New York Times Article On Social Security Backlogs Coming Monday

Expect a front page article on Social Security's disability backlogs on the front page of the New York Times on Monday. It should be available online later this evening.

Ninety Members Of House Of Representatives Join In Letter On SSA Funding

Social Security Perspectives has a copy of a letter signed by 90 members of the House of Representatives asking that whatever new appropriations bill is reported out to replace the one vetoed by the President have funding for the Social Security Administration at the same level as the vetoed bill.

Fifty-Four Senators Sign Letter On Social Security Funding

Take a look at the letter posted on Social Security Perspectives signed by 54 Senators urging that the Social Security Administration be funded at the full level provided for in the earlier appropriations bill vetoed by the President. Click on each page to see it full size.

Letter About SSA Funding

Below is the text of two letters sent on December 3, 2007. The same letter was sent to Senators Tom Harkin and Arlen Specter, the chair and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee having jurisdiction over appropriations for the Social Security Administration and to David Obey and James Walsh, the chair and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee. Note the long list of groups signing off on this. Impressive.

The undersigned organizations represent a significant number of the stakeholders of SSA. We respectfully request that as you work to finalize FY 2008 appropriations levels that you retain the full level of funding for the Social Security Administration (SSA), $9.872 billion, that was included in the conference agreement for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill.

This level of funding is absolutely critical for SSA to address an increasing number of service delivery issues. As you are aware, SSA’s workload has grown significantly in recent years due to the aging of the population and new requirements related to Medicare and homeland security legislation. However, for the past ten years (FY 1998 through 2007) the President’s budget request for SSA’s administrative resources was lower than the Commissioner’s request, and Congress further reduced SSA’s budget by a cumulative total of almost $1.3 billion over that ten year period. Due to this prolonged underfunding, SSA has experienced serious staffing declines as workloads continue to increase. SSA has lost 4,000 positions in just the past two years.

Going back to the beginning of FY 2000, the number of pending Social Security hearings has risen from 311,000 to a record high of 758,000. In addition, approximately 84,000 of these hearings are for veterans. The average processing time from filing for a hearing to the time a hearing is finally processed has increased from about 275 days at the beginning of this decade to 512 days in FY 2007. As a result, many people are losing their homes, living in homeless shelters, going without medical help, losing custody of their children, and even dying without ever receiving a decision.

SSA actuaries estimate that SSA will receive approximately 35,000 more initial disability claims in FY 2008 than was projected in the President’s FY 2008 budget due to the fact that baby boomers are expected to file more disability claims as they approach retirement age. The President’s budget already assumed SSA would not process as many claims as it received, so this increase in receipts merely exacerbates that problem and will increase the backlog. A total of 83,000 claims would be added to the already substantial backlog. This would result in the highest ever initial disability claim pending level – 660,000 – causing processing times for initial disability claims to also increase.

Not only has there been a marked degradation in the level of service that SSA provides related to the disability process but visitors to local SSA field offices for other services are also being negatively impacted by the agency’s insufficient resources. Understaffed field offices are experiencing an ever-increasing number of visitors per week. Currently, SSA employees interview an average of 850,000 customers nationwide per week. In many field offices, these visitors experience waiting times that are in excess of 2 hours. SSA field offices receive over 60 million business-related phone calls from the public per year. A recent report states that 51% of these callers receive a busy signal.

In addition, SSA continues to be given responsibility for new workloads such as processing Medicare Part D subsidy determinations, taking and processing Medicare Part B premium determination appeals and processing increasingly complex security checks and stewardship reviews for Social Security Number issuance, SSI redeterminations and medical Continuing Disability Reviews. SSA is also facing critical needs to reinvigorate the Ticket to Work Program and other work incentives which, if successful, will reduce the number of beneficiaries dependent on benefits. These programs are designed to actually save money for the trust fund. Yet without adequate administrative funds SSA cannot possibly do all this work.

And, with the recent filing for Social Security benefits by the first baby boomer, SSA will be facing its most daunting challenge ever – the number of workers receiving Social Security retirement benefits will increase by 13 million over the next 10 years. These citizens will be contacting SSA at a time when the agency is proposing to close an increasing number of its field offices in response to inadequate funding to keep the offices adequately staffed and the doors open. Many SSA offices could close and others may reduce office hours without increased funding. With the massive number of baby boomers anticipated to need assistance and services from SSA in the years to come, it is imperative that the agency receives the resources it needs to sufficiently serve the growing numbers of people needing service from the agency.

The effects of the backlog extend throughout SSA. As SSA tries to address the crisis, the agency is forced to divert its limited resources away from its day-to-day operations in field offices and payment processing centers in order to try to manage the disability backlog.

SSA is facing these many workload challenges as its allocated staffing has dropped to the lowest level since pre SSI 1972. Since 1987 staffing has dropped by approximately 28,000. The state DDSs have lost over 900 employees in the last two years. If the necessary resources are not provided for the agency, staffing levels will continue to decline and service levels will continue to deteriorate.

We urge you to retain the full level of funding for the Social Security Administration (SSA), $9.872 billion, that was included in the conference agreement for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. This level of funding will provide SSA with the resources necessary to begin to reduce the backlog and protect many Americans from severe and unnecessary hardship. We are confident that this increased investment in SSA will benefit our entire nation. On behalf of our many members throughout the United States we appreciate your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

AARP
Alliance for Retired Americans
American Association on Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Dance Therapy Association
American Federation of Government Employees
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers Program on Retirement and Retirees
American Network of Community Options and Resources
American Postal Workers Union Retirees
Association of Administrative Law Judges
Association for Gerontology and Human Development in Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
B'nai B'rith International
Easter Seals
Epilepsy Foundation
Federal Managers Association
Goodwill Industries International
Military Officers Association of America
National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association
National Alliance on Mental Illness
National Association of Area Agencies on Aging
National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities
National Association of Disability Examiners
National Association of Disability Representatives
National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers, Inc.
National Association of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Directors, Inc.
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of State Head Injury Administrators
National Association of State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
National Council of Disability Determination Directors
National Council of Social Security Management Associations
National Disability Rights Network
National Down Syndrome Society
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives
National Respite Coalition
National Treasury Employees Union
OWL, The Voice of Midlife and Older Women
Paralyzed Veterans of America
Social Security Disability Coalition
The Arc of the United States
United Cerebral Palsy
United Spinal Association.
Voice of the Retarded

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.”