SSA Seeks Help Writing Decisions

The Social Security Administration has posted decision writing software for free downloading. The software can be used to help in writing decisions for Administrative Law Judges. The obvious idea is that those representing Social Security claimants will write the decisions for Social Security, removing some workload from the agency. However, there has no corresponding effort to adjust the cap on what may be paid those who represent claimants. That has not been adjusted in five years and has been eroded significantly by inflation.

Homelessness And Social Security Disability

You have to wonder why the media had little interest in reporting on this issue until Democrats tok control of Congress. Some excerpts from a New York Times article:

When a biting winter storm descended on the Coney Island Boardwalk one afternoon last month, whipping sand and trash into the air, a flock of seagulls lost no time in taking wing. But Patrick Garbiras, a gaunt, shambling, 51-year-old homeless man, could only do what he has been doing ever since filing his claim for Social Security disability benefits 440 days earlier: seek shelter in slow motion.

If Mr. Garbiras were capable of scurrying, he probably would have done so. But a seizure disorder and three operations over the past 14 months, including an open-heart surgery, have left him feeble.

Since becoming homeless in late 2005, Mr. Garbiras has often spent his nights on the subway ...

But as he struggled, it was not the elements Mr. Garbiras cursed. It was the Social Security Administration. ...

John Shallman, a regional spokesman for Social Security, said the agency does not comment on individual matters. But while in Mr. Garbiras’s case, poorly updated agency records and his homelessness have complicated the process, the biggest obstacle is the 503 days it takes, on average, for hearings of disability appeals to be conducted in Brooklyn — 37 days more than the national average.

Results Of Last Week's Unscientific Poll

What effect do you expect EDIB to have upon Social Security productivity?

Dramatic improvement in productivity (4)	5%
Good improvement in productivity (20)	23%
Minor improvement in productivity (20)	23%
No effect upon productivity (8)	9%
Mild reduction in productivity (18)	21%
Significant decrease in productivity (9)	10%
Dramatic decrease in productivity (8)	9%

Total Votes: 87

An Image From 1997

Upcoming Meetings and CLE

• April 5, 2007, Illinois Institute For CLE, CLE Webcast only?
  
• April 11, 2007, Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel Meeting, Arlington, VA
  
• April 18-20 2007, NADE Regional Training Conference, Albuquerque, NM
• April 18-21 2007, NOSSCR CLE, Baltimore, MD
• April 19, 2007, SSAB Meeting, Washington, DC
• April 25, 2007, Legal Services of New York Legal Support Unit CLE, New York, NY
• April 27, 2007, Cincinnati Bar Association Social Security Committee CLE, Cincinnati, OH
• May 1, 2007, Legal Services of New York Legal Support Unit CLE, New York, NY
• May 2, 2007, Indiana CLE, Indianapolis, IN
  
• May 2-4, 2007, NADE Regional Training Conference, Seattle, WA
• May 5-9, 2007, NADE Biregional Training Conference, Atlanta, GA
  
• May 7-10 2007, NADE Regional Training Conference, Atlanta, GA
• May 14, 2007, Legal Services of New York Legal Support Unit CLE, New York, NY
• May 16, 2007, Legal Services of New York Legal Support Unit CLE, New York, NY
• May 18, 2007, State Bar of Michigan Social Security Section Meeting, Lansing, MI
• May 20-23, 2007, National Association of Disability Examiners Meeting, Stowe, VE
• June 8, 2007, Minnesota CLE on Social Security Practice, Rochester, MN
• July 12, 2007, PBI CLE, Pittsburg, PA
• July 23, 2007, Legal Aid Society, Nashville, TN
  
• September 10-15, 2007, International Social Security Association General Assembly, Moscow, Russia
  
• September 15-20, 2007, NADE National Conference, Sioux Falls, SD
• October 17-20, 2007, NOSSCR CLE, St. Louis, MO
• November 30, 2007, Legal Services of New York Legal Support Unit CLE, New York, NY
• April 8-11, 2008 NADE Regional Conference, Austin, TX
• June 4-7, 2008 NOSSCR CLE, Miami, FL
• October 15-18, 2008 NOSSCR CLE, Century City, CA

If you know of one that I have missed, please e-mail me at charles[at]charleshallfirm.com.

Martin Gerry's Departure From SSA

I try not to post based upon anonymously posted information, but this is too good to pass on. I cannot vouch for it. It is possible that it is a complete fabrication. If it is, please let me know. Read this reply to a post I made yesterday about Martin Gerry's apparent firing. Gerry was the right hand man of former Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart. Gerry made the surprising decision to try to stay on at Social Security after Barnhart's term ended. He recently left his job at Social Security in what appeared to be an abrupt manner that strongly suggested he had been fired. Former Commissioner Barnhart wanted everyone to love her. If this post is true, Commissioner Astrue wants everyone to fear him. That would be a dramatic change for upper level Social Security personnel.

Iowa County Proposes Aid To Those Waiting And Waiting For Action On Their Social Security Disability Claims

From the Daily Iowan:

A proposed addition to Johnson County's general-assistance program, which helps county residents experiencing financial crises, would assist those waiting to receive state Social Security disability benefits.

Under the proposed interim assistance program, as presented to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors last week, the county would help support citizens applying for benefits, providing monthly payments to those waiting for state approval. ...

Currently, individuals waiting on benefits do not receive money until their applications are approved. State reimbursement would go to the county rather than the individual under the new plan. The proposed program would provide immediate financial relief to those waiting for Social Security disability benefits.

Social Security Budget Situation

Let me start out by saying that I am no budget expert. In fact, the more I study Social Security's budget situation and the federal budget process, the more complicated it seems. Acknowledging that I may err, let me summarize what I understand the situation to be.

Social Security's Fiscal Year (FY) Actual Budget 2007 -- (October 1, 2006 to September 30, 2007) $9.3 billion

Social Security's FY 2008 (October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2008) Budget Request -- $10.44 billion -- a 13% increase over FY 2007

President's FY 2008 Budget --$9.6 billion -- a 4% increase -- little more than inflation

House of Representatives FY 2008 Budget Resolution Budget For Social Security--$10.11 billion -- a 9% increase over the FY 2007

Senate FY 2008 Budget Resolution Budget For Social Security -- I am still trying to figure this one out. I think it is similar to the House Budget Resolution, but a bit lower. I would appreciate it if someone who understands the process better can supply me with the Senate number.

These budget resolution figure, to the extent that I can understand it, is only a general guideline. The Appropriations Committees of the two houses of Congress must report out specific funding bills and those must be passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President. Other agencies are jockeying with Social Security for appropriations, within the general guidelines set forth by the budget resolutions. In other words, Social Security's actual appropriaton for FY 2008 could go up or down from the figures suggested by the House budget resolution, but will probably be in the same ball park.

This certainly suggests that Social Security's FY 2008 budget will be much better than its FY 2007 budget, but that does not mean that all of Social Security's budget problems will disappear. Even the budget put forward by Social Security is likely to be well below what the agency needs to work down its backlogs quickly. Any agency must avoid offending the White House's Office of Management and Budget and Congress with budget requests which seem extravagant. Social Security's budget request for FY 2008 was prepared under the direction of Jo Anne Barnhart. She was never willing to pursue her agency's budget needs aggressively, so there is good reason to believe that, if anything, the budget she produced suffers from an excess of modesty, and Social Security is not going to get all of that.

What we can hope for at the moment is enough funds to stabilize Social Security's field offices, teleservice centers and payment centers, which are in a state of impending collapse, and to make some modest improvements at the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR), which suffered a collapse in 2001 from which it has never recovered. Full recovery at ODAR (which should include a name change back to the Office of Hearings and Appeals -- everybody involved HATES the name ODAR) is likely to take many years.