Schenectady Daily Gazette On Backlogs

Some excerpts from a Schenectady Daily Gazette article. No link is possible since there is no on-line edition of the paper. At the rate we are going every newspaper in the country will do a story along these lines.

Twenty-three-year-old Christina Doty waited three years to hear that she would be receiving a monthly check from the federal government for the rest of her life, and would never have to work again....

"It was hard to keep a job," recalled Doty, a Schenectady resident whose husband is also disabled. "With my education level, nobody wanted me. My bipolar disorder and anxiety made it hard for me to be around a lot of people. Standing for eight hours a day was painful."

Yet her application for Supplemental Security Income ... had been denied three times. She kept appealing, but the wait, which began in 2004, seemed interminable. ...

The Social Security Administration acknowledges that the wait is too long, and that they are trying to find ways to expedite the application process and reduce the ever-mounting backlog of cases waiting for a hearing decision. ...

"It's all too high," said Mark Lassiter, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration.

"Informal" Remands Have Begun

I have heard that at least in North Carolina the "informal" remands or "re-recons" have begun. These are cases awaiting an Administrative Law Judge hearing which are selected by a computer formula to be sent back for a new look at the reconsideration level. Something like 2% of pending requests for hearing are being returned at this time for a new look at the reconsideration level. If no favorable action is possible on the new reconsideration review, the cases will be returned to the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review for a hearing, probably without the claimant ever knowing of the review.

"Streamlined" Hearing Files -- Bates Stamping Only

I am hearing that the "streamlined" hearing files that Commissioner Astrue was referring to in his appearance before the Senate Finance Committee will have "Bates stamping" only. ""Bates stamping" refers to sequentially numbering each page of a section of a Social Security hearing file -- but without removing duplicate records or attempting to place the records in any sort of logical order. However, it is not clear to me that this is completely mandatory.

In the past, when Administrative Law Judges heard cases on unpulled files, the files were "pulled" if the claim was to be denied. Apparently, there will never be any true pulling of exhibits with these "streamlined" files. The Appeals Council and District Courts should beware. They will not like the looks of these files.

This would help explain the plan for a computer program to "pull" exhibits in scanned files. A program which does no more than stamp a number on each page is no great feat. It appears that Social Security is abandoning "pulling" exhibits, perhaps permanently.

House Appropriations Set To Take Up Social Security As Republicans Look For Veto

The Disability Policy Collaboration's Capital Insider reports that the House Appropriations Committee will markup the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill on June 7. This is the appropriations bill that includes Social Security. The markup is being done without any hearing about Social Security's budget. I do not know what the lack of a hearing means, but it surprises me. Has this ever happened before?

The Capital Insider also reports that Republicans in the House of Representatives are circulating a letter in hopes of obtaining enough signatures of Republicans who will vote to sustain a veto by President Bush of any spending bill that exceeds the spending levels in the President's budget. This could bring about extended fights over many appropriations bills.

Results Of Last Week's Unscientific Poll

Barnhart versus Astrue
How effective is Michael Astrue as Commissioner of Social Security compared to his predecessor, Jo Anne Barnhart?

Astrue definitely more effective (10)	10%
Astrue a bit more effective than Barnhart (10)	10%
About the same (12)	11%
Barnhart was a bit more effective (1)	1%
Barnhart was definitely more effective (16)	15%
Depends upon what you mean by effective (29)	28%
Don't know (27)	26%

Total Votes: 105

Social Security Blogs

Considering that there may be 60 million blogs and considering that the Social Security Administration employs around 55,000 people and considering that one American in five receives Social Security benefits, it is amazing just how few Social Security blogs there are. If we exclude inactive blogs and exclude blogs that only post occasionally on Social Security issues and exclude blogs that post only for or against privatization of Social Security, I count only five Social Security blogs in addition to this one.

Take a look at my list of Social Security blogs. If you know of one that should be added to the list, let me know. But also consider starting your own Social Security blog. If you read this blog regularly, you might just have something you would like to say on the subject of Social Security. I post my real name on this blog, but blogs can be anonymous.

1. Disability Blog
2. Federal Disability Claims
3. My Disability Blog
4. Social Security Disability Blog
5. Ultimate Social Security Disability Guide

An Image From 1960

Another CLE

Here is a CLE (Continuing Legal Education) session that I did not include in my list of two days ago.

• July 24, 2007, Ohio State Bar Association, Columbus, OH