Social Security Legislative Proposals?

Commissioner Astrue testified today that he has legislative proposals pending at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB cannot prevent Astue from sending legislative proposals to Congress, but they have to "score" them for their budget impact. OMB opposition can also make it difficult to get an agency proposal enacted.

What would these legislative proposals be? On the face of it I see little need for Social Security to propose anything legislatively. If anything, Social Security needs fewer legislative changes to adjust to.

One concern is that Astrue talked about needing more "control" over Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) if the agency is to achieve any time deadlines. This could mean that Astrue wants to use the backlog situation as justification for reducing or eliminating ALJ independence.

Time Frame On New ALJs

In his testimony today, Commissioner Astrue said that it would be late October of this year before a new register will be available from which Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) could be hired and that it would take four months thereafter to hire more ALJs. It would then take time to train them. Realistically, it will be a year or more from now before more ALJs are holding hearings at Social Security.

Re-Recon?

My initial interpretation of what I heard Commissioner Astrue say was that re-recon was not on the table. However, Astrue's written statement is now available and he has this to say in the written statement:

In addition, we will screen our oldest cases using profiles developed by the Office of Quality Performance to identify cases where there may be a high probability that an allowance can be issued on the record without a hearing. During my visits to hearing offices in Atlanta and Boston, many employees expressed their belief that cases that were initially denied because an applicant did not meet the durational definition of a disability could, at this stage in the process, now meet the time requirements associated with our programs. If true, we could make a significant impact on our backlog. This screening initiative will begin next month.

This sounds a lot like re-recon.

First Impression Of Senate Finance Committee Hearing

Michael Astrue has virtually nothing new to offer in his opening statement. The only things he said in his opening statement that he has not said previously is that he is "studying" and will "evaluate" senior attorney decisions and that some Field Office personnel will be detailed to help work up files for Administrative Law Judges to hear -- 5,000 hours of work, which is trivial. This sounds as if he will not try to go ahead with senior attorneys unless the Office of Management and Budget approves. Re-recon and short form decisions were not mentioned. He has referred only to the President's budget proposal as a goal, never to Social Security's own budget proposal.

Watch Senate Finance Committee Hearing

Today's Senate Finance Committee hearing on Social Security's administrative costs is available in streaming video. It will be available live or later as a recording at the Committee website.

Medicare Rights Center On The Waiting Period For Medicare

I am often asked by my clients who are awarded Title II Social Security disability benefits why they have to suffer through what amounts to a two and a half year waiting period for Medicare. The Medicare waiting period is two years itself, but this is on top of a five to six month waiting period for Title II Social Security disability benefits. My clients long for some rational explanation. I have to tell them the plain truth. The only explanation is that it saves money. Period. The cruelty of this waiting period has been acknowledged by everyone for decades now, yet nothing has been done.

The Medicare Rights Center has issued a report: Too Sick To Work, Too Soon For Medicare: The Human Cost Of The Two-Year Medicare Waiting Period For Americans With Disabilities. The report appears to be an early step in a campaign to eliminate the Medicare waiting period. This will not happen while George W. Bush is president, but activists are already trying to set an agenda for the next president.

Social Security Bulletin Released

The Social Security Administration has released the most recent issue of the Social Security Bulletin, a magazine featuring basic Social Security statistics and historical and statistical articles.

Presidential Candidates On Social Security -- Republicans

Here are the views of the top tier Republican candidates for President, as gleaned from various websites:

Rudolph Giuliani

Giuliani agreed that long-term costs and solvency are an issue and that private accounts should be part of the solution, adding that "people should have some choice" in how their accounts are handled.

John McCain:

...supports giving workers the option to set aside a small fraction of their Social Security contributions to be conservatively invested in retirement funds. These accounts would not be so large that they overshadow the existing system, nor would it threaten promised benefits in any way. They would simply supplement the design of the current system to give younger workers greater retirement security. Most importantly, they would act as a lock box to protect the Social Security surpluses Congress raids every year

Mitt Romney

Romney won’t propose changes in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — the government entitlement programs that are growing at unsustainable rates — but instead will press for all sides to come to the bargaining table ...