Hearing On Compassionate Allowances

From a Social Security news release:

The Social Security Administration held its second public hearing on compassionate allowances - a way to expedite the processing of disability claims for applicants whose medical conditions are so severe that their conditions obviously meet Social Security’s standards. At the hearing, Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, announced that the agency had entered into a first-of-its-kind agreement with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH will provide technical assistance to Social Security to help ensure that elements of the compassionate allowance initiative are based on sound, up-to-date medical science. ...

The hearing, held today in Boston, featured some of the nation’s leading oncology experts presenting testimony and sharing their views about the best ways to determine compassionate allowances for children and adults with cancers. Once implemented, Social Security can quickly target the most obviously disabled individuals for allowances based on confirmation of the diagnosis alone; for example, acute leukemia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and pancreatic cancer. The agency plans to begin piloting compassionate allowances later this year and plans to hold two more public hearings on the initiative as well.

I have news for Commissioner Astrue. Social Security and Disability Determination Service employees are not stupid or uncaring; at least, the vast majority are not. They already issue quick decisions in such cases. That is not a problem. Going ahead with this compassionate allowance silliness demonstrates that Commissioner Astrue has no idea what goes on in the field. He wishes to concentrate upon his own fantasies that the backlogs are a problem that can be addressed with simple, easy solutions instead of accepting than the reality that there is no solution for Social Security's backlogs that does not call for spending a lot more money and hiring a lot more employees. But, then, perhaps Astrue does realize this and these hearings are nothing more than empty gestures. In either case, whatever money is being spent on these hearings would have done more good if it had been spent on hiring another employee or two

Fraud Alleged In Wisconsin

From the Racine Journal Times:

A man allegedly reported his social security checks stolen in order to double the amount of money he was collecting from the government.

William E. Price, 49, of 1109 Washington Ave., is charged with theft by false representation. If convicted, he could face up to $10,000 in fines and six years imprisonment. ...

A special agent working for the Office of the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration investigating that type of fraud found that Price had done that on at least 15 occasions between February 2001 and December 2002. In total, Price is accused of defrauding the government of $5,389.40.

Social Security Bulletin Released

The Social Security Administration has released its latest edition of the Social Security Bulletin, its scholarly journal, which is mostly devoted to statistical articles. Here is a little excerpt from one article:

...male Social Security–covered workers born in 1941 who had average relative earnings in the top half of the earnings distribution and who lived to age 60 would be expected to live 5.8 more years than their counterparts in the bottom half." Trends in Mortality Differentials and Life Expectancy for Male Social Security-Covered Workers, by Socioeconomic Status

Fraud In Texas

From KLTV in Tyler, TX:

United States Attorney John L. Ratcliffe announced today that a Troup couple has pleaded guilty to Social Security benefits fraud in the Eastern District of Texas. Dale Lowery, 54, and Brenda Lowery, 48, both of Troup, were indicted in February 2008 and charged with theft of government property. They both pleaded guilty today before United States Magistrate Judge John D. Love. According to information presented in court, on August 31, 2003, Brenda Lowery applied for Social Security benefits ion behalf of her minor child on the grounds that the child's father, Dale Lowery, was disabled and receiving benefits. In the application, Lowery represented that the child was living with her and her husband and had lived with them for the previous 13 months. In 2005, Dale Lowery applied with the Social Security Administration to be the representative payee for the child and again represented that the child lived with him. In fact, the child had not lived with either parent since October 2002. As a result of the false applications, the Lowerys received over $28,000.00 in Social Security benefits to which they were not entitled.

Long Term Budgets For Entitlement Programs?

I regard enactment of this as a wildly implausible, but here it is, from the Capitol Insider, put out by the Disability Policy Collaboration:

A 16-member group of diverse and prominent economists and budget experts has proposed ending the automatic spending for large entitlement programs, such as Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare, and instead establishing long-term budgets (to cover 30 years) which would have to be re-examined every 5 years. The group also suggested establishing a “trigger” which would force changes to the programs when costs go beyond levels anticipated in the long-term plans. The group, which included three former Directors of the Congressional Budget Office, was convened by the Brookings Institution and the Heritage Foundation, liberal-leaning and conservative-leaning think tanks, respectively. The group worked for nearly two years on the proposal, which members of the group consider a start to a “conversation” because they believe that continuing the status is not an option. The proposal would have to be considered in Congress and by the Administration before it could become law.

Satan Resides in D.C. Or At Least A Bunny

This is from the Washington Post.

New Mental Listings Coming

No proposed regulation can go in the Federal Register until the Office of Management and Budget, which is part of the White House, approves it. This item was just filed with OMB:

AGENCY: SSA	RIN: 0960-AF69
TITLE: Revised Medical Criteria for Evaluating Mental Disorders (886P)
STAGE: Proposed Rule	ECONOMICALLY SIGNIFICANT: No
** RECEIVED DATE: 04/10/2008	LEGAL DEADLINE: None

Empire Law Center Newsletter

The Empire Law Center of New York state has issued its March 2008 Disability Law newsletter, almost all of which is devoted to Social Security matters.