Poll Results

Which Team Will Win The NCAA Men's Basketball Championship?

Kansas (6)	13%
Memphis (8)	18%
North Carolina (25)	56%
UCLA (6)	13%

Total Votes: 45

New Newsletter

The Social Security Administration has introduced "Social Security Update," a new newsletter. No real news in it this time. The website contains information on subscribing.

Hard Fight In Idaho

KIDK in Idaho is running a story about the responses it received to the piece it ran this week about one person's fight to get on Social Security disability benefits. Patricia Patterson advised "You've got to have the proof: pictures, medications, discharge papers, referrals, every darn thing that you can get. The burden of proof is on you.'" Others advised that working makes it almost impossible to get on Social Security disability benefits.

SSA CLD Calculator

I asked yesterday whether the Social Security Administration had created some sort of utility for computing the SSA CLD (Social Security Administration Chronic Liver Disease) index that is part of the agency's listing for liver disease.

They have and it is available online.

Astrue And The House Social Security Subcommittee

Is it just me or does it seem a bit surprising that Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue has not appeared before the House Social Security Subcommittee since May 1, 2007, almost a year ago?

The chairman of the Subcommittee, Mike McNulty, is retiring after this Congress ends. McNulty's health is a factor in his retirement. McNulty has post-polio syndrome. You would think that the Subcommittee's work would go on even if McNulty's health forces him to slow down a bit.

Payment Delays

Generally, I do not post this sort of story, since this sort of thing is inevitable and is virtually never the fault of the Social Security Administration, since it is the Department of the Treasury that prints and mails the checks and the Postal Service that delivers them. I think this one is worth posting just to remind everyone how urgently important those Social Security checks are and how wildly implausible it is that Social Security will go bankrupt and stop paying benefits at some point in the future.

From KIII in South Texas:

Hundreds of Coastal Bend residents, perhaps thousands, are unhappy tonight with the social security system. Or at least the part they depend on. That's because Social Security checks that were supposed to be in the hands of recepients Thursday did not arrive. Our newsroom was flooded with phone calls from folks who were upset because they did not get their money on time. Many of whom depend on that money as their only source to eat and live.

By the way, yes, they should be using direct deposit and, yes, the local Social Security office manager did emphasize that point.

Computing The SSA CLD Score

The Social Security Administration's new Listing for End Stage Liver Disease includes the following formula for computing what the agency is calling the SSA CLD (Social Security Administration Chronic Liver Disease) score:

9.57 x [Log_e(serum creatinine mg/dL)]

+3.78 x [Log_e(serum total bilirubin mg/dL)]

+11.2 x [Log_e(INR)]
+6.43

If your score is 22 or greater, you meet the Listing.

For non-math majors, which includes the vast majority of attorneys and physicians, this is not so easy to compute. I see no sign that anyone other than the Social Security Administration is using this formula.

I would guess that someone, somewhere has put together a spread sheet or something such to simplify this computation. What is the Social Security Administration telling Disability Examiners and physicians about computing this? Has the agency given its own personnel or state agency personnel anything to help with this computation? Is there anything that anyone can share?

Mississippi Office Recognized

From the Delta Democrat Times of Greenville, Mississippi:

Fast, accurate work delivered with a positive attitude has earned the Greenville Social Security Administration District Office the Outstanding Level One Field Office of the Year for Fiscal Year 2007.

The Greenville office was selected for the honor over 120 other offices in the seven states of the Atlanta Region, according to Regional Commissioner Paul Barnes, who presented the award to Bill Allen, Greenville director, on Tuesday in the federal building. ...

Allen said he owes the success of the office to employees who have been with him for many years. One of the 20 employees at the Greenville office, Joyce Boykin, service representative, was there when Allen arrived 36 years ago. He has been with the Social Security Administration for a total of 46 years and says he has no plans to retire.

“I enjoy coming to work every day and I enjoy the interaction with the community that our job requires,” Allen said.

Barnes said this is the second time that the Greenville office has won this award. The office received the award in 2002.

“It's unusual to win it at all, but to win it two times is really quite remarkable,” Barnes said.