Drug Binges And Social Security Disability Benefits

From a press release issued by the Substance Abuse Policy Research Foundation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:

Paying out certain types of government aid in a monthly lump sum appears to fuel a spate of harmful and often fatal drug binges, according to a new study in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Public Economics that links the monthly arrival of disability checks with a sharp rise in drug related hospitalizations and deaths. The findings by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Texas A&M University suggests that spreading out aid payments over several weeks could be a way to relieve some of the stress on hospitals and health care workers who struggle to handle the monthly surge.

The analysis found that in California, the 23 percent increase in drug-related hospital admissions that occurs in the first five days of any given month is driven largely by the arrival of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Income (DI) payments. In particular, hospital deaths among SSI recipients increase 22 percent at the beginning of the month.

SSA Awards $80 Million Contract

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has awarded a large contract to Micro Tech LLC according to the Baltimore Business Journal. The contract is to provide "mainframe systems engineering and administration and telecommunications and Internet support services" to Social Security's National Computing Center in Baltimore. The initial contract is only for one year, but may be extended for four more years. If extended, the contract would be worth $80 million. EDS (Ross Perot's company), Apptis and Open Technology Group are also involved in the contract.

Clarification Asked On Long Term Care

From Medical News Today:

More than three dozen House members on Aug. 2 sent a letter to the Social Security Administration asking the agency to clarify that Medicare does not cover long-term care, CQ HealthBeat reports. The bipartisan letter urges SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue to include in Social Security statements sent annually to 143 million U.S. residents the sentence: "Medicare generally does not pay for long-term care."

The statement currently says that Medicare provides some coverage for "nursing care," which the lawmakers wrote "creates an unnecessary risk that individuals will assume Medicare covers an extended stay in a nursing home, when in fact it does not."

Poll Results

The Social Security Administration has restarted the Senior Attorney program. Do you think this is a good idea?

Yes, restarting Senior Attorney is a good idea (109)	75%
No, restarting Senior Attorney is a bad idea (32)	22%
Don't Know/No opinion (4)	3%

Total Votes: 145

Proposed Rule On Private Printing Of Social Security Forms

From today's Federal Register:

Section 312(a) of the Social Security Independence and Program Improvement Act (SSIPA) amended the Social Security Act (the Act) and, among other things, added section 1140(a)(2)(A) to the Act. Pub. L. 103-296, Sec. 312(a) (codified as 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1320b-10(a)(2)(A)). This section prohibits any person from charging a fee to reproduce, reprint, or distribute SSA's official applications, forms, or publications unless the Commissioner grants the person specific written authorization in accordance with regulations which the Commissioner shall prescribe. This proposed rule would implement section 312(a) of the SSIPA by adding SSA publications to the current regulation and by providing for SSA's prior approval of requests to reproduce, reprint, and/or distribute its applications, forms, or publications when the person intends to charge a fee. Furthermore, our proposed rule would implement section 312(a) by establishing the procedure any person who intends to charge a fee for reproducing, reprinting, or distributing SSA materials must follow to obtain SSA's prior approval. The requirement to obtain SSA's prior approval would apply regardless of the means the person uses to transmit the document, e.g., Internet or direct mail. This regulation would help to ensure that consumers obtain accurate and current materials and information regarding the
Administration's programs.

Minor Non-Attorney Withholding Notice

From today's Federal Register:

In prior notices published in the Federal Register, we provided guidance on the requirements for participation in the Non- Attorney Direct Payment Demonstration Project mandated by Section 303 of the Social Security Protection Act of 2004 (SSPA). In this notice, we are announcing that we are revising our earlier guidance in two respects. First, we have decided to replace the requirement that insurance policies must be underwritten by a firm that is licensed to provide insurance in the State where the individual practices with a requirement that the underwriting firm be legally permitted to provide insurance in that State. This change will allow us to accept insurance policies offered by ``surplus lines carriers.'' ppp

In our January 13, 2005 notice, we also announced that we would provide each applicant eligible to sit for the examination required by SSPA section 303(b)(4) a copy of the Compilation of Social Security Laws, Volume 1 (Compilation), to use as an open-book reference during the examination. Based on experience we have gained in the first four examinations, we have decided that providing a limited number of copies of the Compilation at each testing site for test-takers to consult during the examination is sufficient. Therefore, instead of giving each test-taker a copy of the Compilation, we will make available at each testing site sufficient copies of the Compilation for use by test-takers during the examination.

Fee Payment Stats

The Social Security Administration has published the updated numbers seen below on payments of fees to attorneys and others for representing claimants before the agency.

Note that fee payments went up by 80% between January and June, but then went down 21% between June and July. To those who work at Social Security who think this means that attorneys who represent Social Security claimants took home 80% more in June than in January and then 21% less in July, which is itself a huge variation, think again. Those who represent claimants usually have substantial office expenses. These office expenses are a fixed "nut" that change little from month to month. The practical effect of this is that the net profit (or loss) of someone who represents Social Security claimants for a living swings far more wildly from month to month than one might think from reading Social Security's numbers. These fluctuations which seem dramatic even on the surface are far more dramatic for those on the receiving end. It is a wild ride.

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-07	15,331	$55,149,991.81
Feb-07	19,301	$69,731,683.72
Mar-07	26,505	$94,396,916.02
Apr-07	26,889	$96,650,134.82
May-07	24,429	$86,625,391.60
June-07	27,716	$99,357,038.71
July-06	21,807	$78,273,082.88

Social Security Appropriations For FY 2008

Fiscal year (FY) 2008 begins on October 1, 2007. The Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill includes funding for the Social Security Administration. Here is some information from the Disability Policy Collaboration Capitol Insider on the status of the FY 2008 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill:

Human services advocates were briefed by Senate Appropriations staff on the FY 2008 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (L-HHS-ED) Appropriations bill. It appears likely that Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) will not schedule the L-HHS-ED bill for floor action in September. The September calendar is too crammed with “must do” legislation. Thus, the House-passed L-HHS-ED bill will be conferenced with the bill adopted by the Senate Appropriations Committee. This bill will ultimately be included in an omnibus bill where several FY 2008 appropriations bills will be merged together. However, if this tactic plays out, a Presidential veto looms, practically assuring the start of Fiscal Year 2008 without an enacted bill on L-HHS-ED appropriations. Funding will most likely continue under one or more short term Continuing Resolutions until the White House and the Congress agree on spending levels.