SSA Duped

From The Red Tape Chronicles at MSNBC:

Ten suspects were indicted last week in Seattle for allegedly impersonating consumers and obtaining their bank records, tax returns and Social Security earnings statements.

According to the indictment, the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration were repeatedly tricked into coughing up very sensitive documents. ...

In all, 12,000 consumers were victimized by the defendants from 2004-2007, the indictment alleges.

At the center of the crime, according to the indictment, were a Emilio and Brandy Torrella, a Seattle couple, and their employee, Steven Berwick. Operating as BNT Investigations in Belfair, Wash., the three allegedly took orders from private investigators around the country and filled them by impersonating the targeted consumers. The other investigators then resold the information.

Appeals Council Backlogs

Below is the complete text of an e-mail I received today from a staff member in my office who had just talked with an employee at the Appeals Council of the Social Security Administration:

Told me w/ the backlog they are just finishing up 2005 and starting on 2006, but they are mixing in some 2007.

Undoubtedly, the "mixing in some 2007" is an effort to artificially make their stats look better by "fast-tracking" a few easy cases. It makes the averages look a bit better, while making the wait times worse for the people waiting two years and more for review. What is the plan for working off the backlogs at the Appeals Council. The last I heard the Appeals Council was expected to lose a good deal of staff over the next year.

Budget Bill Moving Forward, But Don't Break Out Any Champagne

President Bush had earlier threatened to veto the omnibus appropriations bill now pending in Congress. An Associated Press article suggests that he is now ready to sign it, assuming the Senate adds more funding for the way in Iraq and they have done so. The House of Representatives is likely to give final approval to the bill later today or tomorrow.

Overall, no one is happy with the bill, but under the circumstances, Social Security did well. The bill does not provide enough money to the Social Security Administration to work down any backlogs. It may not be enough even to prevent the backlogs from getting worse, but the backlogs may not get worse at quite as bad a rate. It is better than nothing, but that may be the best we could have hoped for, and what was achieved took much effort.

Christmas Carols For Psychiatric Patients

Do not give me credit for writing this. I have seen it each Christmas for many years. Does anyone know who wrote it to begin with?

Attention Deficit Disorder
Silent night, Holy oooh look at the froggy - Can I have a chocolate, Why is France so far away?

Borderline Personality Disorder
Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire.

Dementia
I Think I'll Be Home for Christmas

Depression
Silent Anhedonia, Holy Anhedonia, All is Flat, All is Lonely.

Manic
Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office
and Town and Cars and Busses and Trucks and Trees and Fire Hydrants and.....

Multiple Personalities Disorder
We Three Queens Disoriented Are

Narcissistic
Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock ........
....(better start again)

Paranoid
Santa Claus is Coming to Get Me.

Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder
On the First Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me (and then took it all away).

Personality Disorder
You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll tell you Why.

Schizophrenia
Do You Hear What I Hear?

The Accidental Social Security Story

Every year in December I see these stories. They are intended solely to be about a person having it tough in the Christmas season, but they are also about the Social Security Administration's problems. From the Miami Herald (with emphasis added):

James Johnson unbuttons a faded blue shirt to reveal an eight-inch scar that runs over a sunken sternum.

His heart is big, but it is weak and gave out four years ago. Since then, he has found his family somewhere he never thought they would be.

Thursday, sitting in a Broward County park around what amounts to their living room and kitchen -- a picnic table sheltered by a tarp -- James, his wife Margie and their son Richard peered through pictures of the house where they once lived.

''This is hell,'' James says.

But even hell is closing its doors on the family. They have lived in the park nearly six months -- the maximum stay according to Broward County regulations -- and have been unable to find a place to move. ...

James, 60, has been told by doctors he is terminally ill. He lives with his two sons and wife Margie out of a tent and camper. They say they were tricked into giving away their West Park home at 5616 SW 36th Ct. by a man who said he would help them save the house from foreclosure. ...

James said within a year he had fallen three months behind on the mortgage. Then James and his son lost their Social Security disability last October because their assets -- including the house -- exceeded the acceptable limit. It became likely his home would be foreclosed on.

Budget Riders -- None On Biggs?

Below are the only two budget riders for the Social Security Administration that I have been able to find in the omnibus appropriations bill that has passed the House of Representatives and which will soon be considered in the Senate. I have so far been unable to find a budget rider prohibiting payment of a salary to the Andrew Biggs, who received a recess appointment as Deputy Commissioner of Social Security. Biggs is an ardent advocate for gutting Social Security, by means of privatization. Earlier versions of this legislation included such a prohibition. This is a mammoth piece of legislation. I cannot exclude the possibility that a prohibition on paying Biggs is hiding somewhere in the 1,443 page document.

§526. None of the funds appropriated by this Act may be used by the Commissioner of Social Security or the Social Security Administration to pay the compensation of employees of the Social Security Administration to administer Social Security benefit payments, under any agreement between the United States and Mexico establishing totalization arrangements between the social security system established by title II of the Social Security Act and the social security system of Mexico, which would not otherwise be payable but for such agreement.

§527 None of the funds appropriated in this Act shall be expended or obligated by the Commissioner of Social Security, for purposes of administering Social Security benefit payments under title II of the Social Security Act, to process claims for credit for quarters of coverage based on work performed under a social security account number that was not the claimant’s number which is an offense prohibited under section 208 of the Social Security Act.

Letters To NY Times Editor

The New York Times has published a series of letters to the editor concerning its recent story on backlogs at the Social Security Administration.

Fee Payment Stats

The Social Security Administration has issued updated statistics on payments of fees to attorneys and others for representing Social Security claimants. These numbers are a good analogue for how quickly or slowly the agency is paying benefits to claimants after a favorable decision since the attorney or representative and the claimant are generally paid at the same time.

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-07	21,807	$78,273,082.88
Aug-07	28,607	$101,523,346.40
Sept-07	21,409	$75,663,579.78
Oct-07	21,903	$79,209,567.01
Nov-07	27,096	$97,365,979.66