Happy New Year!

Does This Make Sense?

See the notice below, recently posted by Social Security. Perhaps there is some good explanation, but it is hard to understand why this contractor is moving so slowly on something that does not sound all that complicated -- or why they even need to have "a conference of expert consultants" at a time when Social Security is so short of money that it may furlough staff. And who are these "expert consultants?" Indeed, why did Social Security need a contractor for this to begin with? If the whole idea is to change to something simple, would it not be simple to set up a test? Why does Social Security's Inspector General spend a lot of time chasing down penny ante claimant fraud while ignoring wasteful expenditures for contractors?

The Social Security Administration (SSA) intends to modify its contract with Abt Associates, Inc. (contract #SS00-04-60110), $1 for $2 Benefit Offset Demonstration in accordance with FAR 6.302-1, to include the contractor?s work to facilitate a conference of expert consultants from the Four State Benefit Offset Pilot programs that will serve to complement pre-implementation tasks under the contract. BACKGROUND: On September 30, 2004 SSA awarded a 2-year contract to Abt Associates for design of a multi-site, demonstration project that tests alternate methods of treating work activity in the Title II disability program. After the design is completed, subsequent phases of this demonstration will be awarded to the same contractor on a sole source basis for the implementation, data collection and evaluation and management of the project, conditional upon successful performance of the design phase. REQUIREMENTS: Abt will be responsible for arranging all necessary activities related to planning and facilitating the aforementioned conference. Interested sources that believe they have the capability to perform the services required should submit a capability statement to Daniel Walker via email at daniel.walker@ssa.gov. Responses shall be marked CONF - CAPABILITY STATEMENT, and shall be received no later than January 12, 2007, 2:30PM EST. All responsible sources will be considered. If no responses are received by the cutoff date, a modification will be effected against the Abt contract referenced above. All questions must be submitted in writing to Daniel Walker via the email address listed above. Telephone calls will NOT be accepted.

Retirement Of Social Security Employee Illustrates Social Security's Problems

This short and seemingly unimportant article from The Express-Times, a Pennsylvania newspaper, contains themes which reflect widespread problems at Social Security. A long time Social Security employee who is well regarded by those with whom he has dealt is retiring. Social Security has many long time employees nearing retirement. This is because the number of Social Security employees has declined dramatically over the last 25 years or so, which means that relatively few new employees have been hired at Social Security over the last 25 years. As these long term employees retire, the agency is rapidly becoming less experienced. This retiring employee is not being replaced, which is indicative of Social Security's terrible budget problems. The retiring employee is concerned that Social Security is rapidly phasing out face to face service in favor of toll free number service, which he knows is much less satisfactory.

EASTON | Ray J. Little had job offers from two federal agencies after passing the civil service examination.

He initially planned to work for the Internal Revenue Service, but a friend steered him to his second choice -- Social Security.

At the IRS, the friend told Little, his job involved trying to collect money from people.

"That's no fun," the friend told Little. "With Social Security, you have people coming in, and you're trying to give them money, and it's a lot easier."

So Little took a position with the Social Security Administration -- in 1960.

The Palmer Township resident will retire today after 46 years. He spent much of that time working out of Easton, acting as the unofficial face in this area of the agency that is charged with disbursing benefits to millions of Americans, including thousands in Northampton, Warren and Hunterdon counties.

Little's job -- public affairs representative or field specialist -- included duties such as speaking before area groups and generally getting the word out about Social Security programs.

Grateful representatives of area agencies say Little went beyond the call of duty.

"We share many clients, so he's been helpful," said Elsie Luciano, executive director of Easton Area Neighborhood Centers Inc.

"He did so much and helped so many people that we know of in our chamber," added Bill Brackbill, former president of the Nazareth Area Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber recognized Little in May 2005 when the agency opened its Downtown Easton office at 134 S. Fourth St.

Little's job essentially will be eliminated, according to John J. McCann, the Easton office's district manager, who hopes to provide fill-in speakers either through his office or through regional public affairs officials.

The retiring Little believes face-to-face contact helps beneficiaries, but it's something he said Social Security is doing less of in recent years, with the agency providing a toll-free telephone number and Internet access.

Little said he has helped some people receive benefits earlier than they realized. Some widows still send him Christmas cards every year, he said, after they learned from him years earlier about being able to apply for benefits sooner than they had thought.

"You can't file for Social Security until you're 62," said Little, repeating an oft-cited government phrase. "But a widow can file as early as age 60."

"He does a tremendous job developing relationships with people," said Brackbill of Little. "You call Ray and you might get his answering machine, but you get an answer back He's always quick to respond."

For now, Little said he has no definite retirement plans. He intends to take a few months to relax then explore possible part-time offers from area agencies to become a resource for Social Security.

He'll also be able to fine tune his monthly benefit check, though Little added a surprising twist: Part of the reason he took retirement now is that he would lose money by working full-time.

It's in part because of cuts approved by the government in recent years involving government workers who held other positions for which they could collect Social Security, and to help ensure Social Security's solvency.

"Really, I'm going to miss it, because I enjoy it," said Little, who participated in some lighthearted banter with McCann while the two looked at old photographs and articles about Little's early career.

"I enjoy dealing with people. That's why of all the jobs I've had the best job as far as I'm concerned is the job I have now."

McCann, who has been Little's boss since 1999, said Little worked hard at chasing down fraud referrals and deciphering the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, which has been in effect more than one year.

"He also brought a lot of humor in the office," added McCann.

The impeccably dressed Little, who on this day sported a Social Security button on his jacket lapel, indeed was always quick with a quip.

"You wouldn't dare put my age in," he said when the question arose. "Just put down there good looking, intelligent and humble."

Gerald Ford On Social Security

Gerald Ford had a somewhat different attitude towards Social Security than the current Republican President, who is firmly opposed to any tax increase and wishes to privatize Social Security. It is amazing to think that Ford, a Republican, made the following remarks in 1976, which sound like the sort of thing that even a Democrat might be scared to say today:

WHILE the press is here, I think it might be appropriate to point out to them the reason for this meeting.

As everybody knows, I submitted to the Congress a very constructive proposal for the purpose of maintaining the financial integrity of the social security trust fund. This was submitted at the time of our budget or economic program, at the time of the State of the Union and, unfortunately, it appears that the Congress is going to fail to recognize the problem and tragically fail to do anything to solve the problem.

This concerns me very greatly, because we have 39 million individuals, most of them older, who are depending upon the financial soundness of the trust fund. And we leave literally millions and millions more who are paying into the trust fund, who are counting on the financial integrity of that fund.

This administration feels an obligation to protect the investment of those who are retired and those who are counting on retirement. The purpose of this meeting is for me to get the up-to-date information from the responsible people in the executive branch who, I'm sure, are likewise concerned, as I am, about the current situation.

The Congress cannot fail the older people and others who are either on retirement or about to retire. We expect some action. They cannot fail to respond to this very important and, I think, critical need.

Simple arithmetic indicates that the social security trust fund is headed for trouble. Unless the Congress acts to ensure that the fund takes in as much as it pays out, there will not be adequate security for old or young.

In my State of the Union Message in January, I proposed a payroll tax increase of .3 percent each for employees and employers, to increase revenues into the trust fund to ensure that benefits will be available to all who have earned them.

My proposed increase would cost workers, with a maximum taxable income, less than a dollar a week. This increase will help stabilize trust funds so that current and future recipients can be assured the benefits that they have earned. I urge the Congress to take the earliest possible action on my proposal to preserve the integrity of the social security trust fund.

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Ticket to Work Meeting

Social Security's Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel has scheduled a teleconference meeting for January 10 from 2:00 to 4:00. Members of the public may listen in by calling 1-888-790-4158 and using the pass code: PANEL TELECONFERENCE.

Empire Justice Center Newsletter

The Empire Justice Center has issued its November 2006 edition of Disability Law News, its newsletter mostly dealing with Social Security disability issues.

Determining Disability Is Tough

Determining whether a person is disabled is tough, whether it is Social Security or workers compensation doing the disability determination, as this item from the Insurance Journal shows:

People who receive higher disability ratings for work-related back injuries don't necessarily fare worse over the long term than those who get lower ratings, a Saint Louis University study finds...

"A disability rating is supposed to reflect the amount of impairment a person has at the time that a case is closed. The presumption is that levels of impairment are stable and related to day-to-day levels of function. I was shocked that the associations between disability rating and subsequent levels of function weren't stronger," said Raymond Tait, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Disability ratings also differed between African-Americans and Caucasians. According to Tait, those differences probably reflected differences in treatment: whites were four times more likely to have surgery than blacks. Those who had surgery received larger settlements for their injuries, Tait said.

"While surgery inflated disability ratings, there appeared not relationship between surgery outcomes and how a person did thereafter," he said.

Tait and colleague John Chibnall, Ph.D., also a professor of psychiatry at Saint Lois University, looked at about 1,500 Missouri workers – 580 African-Americans and 892 Caucasians – whose Workers' Compensation claims for lower back pain were settled between Jan. 1, 2001 and June 1, 2002.

Researchers interviewed the employees 21 months after their settlements about how they were doing. They asked questions about pain intensity, general physical and mental health and whether they currently were working.

Tait and Chibnall said that their findings "raise questions about both the validity and the fairness of the current disability determination program. Disability settlements are designed to give people money toward a fresh start. Those settlements do not appear to reflect the residual levels of disability that people actually experience."

SSA Definitely Closing On January 2

President Bush's order shutting federal offices for former President Ford's funeral allowed agency heads to make the decision on which offices should stay open for "essential public business." There was little chance that Commissioner Barnhart would use this to keep Social Security offices open, since they were closed for the funerals of former presidents Nixon and Reagan. The word has now come down that Social Security offices will be closed on January 2.