Isn't This A Sign That Something Is Wrong?

I would say that this is a sign that attorneys in at least one area of New York find representing Social Security claimants unappealing. From the Albany Democrat-Herald:

Nearly 25 people — some of whom have first-hand experience with homelessness — spent Thursday learning to be advocates for individuals who need assistance getting approval for Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Income. ...

Terry Mastin of the Addictions and Mental Health Division said 10 similar workshops — each two days long — were held in 2006.

“Before the training, advocates were successful with about 30 percent of their SSI or SSDI applications and the waiting time averaged 11 months,” Mastin said. “After training, the success rate went up to 64 percent and the approval waiting time dropped to about three months.”

Vets Affected By Social Security Backlogs

From the Tacoma Weekly (emphasis added):

...[A] family-friendly G.I. rights rally this Saturday at the gates of Ft. Lewis will reach out to both veterans and active duty soldiers to assure them they are not alone in their struggles. ...

“Here on the fifth anniversary of the war, for America it’s really the service men and women who are paying the biggest price,” said co-organizer Tom McCarthy. ...

McCarthy talked about the “disgraceful lack of resources” at home for those fighting the war, particularly backlogs at the Social Security Administration. “We hear a lot about the VA (Veterans Administration) backlog, but not so much about backlogs at the Social Security Administration. This affects veterans as well as those coming back from Iraq who need to access those benefits.”

Social Security Managers Association Newsletter

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA) has issued its January 2008 newsletter. It contains an interesting interview with David Rust, Social Security's Acting Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Disability and Income Support Programs (ODISP).

Fraud In Hawaii

From the Honolulu Advertiser:

A 47-year-old man was sentenced last month to eight months imprisonment and three years supervised release for theft offenses related to fraudulent receipt of his dead father's Social Security benefits, the U.S. attorney's office for Hawai'i announced today.

No Match Rules Coming Back -- Unchanged

While this may be an excellent immigration enforcement technique, the Social Security Administration is not ready for all the calls and visits it will get from U.S. citizens who will inadvertently fall afoul of this plan -- if it comes to pass. From the Associated Press:

The Homeland Security Department on Friday offered a lengthy defense of its proposed program that would force employers to fire workers whose names don't match their Social Security numbers, and said it would try again to have the rules enacted into law.

A federal judge in San Francisco blocked the rules in October, saying the proposal would likely impose hardships on businesses and their workers. Employers would incur new costs to comply with the regulation that the government hasn't evaluated, and innocent workers unable to correct mistakes in their records in time would lose their jobs, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer wrote.

In a 44-page "supplemental" document released late Friday, the department attempted to address several of the judge's concerns.

Among other things, the document "outlines clear steps an employer may take in response to receiving a letter from the Social Security Administration indicating that an employee's name does not match the Social Security number on file," the department said. If businesses follow the guidance in the No-Match Rule, the department said they will have "safe harbor" from the letter being used against them.

The last line of the 44-page document says the department intends to "repromulgate, without change," the same set of rules the judge blocked in October. ...

Chertoff said the department has also filed an appeal of the October ruling, and is pursuing both tracks - revised rules and the legal appeal - "simultaneously to get a resolution as quickly as possible."

Status Of Ticket To Work

From the Capitol Insider, put out by the Disability Policy Collaboration:

The Social Security Administration and its numerous partners on the Ticket to Work program met in Louisville, KY last week to re-energize the Ticket to Work program in anticipation of the release of new regulations governing the program. Although a success for some individuals seeking to leave the Social Security disability programs for work, the Ticket program has been more limited than was expected by advocates in 1999 during passage of the authorizing legislation. SSA met with representatives of state vocational rehabilitation agencies, other rehabilitation service providers and employment networks, businesses, Work Incentives Planning and Assistance Programs, Protection and Advocacy Systems, consumers, and national organizations to stimulate more interest and to share opportunities for improved cooperation among the various players. UCP and The Arc were represented. Final regulations that are expected to further improve the mechanics of the Ticket program are expected to be published within the next month or so.

Social Security To Start Collecting Race And Ethnicity Data

All federal agencies must file with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and publish a notice in the Federal Register when they establish a new system of records. Social Security put this notice in the Federal Register today:

Race/Ethnicity Collection System--0960-NEW. Currently, SSA has no reliable, statistically valid means of capturing race/ethnicity data in our core business process. While SSA collects some race/ethnicity data on Form SS-5 (OMB No. 0960-0066), the Application for Social Security Card, SSA does not receive the data through other means of enumerating individuals, such as the Enumeration at Birth and Enumeration at Entry processes. Moreover, SSA does not collect it during the disability application process. Adding race/ethnicity to SSA's benefits applications will give us data we can use to ensure the benefits decision process is being conducted in a fair manner.

This ICR [Information Comment Request?] is for the Race/Ethnicity questions. Note that OMB established the categories of racial/ethnic choices and the descriptions we use. We modified our proposed instructions and explanations to the public based on feedback we received during public focus groups (conducted under the aegis of OMB No. 0960-0765). The respondents are Title II and Title XVI claimants.

Type of Request: New information collection.
Number of Respondents: 7,870,538.
Frequency of Response: 1.
Average Burden Per Response: 3 minutes.
Estimated Annual Burden: 393,527.

Last Chance To Enter Social Security News Bracket Challenge

Enter the Social Security News NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge and test your knowledge of NCAA basketball! To enter, go to the ESPN Tournament Challenge website for the Social Security News group. The password is "Michael Astrue", without the quotation marks. There is no fee for entry.

There is no prize for winning other than the recognition you will receive here.

You can make an entry up to about noon today Eastern time, which is when the tournament begins.