Empire Law Center Newsletter

The Empire Law Center of Rochester, NY has released its May 2006 issue of Disability Law News, a newsletter on disability law with a strong emphasis on Social Security issues. The newsletter has excellent coverage of recent developments in Social Security law.

Automated Phone Calls to Claimants With Hearings

With no fanfare or advance warning Social Security has begun a program that gives each Social Security claimant who has a hearing scheduled with an Administrative Law Judge an automated telephone call to remind them of the hearing.

Reality Check

A Baltimore Sun article about a McKinsey & Company study has sobering news for people who have inadequate retirement savings:

Four out of 10 retired workers left their jobs sooner than they had planned, usually because of health problems or the loss of employment, according to the report by McKinsey & Co., which was based on a national survey of 3,086 people.

The survey also found that 45 percent of people who are currently employed planned to keep working past age 65. But among the retirees polled, only 13 percent said they had done so.

Kingsport, TN Woman Charged

Knoxnews reports that Angela Kodak of Kingsport, TN has been charged with fraud for collecting Social Security children's benefits since 1991 even though she had given up custody of the children. The amount of the alleged overpayment is nearly $200,000.

Can We Afford Social Security When Baby Boomers Retire?

The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) is doing a program in Washington, D.C. on May 25 on whether the country can afford Social Security once baby boomers retire. Here is some information on the program (which features a free breakfast!):

Location	National Press Club, First Amendment Lounge (529 14th Street, NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC)
Fee	Free Event
Registration Deadline	05/24/2006
Contact	Anita Cardwell

** Registration and continental breakfast at 8:30am**
Policy makers and policy advisors are busy examining ways to address national concerns about the United States' aging population. How are current retirees faring? What are the latest trends in private pensions and savings? Can we afford Social Security when baby boomers retire?

You are invited to join the National Academy of Social Insurance for this important update on issues affecting all Americans. Come prepared to ask questions. Ample time will be set aside for discussion.

Moderator:
Luisa Grillo-Chope, National Council of La Raza

New Findings: Income of Americans 65 and Older
Debra Whitman, Congressional Research Service

Developments in Pensions and Savings
William Arnone, Ernst and Young

Can We Afford Social Security When Baby Boomers Retire?
Virginia Reno, National Academy of Social Insurance

Commentary:
Stephen Goss, Chief Actuary of Social Security
Margaret Simms, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
David John, Heritage Foundation
William Spriggs, Howard University

Signature Proxy Extends to Appeals

A Social Security Emergency Message reveals that Social Security will accept signature proxies on appeals effective on May 22, 2006. A "signature proxy" is a substitute for an actual "wet" signature on an actual piece of paper. This means is that effective May 22, Social Security will accept appeals filed electronically.

New ALJ Register On The Way?

Nancy Kichak, Associate Director of the Strategic Resources Policy Division of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), testified today before the Committe on Government Reform of the House of Representatives on issues regarding Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) employed by the federal government. OPM is responsible for maintaining a register of applicants for the position of ALJ. The register has been effectively closed to new applicants since 1999 due to litigation and OPM's lethargy. ALJs are still being hired off a very old list of applicants. OPM published draft regulations in December 2005. Here is a quote from Ms. Kichak's statement, which does not suggest that OPM is planning to rush into anything:

OPM is presently completing work on the new ALJ exam [the "exam" for ALJs is mostly a review of the application]. Although the opening date will depend entirely upon the issuance of newly proposed ALJ regulations, OPM is committed to rolling out the new exam expeditiously once the revised regulations become effective. When a new register is generated from the new exam, the current register will be terminated. When the new exam comes out, OPM also plans to take advantage of our state-of-the-art examining technology, USA Staffing, which allows applicants to apply on-line.

We are making great progress in developing the revised regulations referenced above. In December 2005, OPM posted a proposed rule to revise the ALJ program. The proposed rule removed redundant procedures and outdated information, clarified bar membership requirements, and provided for the ALJ examination process to be established in a manner similar to other OPM examinations. The proposed rule was open for public comment for 60 days. In conjunction with publishing these proposed regulations, OPM also posted a new ALJ qualification standard on its Web site. The ALJ qualification standard was also open for public comment for a 60-day period. At this time, OPM is carefully considering the comments submitted on both the proposed rule and ALJ qualification standard

Inspector General Report on SSI Termination Overpayments

Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has done a study on the costs of continuining disability benefits to SSI recipients as they appeal decisions that would cut off their benefits. OIG estimates that the costs of doing so were $199.5 million over a two year period.

A few questions come to mind in reading this study. Why was the OIG doing a study of this to begin with? Congress made a value judgment that the fair thing to do for the desperately poor people who receive SSI was to not cut off their monthly checks until the appeal process was finished. Is the Inspector General producing the report in an effort to get the statute changed? What is the purpose of the report otherwise? Is this an appropriate use of OIG funds? OIG attempted to add a little something to suggest that there is some issue other than the statute by saying that the overpayments would not have been as great if SSA could process these cases more quickly. That is true, but there is no mention in the report of the terrible staffing shortages at SSA that delay everything the agency does, including SSI terminations. Although OIG constantly criticizes delays and mistakes at SSA, there is never a mention in OIG reports of the severe constraints imposed upon SSA because its staff has been cut dramatically over the last twenty-five years while SSA's workload has increased dramatically. Perhaps SSA's staffing shortages are not so apparent at OIG, which seems to be flush with money and personnel.