Deputy Chief Federal Reviewing Official Job Advertised

Social Security has announced a job vacancy for a Deputy Chief Federal Reviewing Official. The job is described as:

The Deputy Chief Federal Reviewing Official serves as full deputy and "alter ego" to the Chief Federal Reviewing Official (Associate Commissioner, Office of the Federal Reviewing Official) and is responsible and accountable for the overall program management, direction, planning, objectives, policy-making, and coordination of the Office of the Federal Reviewing Official. Assumes full responsibility for operations in the absence of the Chief Federal Reviewing Official and acts on all matters with full authority of commitment within assigned jurisdiction.

It is a GS 15 job. The announcement indicates that "background and/or security investigation required." Can Social Security do the interviewing as well as the investigation and get someone in the job by August 1, when the Reviewing Official program is supposed to start functioning?

New Drug For Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C already leads to a fair number of Social Security disability claims. There has been reason to believe that Hepatitis C will become vastly more costly for Social Security in coming years since the disease has spread rapidly since it was first discovered 17 years ago. The disease has a long latency period. There may be four million infected people in the United States. Many have no idea that they have a disease that is likely to debilitate them before killing them. Current treatment for Hepatitis C often causes intolerable side effects and is usually ineffective anyway.

Viropharma has announced an experimental drug that it says cut Hepatitis C viral levels by 97% in only 14 days. Only a small scale human study has been done so far. If this holds up, it would be a major public health development and could prevent a big rise in Social Security disability costs.

Tremolite Ruling Issued

Social Security has issued Ruling 06-01p on "Evaluating Cases Involving Tremolite Asbestos-Related Impairments." The Ruling appears to contain nothing new. It was apparently issued to satisfy Senator Baucus of Montana, a state where tremolite has been mined. The tremolite mining has led to many sick people who have apparently been having difficult winning their Social Security disability claims. It is unlikely that this Ruling will help them in any way, although unpublicized changes in Social Security's Quality Assurance system may.

Gerry Promises Tremolite Change

The Billings, MT Gazette quotes Martin Gerry, Social Security's Deputy Commissioner for Disability and Income Security Programs, as promising to change Social Security's "regulations" to include victims of disease related to tremolite asbestos, a problem which may be specific to the Libby, Montana area. Exactly what will be done is unclear since Social Security seems to lack any regulations dealing specifically with asbestos related disease other than Listing 13.15 for mesothelioma, which is caused by asbestos, but that Listing does not require proof of any type or degree of asbestos exposure. An article in the Daily Interlake of Kalispell, MT indicates that SSA will release a Ruling that will specify that a person can qualify for benefits based upon exposure to tremolite asbestos as well as exposure to the more common chrysotile asbestos. No ruling was published in the Federal Register today. This all sounds quite mysterious since the word "chrysotile" cannot even be found in Social Security's enormous Program Operations Manual Series. Distinctions over the source of asbestos which has led to disability seems utterly irrelevant to disability determination anyway. Montana residents with asbestos damage from tremolite exposure may be making a not uncommon mistake -- thinking that the problems they are experiencing in obtaining Social Security disability benefits must be the result of some form of discrimation rather than a general problem affecting most Social Security disability claimants.

Update: A ruling on this subject is scheduled for publication on Friday, May 26.

Veterans Disability Benefits Commission Votes Down Social Security Offset

The Veteran's Disability Benefits Commission has voted 11-2 to not even study the possibility of offsetting veterans disability benefits by Social Security disability benefits. This must be considered a rebuke for the chairman of the Commission who had been pushing the idea of an offset. Instead of an offset, the Commission intends to study issues:

... such as waivers if a veteran has less than six quarters of SSDI eligibility, or possibly to expedite reviews for veterans already service-connected by VA or for those medically retired from the military. Other key considerations would be to understand the effects on quality of life for disabled veterans and to understand utilization rates of SSDI by veterans.

SSA Receives Award

The Association of Government Accountants has presented its annual Certificate of Excellence to the Social Security Administration, along with seven other agencies. The Certificate recognizes "outstanding Fiscal Year 2005 Performance and Accountability Reports."

SSA Official Plans To Be Doubledipper

James Lockhart III, who holds the second ranking position at Social Security as Deputy Commissioner has been nominated by the President to be the Director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO). Lockhart is awaiting Senate confirmation, but in the meantime the President has appointed Lockhart to be the Acting Director at OFHEO. Morningstar reports that Lockhart plans to keep his job as Deputy Commissioner at Social Security even after confirmation in the OFHEO job. He is receiving no salary from OFHEO now, but Lockhart expects to draw salaries both from OFHEO and SSA once he is confirmed at OFHEO.

Lockhart has already been critical of the compensation paid to executives at Fannie Mae, one of the federal housing corporations that he is now overseeing. Those executives were granted enormous bonuses based upon fraudulent accounting. Lockhart is quoted in the Washington Post as saying that "You could argue none of it [bonuses paid to Fannie Mae executives] was deserved."

Lockhart's dual role could cause serious problems for OFHEO and SSA if something happens to Jo Anne Barnhart, the Commissioner of Social Security, since Lockhart would then become the acting head of Social Security as well as OFHEO.

DSI Training

Social Security's Disability Service Improvement (DSI) plan is scheduled for implementation on a trial basis in Social Security's Boston Region, beginning on August 1. The National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and the Disability Law Center in Boston are sponsoring an all day training session on DSI at Suffolk University Law Center in Boston on July 10 for attorneys and others who represent Social Security disability claimants. Details are still being worked out and no information about the meeting is available online at either the NOSSCR or the Disability Law Center websites at this time. To register, send an e-mail tobsiegel@dlc-ma.org.