Results Of Last Week's Unscientific Poll

Will Michael Astrue stay on as Commissioner after George W. Bush leaves office?

Yes (37)	36%
No (19)	19%
Only if a Republican is elected President in 2008 (46)	45%

Total Votes: 102

Alleged Scams In Wisconsin

From the Associated Press:

An investigation of potential fraud netted 83 people in Wisconsin accused of bilking the U.S. Social Security Administration of some $663,000, an agency investigator said Wednesday.

According to state and federal prosecutors, the defendants falsely claimed they didn’t receive their benefit checks, and then cashed their replacement checks along with the originals.

Indiana Paper Reports On Backlogs

An excerpt from the first of a two part series in the South Bend Tribune:

Hunting clothes lie on the floor of his home -- his mother's basement -- and 50-year-old Robert Auer figures he'll sell those off, too. ...

A year ago, he was looking at his own stuff in the one-story bungalow on Milburn Avenue he gutted, remodeled and lived in for 12 years -- gone now in a foreclosure.

He laments that he would have been able to keep the house had he received monthly checks from Social Security Disability Insurance.

He first applied four years ago, then applied again, then again through a hearing, then through an appeal.

His is one of 26,820 disability cases that are pending in Indiana -- and more than 700,000 nationwide -- that are caught in agonizing delays, a backlog that the Social Security Administration says has mushroomed. ...

A Social Security report in September pointed out that some disabled people end up homeless or losing family and friends during their long wait to resolve their cases.

Is this "Social Security report" from September something the agency did or is it a reference to something in the media?

NY Times Editorial On SSI For Disabled Refugees

From today's New York Times:

Thousands of elderly and disabled refugees who have found safety in the United States in recent years may soon find out just how cold and equivocal America’s welcome can be. These vulnerable newcomers are subject to a federal law that cuts off their disability benefits if they do not become citizens within seven years. ...

While many have done so, thousands have found it impossible to meet the deadline. Some are old and infirm and have not yet been able to pass the language and civics test. Many others are caught in a bureaucratic trap: the notoriously hapless citizenship agency, overwhelmed by security paperwork since 9/11, has not finished their background checks in time.

The Social Security Administration estimates that more than 21,000 immigrants since 2003 have been cut off from disability checks for missing the seven-year deadline, and that about 35,000 more will be pushed off that cliff in the next five years unless something is done.

If you wonder who could possibly object to helping this small, fragile population, the answer is almost nobody. A bill to extend the limit to nine years passed the House last July by voice vote, with no objections, and it was to be offered for unanimous consent in the Senate. That is until Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, exercised his right to place a “hold” on the bill, sending it into limbo, where it remains.

The Times could have been clearer. They are talking about Supplemental Security Income (SSI). For more on this issue, see this summary prepared by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Fraud In St. Louis

From the St. Louis Business Journal:

Rose Shaw was sentenced to 33 months in prison for lying on social security applications, a mortgage loan application and forging the signature of a federal judge, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway announced Friday.

Shaw, 50, of St. Charles, pleaded guilty in September 2007 to one felony count of social security fraud and one felony count of mortgage fraud. In addition to her prison sentence, Shaw was ordered to pay restitutions of $153,857.10 on the social security fraud and $70,718.94 on the mortgage fraud.

According to Hanaway, Shaw received monthly social security disability payments from January 1985 thought March 2006, by falsely claiming on the applications that she was mentally retarded and suffered from schizophrenia. The total amount of these benefits was approximately $153,000. Shaw was employed as a mortgage banker under the business name of Rose Shaw Enterprises LLC and Shaw Brokerage Real Estate Investment Firm LLC. On Aug. 25, 2005, Shaw forged the signature of Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barry Schermer on a bankruptcy document.

ALJ Goosens Arrested

From the Pensacola News Journal:

An administrative judge remains on the job and a fourth-grade teacher has been suspended with pay after both were arrested in Escambia County on solicitation charges, officials said Thursday.

Robert Goosens, 57, of Navarre is an administrative judge with the Social Security Administration in Mobile. ... [The two men] were charged with misdemeanors.

The judge and teacher were among six men and three women arrested during an operation in the Brownsville area that began about 6 p.m. Wednesday and ended about midnight Thursday. The operation targeted johns and prostitutes.

     Update: In 2011 Goosens' petition to seal the records concerning his 2008 arrest was granted by a Florida court. The order indicates that Goosens was not convicted of any crime in connection with his arrest.

CBS Story To Run Monday And Tuesday

I am hearing that CBS plans to run on Monday, January 14 and Tuesday, January 15 its long anticipated story on Social Security's backlogs in holding hearings on disability claims. This will be part of its evening news program. They may run promo or teaser spots as early as this evening's broadcast of the evening news. CBS has been preparing this story since about last September. I doubt that they work this long on many stories.

Of course, breaking news could push this back.

Rescission Of Acquiescence Ruling

From today's Federal Register:

On July 11, 1994, we issued SSR 94–4p which implemented the decisions in Buffington, et al. v. Schweiker and Califano v. Yamasaki, and provided that prior to the denial of waiver of recovery of an overpayment ...

In order to fulfill our stewardship responsibilities to the Social Security trust fund, we must employ methods that will simplify our personal conference procedures and use our resources most efficiently. We should be using all available technology when we conduct personal conferences. Therefore, elsewhere in this Federal Register, we published the final rule ‘‘Methods for Conducting Personal Conferences When Waiver of Recovery of a Title II or Title XVI Overpayment Cannot Be Approved’’ which revised the regulations to allow for personal conferences to be conducted face-to-face at a place we designate (usually in the
field office), by telephone, or by video teleconference.