SSI Claimants Who Work

Social Security's Office of Policy Data has issued a report on SSI disability benefits recipients who work. One lowlight of the report is that nationwide there are only 419 participants in the Program For Achieving Self-Support (PASS) program that is supposed to encourage return to work for SSI disability recipients. Social Security has made it extremely difficult to qualify a PASS plan. Here are the more positive highlights:

In December 2005, there were 336,570 SSI disabled beneficiaries who were working—5.6 percent of the total SSI disabled caseload. Included in this count were 78,205 section 1619(b) participants who do not receive an SSI payment but have special SSI recipient status for Medicaid purposes. Over four-fifths (81.9 percent) of the workers had amounts of earned income below the substantial gainful activity (SGA) level of $860 per month; 22.8 percent earned $65 or less.

Geographic Distribution

Among the states, the percentage of disabled workers varied from a low of 2.8 percent in Mississippi to a high of 18.5 percent in North Dakota. In general, the percentage of disabled workers was higher in the northern states than in the southern states.

Demographic Characteristics

The majority of these disabled workers were male (53.4 percent). Almost half (49.3 percent) had unearned income; 43.5 percent were receiving Social Security benefits. Comparable figures for all disabled recipients in December 2005 were 45.5 percent male, 38.2 percent with unearned income, and 30.6 percent receiving Social Security benefits.

Diagnosis

Disabled workers are more likely to have certain impairments than other disabled recipients. Almost two-thirds (66.2 percent) of the workers had a mental disorder, including 41.5 percent who were diagnosed with mental retardation. By comparison, 57.7 percent of all disabled recipients were diagnosed with a mental disorder, including 21.7 percent with mental retardation.

Upcoming Meetings and CLE

• June 5-7, 2006 NY Legal Assistance Statewide DAP Task Force Meeting, Albany, NY
  
• June 7-9, 2006 Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel, Quarterly Meeting, Arlington, VA
• July 10, 2006 National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives and Disability Law Center Disability Service Improvement Training, Boston, MA
  
• July 12, 2006 Social Security Advisory Board meeting, Washington, DC
  
• July 14, 2006 Minnesota Legal Services Coalition CLE, Somewhere in Minnesota, but the sponsor did not bother to give the information
  
• July 18, 2006 ATLA Social Security Disability Section and Health Care and Disability Litigation Group CLE program, Seattle, WA
• August 4-5, Philadelphia Regional Management Association Annual Meeting, Williamsburg, VA
  
• August 10-11, 2006 Retirement Research Consortium, Washington, DC
• August 11, 2006 8th Circuit Social Security CLE, Omaha, NE
• September 8, 2006 Louisiana State Bar CLE, New Orleans, LA
• september 11-13, 2006 NADE Regional Training Conference, Jefferson City, MO
  
• September 16-21, 2006 National Association of Disability Examiners, San Diego, CA
  
• October 11-14, 2006 National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) CLE, Phoenix, AZ
• October 16-19, 2006 National Council of Social Security Management Association Meeting, Milwaukee, WI
• May 20-23, 2007, National Association of Disability Examiners Meeting, Stowe, VE
  

If you know of others, please e-mail me.

OIG Report on Rep Payee Problems

A recent report of Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) indicates that there may be serious problems with benefits not being paid to claimants for extended periods of time while Social Security investigates whether a representative payee should be appointed to handle the claimants' benefits for them. The report states that:

As of September 2004, we estimate there were approximately 10,780 beneficiaries in suspended status pending the selection of a representative payee (see Appendix C). Based on a review of 539 of these beneficiaries, we estimate that approximately
• $4.6 million in benefits was improperly suspended and should have been paid directly to about 1,700 beneficiaries;
• $5.2 million in benefits payable to about 1,580 beneficiaries was not reinstated, as required, after 1 month; and
• $5.7 million in benefits was withheld from about 2,220 children under age 15 for an average of 252 days.
In addition, SSA could not locate 11 of the 539 beneficiaries who remained in suspended status pending the selection of a representative payee.

AFGE Protests Budget Cuts At SSA

Witold Skwiercznsxi, president of the National Council of Field Office Operations Locals of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a labor union that represents 28,000 Social Security employees, has issued a press release objecting to attempts to cut Social Security's operating budget.

Feedback on Tremolite

Mike Bliven of Montana disagreed with my suggestion that Social Security Ruling 06-01p on diseases associated with tremolite exposure would be of little consequence:

While I have great respect for you and your work in the field, I respectfully disagree with your blog of today’s date on SSR 06-01. I could not post a response to your blog, so I am sending you this email. While not a magic bullet, this SSR will be helpful to the Montana tremolite victims in their claims – or at least as helpful as any SSR could be. The SSA must still apply it and comply with the Regulations. I know because I represent many of these claimants. This SSR took into account input from the victims of the tremolite exposure, including Montana victims, their treating physicians and other sources, with much effort on the part of Senator Baucus and his staff who work on Social Security issues. The Commissioner’s recent “unpublicized” changes to the regulations, will not go into effect in this part of the country for years and I question how they would help these folks – with the exception of possibly speeding up part of the process by eliminating Reconsideration (which is a meaningless delay here for 87% of applicants). This SSR is in effect now and will be of immediate assistance in the consideration of the claims to those whom it applies if it is followed by Montana DDS, ALJs, and the Appeals Council (or whatever it becomes while it remains).

Woman Convicted of Social Security Fraud For Using Child's Benefits To Buy Crack

Wendy Carpenter of Cedar Rapids, Iowa has been convicted for using Social Security disability benefits paid to her child to buy crack cocaine according to the WCF Courier.

New HALLEX On Bench Decisions

The Social Security Administration has issued additional instructions in its HALLEX Manual on Administrative Law Judge bench decisions. The new instructions allow bench decisions in widows and widowers, disabled adult child and most child's SSI cases.

Supreme Court Denies Cert

The United States Supreme Court has denied certiorari, that is they have refused to review, a decision of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that denied a constitutional challenge on free speech grounds to a law forbidding private mailings that appear to be from the Social Security Administration. A conservative group had used the words "Social Security Alert" on the outside of an envelope used in a mass mailing.