out a quarterly report showing its claims backlog. Above is a chart from that report showing how things have been going at VA.

    I wonder if Social Security should do something like this. It would be more complicated at Social Security. I expect it would take separate charts for initial, reconsideration and hearing reviews for disability claims as well as charts showing the backlogs claimants face to get telephone appointments with the agency and in getting favorable decisions implemented. I know that if you search hard enough you can find much of this information online but putting it all in one easily accessible location and issuing regular press releases could only help the agency in getting the funding it needs. 

    Traditionally, Social Security has tried to sweep its problems under the rug -- minimize them, treat them as isolated problems even when they're routine, hide the information showing the extent of the backlogs, shift agency resources to reduce agency backlogs that attract public attention (thus insuring that other backlogs grow), etc. 

    Isn't it time to straight up tell the public what's going on and let them decide how much service they're willing to pay for? Quit being ashamed. These backlogs aren't due to management failures.

Purely Coincidental -- Would Have Happened Anyway

     Woman applies for Social Security disability benefits. After more than a year there's still no determination on her claim. She contacts a newspaper reporter who sends an e-mail to Social Security on a Friday inquiring about the case. The following Monday the woman gets a call from Social Security saying her claim had been approved.

    By the way, Social Security doesn't normally call you to tell you that your disability claim has been approved unless there's an SSI claim involved and the description in the article of the woman's family income suggests that there wasn't an SSI claim involved.

Time Off For Voting A Problem At SSA?

     From Government Executive:

Several agencies are ignoring or putting tight restrictions on the Biden administration’s directive to provide extra time off for employees to vote or work at the polls, according to dozens of workers, the union representing them and internal policies reviewed by Government Executive.  ...

To qualify for the bonus leave, GPO said, employees must be unable to vote due to work duties—such as due to work-related travel—and not have access to absentee voting. Early voting options must also be the same hours as normal election day hours to remain eligible for the time off. If an employee can vote on alternative days earlier in the morning or later at night than is available on Nov. 8, GPO would not provide administrative leave. ...

[A]gencies that employees flagged as non-receptive to leave-for-voting requests included the Veterans Affairs Department, Transportation Security Administration, Social Security Administration and Defense Department. ...