Social Security Payments Via Debit Cards

From the News Journal of Delaware:

Starting this spring, Social Security recipients in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana will have the option of collecting benefits on a prepaid debit card instead.

The card will look and feel like a regular debit card, and could be used for ATM withdrawals, in-store purchases and online transactions. Delaware will get the "Direct Express" option sometime between June and September. But beware: Not every card transaction will be free.

Rochester Newspaper On "Dying For Help"

From the Rochester, NY City Newspaper:

More than two-million Americans apply to the federal government for SSDI benefits each year and more than 70 percent are denied. Applicants can appeal the denial, but as many as 85 percent of those first appeals are also denied. While thousands of people give up, there are those who continue appealing until they get a hearing with a Social Security Administration judge. There are currently 750,000 people waiting for their first hearing. Caught in a waiting game that is averaging two years to get a hearing that may not even lead to an approval for benefits, thousands of applicants spend their savings and pensions trying to stay afloat. Many file for bankruptcy and lose their homes in foreclosure. Cars are repossessed, while marriages dissolve and families fall apart. Many people have to manage their application process while their illnesses progress, until they become too sick to continue.

"It is simply outrageous that so many individuals who need Social Security Disability Insurance to survive are forced to wait years before they receive the benefits they deserve," says Congresswoman Louise Slaughter. ...

John Johnson is a disabled Army veteran. Even though a panel of medical examiners with the Veterans Administration reviewed his injuries and, he says, determined he was 100-percent disabled. Johnson's application was denied by the SSA.

"How can one federal agency tell you one thing, and another tell you something completely different?" says Johnson. "It doesn't make any sense. It's crazy. I was injured serving my country. I was doing what I was supposed to do. I don't know if they are doing what they're supposed to be doing, but that's the kind of bureaucracy that you're dealing with."

$31 Million In Extra Funding For SSA

The economic stimulus bill just passed by Congress contains an extra $31 million in appropriations for the Social Security Administration, apparently to pay for the Social Security Administration's costs associated with implementing the rebates. H.R. 5140 §101(e)(1)(B). It is nice to see Congress thinking about implementation costs, for a change.

Social Security Recipients And Vets To Get Economic Stimulus Payments

From Reuters:

Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate have reached a tentative deal on an election-year economic stimulus plan, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said on Thursday.

"I think there will be an agreement to add the 20 million seniors and the disabled vets" to the bill already passed by the House of Representatives that would give rebate checks to millions of Americans, Baucus told reporters.

Asked whether the Senate deal was now in place, the Montana Democrat said, "essentially."

Baucus said the Senate could vote as early as Thursday on the package.

Astrue Op Ed Piece

Commissioner Michael Astrue has penned an op ed piece that is being provided to newspapers. Apparently, it is not drawing much interest since the only newspaper that I have found that has published it so far is the Red Wing Republican Eagle of Minnesota. Here is a brief excerpt:

I know from personal experience how difficult Social Security’s disability process can be. When my father was 52, he suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage caused by a rare form of brain cancer. As I took care of the application for him, it opened my eyes to the complicated rules associated with our disability programs. ...

That’s why I’ve made improving the disability determination process my top priority. It is our most pressing challenge.

He goes on to talk about his "aggressive plan" for reducing the backlogs.

Congressman Wants To Prevent Field Office Hour Reductions

This seems to be a particularly hot issue in New York. From the Buffalo News:

A congressman is trying to prevent the Social Security Administration from closing its local offices to the public for three hours every Wednesday so workers can concentrate on processing disability claims.

Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, complained about the plan in a letter to Social Security Administration Commissioner Michael Astrue.

Social Security officials plan to begin a pilot project on March 1, closing field offices in Buffalo, Amherst, West Seneca and Niagara Falls for three hours each Wednesday. Officials have said the intent of the plan is to allow employees to catch up on a backlog of disability cases.

It turns out that Congressman Reynolds' efforts succeeded. From the same newspaper a few days later:

The Social Security Administration is rescinding a proposed pilot project that would have cut the hours of the agency’s Buffalo-area offices by three hours each week, Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds announced Wednesday.

Reynolds cheered the decision by Michael Astrue, the agency’s commissioner, to withdraw a pilot project that would have closed Social Security Administration offices to the public for three hours every Wednesday afternoon. The plan had been delayed once already and was to be implemented March 1.

Other Congressman please take note.

Real ID Headaches Coming For Social Security?

I expect some sanity will prevail, but if not this could make it almost impossible for the Social Security Administration to do business in several states. From CNET News:

Starting May 11, Americans living in states that don't comply with new federal regulations could be barred from entering Washington's visitor center and collecting the complimentary maps and brochures--unless they happen to bring a passport or military ID with them.

That not-very-welcoming rule is part of a 2005 law called the Real ID Act, which takes effect in just over three months. It says that driver's licenses from states that have not agreed to Real ID mandates from the Department of Homeland Security, or which have not requested a deadline extension, can no longer be used to access "federal facilities."

Because the visitor center is in a government building that checks ID, it might just become off-limits to Americans with licenses or state ID cards from the following noncompliant states: Maine, South Carolina, Montana, Oklahoma, and New Hampshire. Fifteen other states and the District of Columbia have not decided whether to comply or ask for an extension, according to a survey conducted by CNET News.com over the last two weeks, meaning the fate of driver's licenses and state ID cards used by their residents remains uncertain. ...

Other effects of Real ID include: Social Security: Some Social Security offices are inside federal buildings, which means that Americans trying to replace a Medicare card or apply in person for government benefits could be inconvenienced. "In terms of getting into federal buildings, that wouldn't be something I could answer," said Mark Hinkle, a Social Security Administration spokesman who referred questions to Homeland Security.

Diabetes And Social Security

Anyone who is involved to much extent with Social Security's disability programs knows that diabetes is the underlying cause for many disability claims. It has been an article of faith that diabetics would suffer less disability if they controlled their blood sugar better -- and that diabetics who did suffer disability might be at fault for being poorly compliant with medical treatment. Well, maybe not. See this article from the New York Times:

... a major federal study of more than 10,000 middle-aged and older people with Type 2 diabetes has found that lowering blood sugar actually increased their risk of death, researchers reported Wednesday. ...

Among the study participants who were randomly assigned to get their blood sugar levels to nearly normal, there were 54 more deaths than in the group whose levels were less rigidly controlled. The patients were in the study for an average of four years when investigators called a halt to the intensive blood sugar lowering and put all of them on the less intense regimen. ...

Medical experts were stunned.