Resurrection Cases

Most of the readers of this blog are well aware of just how big the Social Security Administration is. I thought that I would post a little something to give an idea of Social Security's size to any who do not fully appreciate the agency's size. Here is a little excerpt from a recent transmittal from Social Security's Program Operations Manual Series (POMS):

Erroneous death cases are very sensitive. A termination of SSI benefits due to death does not require a notice and can result in severe financial hardship and distress to the recipient. Loss of Medicaid benefits and other assistance based on SSI may occur. Unless the death termination was caused by an obvious administrative error, a person must show acceptable identifying information (ID) to have benefits reinstated. We must offer assistance as needed to help obtain proof of ID and process reinstatement of benefits expeditiously.

The transmittal goes on to talk about what proof of lack of death is acceptable and how the "resurrection" is accomplished. This transmittal concerns SSI benefits, but there are similar instructions concerning benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act.

One might wonder why Social Security needs written instructions concerning this sort of event. Surely, it cannot happen that often. No, in a sense it does not happen that often. I would give a wild guess that it might happen to less than one claimant in 100,000 per year, which really is a pretty good error rate. The problem is that with about one person in five in this country drawing Social Security benefits that is still a lot of erroneous death terminations. There are many press reports each year about these cases, even though most cases remain unreported in the media. There are many dozens of these events a year, perhaps hundreds, so Social Security needs staff instructions.

U.S. Czech Totalization Agreement

A notice posted by the Social Security Administration:

The United States and the Czech Republic signed an agreement on September 7, 2007, to exempt U.S. and Czech employers and workers from double payroll taxation. Before the agreement can enter into force, both the U.S. Congress and the Czech parliament must ratify it. (In the U.S., the president must transmit the agreement to Congress for a required 60-session-day review period.)

The agreement will exempt U.S. citizens sent by U.S.-owned companies to work in the Czech Republic for 5 years or less from paying social security taxes to both countries. Czech citizens sent to work temporarily in the United States will receive similar tax treatment. As a result, the employers of these workers will pay social security taxes only to their own country. Individuals who have worked in both countries, but who currently do not meet the minimum benefit eligibility requirements for either system, may qualify for a benefit based on combined coverage credits from both countries. Combined coverage periods may be used to calculate retirement, disability, and survivor benefits. If both countries approve the agreement, the Czech Republic will be the 22nd country with a totalization agreement with the United States.

Sources: "U.S.-Czech Republic Social Security Agreement," U.S. Social Security Administration, September 2007.

This does not seem to be getting as much attention as the possibility of a totalization agreement with Mexico.

Press Release On "Compassionate Allowance Hearing

A press release from the Social Security Administration:

The Social Security Administration is making statements from its two-day public hearing with some of the nation’s leading experts on rare diseases available online at www.socialsecurity.gov. The experts presented testimony and shared their views about Social Security’s efforts to identify and implement “compassionate allowances” for children and adults with rare diseases.

“We need to identify and fast-track disability cases that are certain or near-certain to be allowed,” said Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security. “The compassionate allowances initiative will allow the Social Security Administration to make decisions on cases involving certain categories of conditions in days or weeks instead of months or years.”

Compassionate allowances are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that invariably qualify under Social Security’s Listing of Impairments based on minimal objective medical information. Compassionate allowances will let Social Security quickly target the most obviously disabled individuals for allowances based on objective medical information that can be obtained quickly. Many of these claims can be allowed based on confirmation of the diagnosis alone; for example, acute leukemia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and pancreatic cancer. In these cases, allowances can be made as soon as the diagnosis is confirmed or the other necessary objective medical evidence is obtained.

This hearing, held on December 4th and 5th in Washington, D.C., is the first of four public hearings that Social Security plans to hold over the next year.

Please go to www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances for testimony from many of the rare disease experts and a photo gallery of the hearing.

How can you call it a public hearing, when the public was not allowed to even attend the hearing, much less speak? It is not as if many people were interested in attending. I was not. Still, it is a reach to describe this as a public hearing.

White House Says No Budget Compromise

From The Hill:

The White House responded sharply on Saturday to reports that the congressional Democratic leadership was putting the finishing touches on a huge omnibus spending bill that includes funding for the ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle issued a blunt veto threat ...

“Although the Administration has not seen the legislation, according to press reports it would include $18 billion in additional domestic and emergency spending above the president’s budget,” Nussle said. “When added to emergency domestic spending Congress already included in the Defense Appropriations bill, this so-called compromise would result in more excess spending than even the Democrats’ original budget included.”

McCrery To Retire

Jim McCrery, formerly Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's Social Security Subcommittee, has announced that he will not be standing for re-election next year.

Budget Plan In The Works

From the New York Times:

Congressional leaders are assembling a $500 billion package to try to resolve an impasse by providing President Bush with unfettered money for the Iraq war in exchange for new spending on popular domestic programs. ...

Under the Democratic plan described by senior aides, the Iraq money would be voted on separately, to allow lawmakers opposed to the war to add money for health care, education, home heating programs, border enforcement and other initiatives. ...

“This is not a done deal by any stretch,” said a top House Democrat, who, like others, would not speak for the record about the negotiations because the measures were being developed and the situation was so fluid. ...

As envisioned, the package would exceed the president’s overall spending limit by $11 billion, down from the $22 billion that Democrats had initially sought. The amount could increase with emergency spending sought by the administration, as well as lawmakers.

Opinion Piece On Social Security Backlogs

From the Statesman Journal of Salem, OR:

Previous Congresses have passed big tax cuts for the wealthy in less time than it takes a U.S. worker or a U.S. soldier to get approval for a disability claim. ...

AARP reports that the average wait for a disability claim hearing is 520 days.

Just getting a response on anything isn't easy. More than half of all calls to the 1,500 local Social Security Administration offices get a busy signal. And in many communities, if you decided to show up in person instead, it means waits measured by the hour. ...

This sad state of affairs is the result of conscious neglect by past Congresses and the president. They constantly have whittled away Social Security Administration and Veterans Affairs budget requests for more personnel to reduce the backlog. The Social Security Administration overall staffing is the lowest is has been in 34 years.

OMB Action Completed

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is reporting that it has completed action on three recent regulatory packages from the Social Security Administration. These are Privacy and Disclosure of Official Records and Information; Availability of Information and Records to the Public, Proposed Suspension of New Claims to the Federal Reviewing Official Review Level and Revised Medical Criteria for Evaluating Functional Limitations Due to Digestive Disorders.

I do not think any of these is controversial. I imagine that the Official Records package is housekeeping. The Digestive Disorders package is almost certainly a minor correction to recent final listings for digestive disorders, since it was approved by OMB in less than a week. The suspension of Federal Reviewing Official (FedRO) Review has been coming since Michael Astrue was appointed Commissioner of Social Security. He made it clear early on that he intended to kill the FedRO program. That will be tough for those who took the FedRO jobs, but no one else will mourn the end of the FedRO program.