Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas?

Merry Christmas

Gun Control Regs Now Official

     Social Security is publishing the new regulations that will permit the agency to report claimants with representative payees to the database used to screen gun purchasers. Those with representative payees won’t be allowed to buy guns. This will come into effect before inauguration day. However, Trump can refuse to implement the new regulations. I wonder, though, whether the initial data transfer can be accomplished before inauguration day. Can it be easily removed from the gun control database once it gets in there? 

     By the way, whenever I post about this subject, there are always comments about Social Security appointing representative payees for people who have little or no problem handing money. Balderdash. I think most, if not all, of these comments are coming from paid shills. Don't be naive. There is a lot of right wing money being used to try to affect the political discourse in subtle ways. Don't get misled.

Additional Money For Hearing Backlog

     From the continuing resolution funding the federal government until April:

The fifth provision under the heading ‘Social Security Administration—Limitation on Administrative Expenses’ in division H of Public Law 114–113 shall be applied during the period covered by this Act by substituting ‘shall be used for activities to address the hearing backlog within the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review’ for ‘shall be for necessary expenses for the renovation and modernization of the Arthur J. Altmeyer Building’.

     To explain, P.L. 114-113 was the appropriations bill funding Social Security for the now ended fiscal year (FY) 2016. At the behest of former Senator Mikulski that bill contained $150 million for renovating Social Security's Altmeyer Building. Social Security had not asked for this and was apparently dismayed to have received it instead of a higher operating appropriation. I thought the amount was almost certainly excessive for the project. I'm pretty sure the renovation hasn't started so almost all of the $150 million should still be available. Social Security can now use that money to address the hearing backlog. It might have been better if the money could be used to address all backlogs at the agency but this is still good news.
     I think we should also take this as a sign that Republicans in Congress have some level of concern that the GOP will now be blamed for backlogs at Social Security.

Merry Christmas

Program Uniformity Rules To Become Final

     Social Security is publishing final rules on Ensuring Program Uniformity at the Hearing and Appeals Council Levels of the Administrative Review Process in the Federal Register tomorrow. These will be effective on January 15 but "compliance is not required until May 1, 2017" which is an odd way of doing things. These rules state that, with some exceptions, all evidence must be submitted at least five days before an ALJ hearing.

Evaluation Of Medical Evidence Regulations Sent To OMB

     The Social Security Administration has sent proposed final rules on the evaluation of medical evidence to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. To come into effect before the change of administrations, the regulations would have to be approved by OMB and published in the Federal Register by December 20.
     Here's what I picked out of the proposed regulations when they appeared in the Federal Register on September 9:

• We propose to revise our rules in 20 CFR 404.1504 and 416.904 to state that we will not provide any analysis in our determinations and decisions about how we consider decisions made by other governmental agencies or nongovernmental entities that an individual is disabled, blind, or unemployable in any claim for disability or blindness under titles II and XVI of the Act , and that we are not bound by those decisions. Although we would categorize decisions made by other governmental agencies or nongovernmental entities within the other medical evidence category if made by a medical source or a statement if made by a nonmedical source, we propose to state in 20 CFR 404.1520b and 416.920b that these decisions are inherently neither valuable nor persuasive to our disability and blindness determinations. ...
• [W]e propose to state in 20 CFR 404.1520b(c)(2) and 416.920b(c)( 2 ) that we will not provide any analysis about how we considered disability examiner findings from a prior level of adjudication ...
• Consistent with our goals to better define and organize our evidence regulations to produce more accurate and consistent determinations and decisions, we propose to define a statement on an issue reserved to the Commissioner as a statement that would direct the determination or decision of disability. ... Although a statement on an issue reserved to the Commissioner would be categorized within other medical evidence if made by a medical source or a statement if made by a nonmedical source, we would not provide any analysis about how we considered such statements at all in our determinations and decisions . ...
• To help adjudicators, representatives, and courts identify statements on issues reserved to the Commissioner, we propose to include the following in 20 CFR 404.1520b(c)(3) and 416.920b(c)(3) :

• statements that an individual is or is not disabled, blind, able to work, or able to perform regular or continuing work;  
• statements about whether or not an individual’s impairment(s) meets the duration requirement for disability; statements about whether or not an individual’s impairment(s) meets or equals any listing in the Listing of Impairments; 
• in title XVI child claims, statements about whether or not an individual’s impairment(s) functionally equals the Listings; 
• in adult claims, statements about what an individual’s RFC is using our programmatic terms about the functional exertional levels in Part 404, Subpart P, Appendix 2, Rule 200.00 in stead of descriptions about his or her functional abilities and limitations ; 
• in adult claims, statements about whether or not a n individual’s RFC prevents him or her from doing past relevant work; 
• in adult claims, statements that an individual does or does not meet the requirements of a medical-vocational rule in Part 404, Subpart P, Appendix 2; and  statements about whether or not a n individual's disability continues or ends when we conduct a continuing disability review (CDR) . ...

• In order to assist representatives and our adjudicators in interpreting our rules, we propose to revise our rules to state affirmatively our current policy that we will not use a diagnosis, medical opinion, or an individual's statement of symptoms to establish the existence of an impairment(s). We would clarify our rules to state that a physical or mental impairment must be established by objective medical evidence from an AMS. We would continue to follow our current policy if we have objective medical evidence from an AMS that a claimant has a severe impairment(s) at step 2, we will consider all evidence to determine the severity of the impairment(s) and all other findings in the sequential evaluation process. ...
• [W]e propose several revisions to how we consider medical opinions and prior administrative medical findings. First, we would no longer give a specific weight to medical opinions and prior administrative medical findings; this includes giving controlling weight to medical opinions from treating sources. Instead, we would consider the persuasiveness of medical opinions and prior administrative medical findings using the factors described below. Second, we propose to consider supportability and consistency as the most important factors. Finally, we propose to reorganize the factors to: (1) list the supportability and consistency factors first, (2) include a "relationship with the claimant" factor that combines the content of the current examining relationship and treatment relationship factors, (3) list individually the three different factors currently combined as other factors, and (4) restate the factors using consistent sentence structure. ... 

Merry Christmas

Gun Control Regulations Approved

     The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has cleared new Social Security regulations that will have the agency passing along information on claimants who have representative payees to the database used to prevent some individuals from purchasing firearms. Expect these final regulations to appear in the Federal Register shortly and to come info effect before inauguration day. However, it would be possible for the incoming administration to refuse to implement them. You will not be able to read the final version of these regulations until they are sent to the Office of Federal Register.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Regs On Submission Of Evidence Approved

     The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has cleared Social Security's proposed "Program Uniformity" regulations. Social Security says these will address:

1) the time-frame for notifying claimants of a hearing date;
2) the information in our hearing notices;
3) the period when we require claimants to inform us about or submit written evidence, written statements, objections to the issues, and subpoena requests;
4) what constitutes the official record; and
5) the manner in which the Appeals Council considers additional evidence.

     Expect these to appear in the Federal Register shortly and to become effective before inauguration day. And to respond to a question someone raised, no, you won't be able to see the final version of this until Social Security sends it over to the Office of Federal Register.

Great Ideas Coming Out Of The CBO

     I don't know who's idea it was but the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) included two proposals for Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits among its "Options for Reducing the Deficit" -- eliminating eligibility for disability benefits for those 62 and older and requiring claimants to have worked 16 of the past 24 quarters before becoming disabled. The age 62 idea would save $17.4 billion over ten years. The 16/24 idea would save $44.5 billion over ten years. That sounds like small potatoes to me considering the political flak the GOP would take for adopting either but I'm not a Republican looking for ways to pay for a huge tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. By the way, neither idea is new. I think I first heard of the 16/24 idea in the late 1970s and it probably wasn't new then! Also, by the way, the CBO works for whoever controls Congress.
     The CBO also included proposals to eliminate Supplemental Security Income benefits for children, reduce Social Security benefits for new recipients, raise full retirement age and reduce the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).

A Sign Of What's To Come?

     Just before the House adjourned for Christmas, Sam Johnson, the Chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee, introduced a bill that would make major cuts in Social Security benefits. Many media outlets have picked up on this as a harbinger of what's to come in the next Congress.

     Before the election, many Congressional Republicans privately expressed grave concerns about Donald Trump's integrity, knowledge, and temperament. They worried about the Russian attempt to influence the election. The gravest concern of these Republican members of Congress seemed to be that Trump isn't a true conservative. However, almost none of these Republicans spoke up publicly because Trump is popular with Republican voters. Now, some people are expecting these profiles in courage to march in lockstep to enact Social Security cuts that would be highly unpopular with Republicans and Democrats alike, when it would be completely predictable that Donald Trump would pull the rug out from under them?

Online Tools For Deciding When To Claim Benefits

     Social Security's Office of Research, Statistics and Policy Analysis has produced A Comparison of Free Online Tools for Individuals Deciding When to Claim Social Security Benefits. The study compares the free online tools provided by the Social Security Administration itself, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, the American Association of Retired Persons, Financial Engines and Bankrate. The bottom line is that each has its advantages and disadvantages.

You Heard It Here First

     The Washington Post has picked up on the story about declining service at Social Security field offices. I posted about this yesterday. I'll keep saying it. Come January 20, the GOP is the 100% owner of the terrible service at Social Security. I expect far more media attention to these problems.

Final Regs On Attorney Conduct Sent To OMB

     Social Security has sent a set of proposed final reguluations to regulate the conduct of attorneys and others who represent claimants before the agency to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. OMB has little time to act on this. The final regulations would need to be in the Federal Register by December 20 to come into effect while Barack Obama is still President.

DCPS Coming Out Slowly

     Social Security has been developing the Disability Case Processing System (DCPS) for some time. It is supposed to replace piecemeal legacy systems now used in handling disability claims pending at the initial and reconsideration levels. The agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a report on DCPS. Here are some excerpts (footnotes omitted):

In May 2016, SSA estimated the first release of DCPS would be available in December 2016 —at a cost of less than $38 million — and would support initial claims and reconsiderations. However, while SSA now expects the actual development costs for the December 2016 release to be about $36.6 million, the release will only include functionality needed to support a limited number of cases . SSA will need to make further investments in the product before it will support initial claims and reconsiderations. ...

SSA previously planned to make DCPS Release 1 available by December 2016 with functionality that would enable users to proce ss both initial claims and reconsiderations. However, as of the date of our report, the Agency planned to make available to three participating DDSs in December 2016 what it refers to as an “ Early -Adopter Release” version of DCPS. The Early-Adopter Release will not include all of the DCPS Core functionality that SSA previously planned for Release 1. Instead, it will only enable users in participating DDSs to process those cases involving the most severely disabled who meet the Agency’s criteria for expedited review —Quick Disability Determinations and Compassionate Allowances.

SSA expects to make the Early Adopter-Release software available to the Delaware, Maine, and Ohio DDSs. However , the participating DDSs will only be able to use the DCPS pre-release software for a small percent of their workloads. Those DDSs would need to continue using their legacy systems to process other workloads -- such as non-expedited disabled adult cases, disabled child cases, and continuing disability review -- until the requisite functionality is developed and made available in subsequent release.