Hearing Backlog Poll

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Results Of Last Week's Unscientific Poll

What is the earliest level of review at which you normally take on clients?

Initial (32)	49%
Reconsideration (22)	34%
Hearing (9)	14%
Appeals Council or District Court (2)	3%

Total Votes: 65

An Image From 1936

Fraud Allegation Against Social Security Employee

From KCAL:

A former Social Security Administration worker from the Los Angeles area faces federal charges for allegedly providing information to people who used it to steal identities and rack up about $2.5 million in credit card charges, prosecutors said Thursday.

Jennifer Batiste, 45, allegedly took $20 bribes each time she accessed a government database that lists Social Security numbers, mothers' maiden names and dates of birth.

But Is It Fraud?

From WZZW13 in Grand Rapids, MI:

Dozens of people are facing misdemeanor fraud charges after cashing too many Social Security checks. They are accused of obtaining money under false pretenses. It's all part of a crackdown by the Social Security Administration. ...

In Dipippo's case [she is one of those accused], when she didn't receive her monthly disability check, she asked for a new one. When it came in the mail, she cashed it. Soon after that, another one showed up. "I got in trouble for cashing both", says Dipippo.

The Social Security Administration has been cracking down on what they call "double check negotiations". It started with an audit by The Office of the Inspector General.

Are they going to be able to get criminal convictions without proving that these people were lying when they said their check had not arrived?

Unexpected Effect Of Gay Marriage

The recent wave of state legislation allowing same-sex domestic partnerships with the same rights as marriages may have an unexpected effect upon Social Security. No, Social Security will not recognize these civil unions as marriages, but read this excerpt from an Associated Press article about civil unions in Washington state.

Unmarried, heterosexual senior couples would also be eligible for domestic partnerships if one partner were at least 62. Lawmakers said that provision was included to help seniors who are at risk of losing pension rights and Social Security benefits if they remarry.

An Expensive Request

Witold Skwierczynski, who is head of Social Security operations for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) which represents 28,000 Social Security employees, made a request in 2004 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for certain Social Security documents. The response he received has shown up on the web. He was told that cost of responding to his request would be $813,747!

I know this is history, but the breadth of this request and the ridiculous response are both amazing. I knew there was bad blood there, but this is stunning!

Disability Appeals Chart

The National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) published the chart shown above that it obtained from Social Security. The chart shows the current results of Social Security's disability appeals process. Click on the image to get it in a full screen version.