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 ...

The Big Picture -- A Credit Union Adjusts To a Downsized Social Security Administration

Sometimes you have to step back quite a way to see the big picture. There used to be an entity called the Social Security Baltimore Federal Credit Union. The winwin partnership reports that they are now called the Securityplus Federal Credit Union. The credit union had to change because the Social Security Administration's employment in the Baltimore area dropped over the last 15 years from 30,000 to less than 15,000. Because of the erosion in their customer base, the Securityplus Federal Credit Union has shifted its focus as well as its name. In addition to serving Social Security employees and retirees, the credit union now tries to serve underserved, presumably low income, areas in the Baltimore region. As a result, their business is growing.

Presidential Candidates On Social Security -- Democrats

Here are what the top tier Democratic candidates for President have said recently about Social Security, drawn from their campaign websites and senatoral websites:

Hillary Clinton:

I think it is essential that the Administration and Congress take the necessary steps to secure the solvency of this important program for current and future retirees. ... There are several key reasons why replacing Social Security with a privatized system would be harmful for Americans.

John Edwards:

I oppose diverting payroll taxes to private accounts but support offering matching accounts to workers on top of Social Security. I oppose raising the retirement age or cutting COLAs.

Barack Obama:

We need to modernize our social safety net to help senior citizens meet these new challenges, but we also must preserve those elements, such as Social Security and Medicare, that have enabled us to fulfill our moral commitment to our parents and grandparents.