Bill To Require Plain Language Advances

This is Social Security Legislative Bulletin 110-21:

On April 14, 2008, the House of Representatives passed on a motion to suspend the rules H.R. 3548, a bill to enhance citizen access to Government information and services by establishing plain language as the standard style for Government documents issued to the public, and for other purposes. Of interest to SSA:

• The bill would require Federal Agencies, including SSA, to use plain language when writing documents that will be viewed by the public on how to obtain a benefit or service. This would include updates to already established forms and other publications; effective within one year after enactment.

• The bill would require Federal Agencies, including SSA, to follow the guidance of the Plain English Handbook published by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Plain Language Guidelines, or their own plain language guidance as long as it is consistent with the Federal Plain Language Guidelines; effective within one year after enactment.

• The bill would require, within six months of enactment, the head of each Federal Agency, including the Commissioner of SSA, to submit to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs an initial report describing how it would: (1) communicate the bill's objectives to agency employees; (2) train agency employees to write in plain language: (3) ensure ongoing compliance; (4) meet the requirement to use plain language in new documents within one year of the date of enactment; and, (5) designate a senior official to be responsible for implementation, and, to the extent practicable and appropriate, use of plain language in regulations promulgated by the agency. (NOTE: Agencies would not be required to write regulations in plain language.).

• The bill would further require the head of each Federal Agency, including the Commissioner of SSA, to submit to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs a report on the agency's compliance with the bill and efforts to meet the objectives described above annually for the first two years following enactment and then once every three years thereafter.

"Legalized Thievery Of Attorney Fee Payments"

From the Ada Evening News of Oklahoma:

According to a letter sent to Oklahoma congressman Dan Boren by Ada lawyer Casey L. Saunders, recent legal decisions in the Muskogee area may affect the availability of residents to find legal representation for social security disability appeals.

Saunders wrote in his letter that “the Treasury and the Social Security Administration (SSA) are working in concert throughout the country to promote the placement of all Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) attorney fee payments into the name of the plaintiff and then to use these payments to offset the plaintiff’s federal debts whenever possible.

“This policy involves legalized thievery of attorney fee payments. The federal government has no right to these payments which are intended to compensate attorneys for their work in representing social security disability claimants.

“It is incomprehensible that the federal government would involve itself in this sleazy practice.”

Previously when attorney fees were paid by the government, the funds usually went directly to the attorney.

Big LTD Case To Be Heard By Supreme Court Today

The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments today in Met Life v. Glenn, a big case involving Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits under company pension plans. The Associated Press is reporting on the case which presents the issue of whether there is an impermissible conflict of interest in an insurance company deciding upon appeals of denials of LTD claims when the insurance company has to pay the benefits out of pocket. If the disabled person wins, LTD will be changed forever, probably dramatically.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Solicitor General has filed a brief in favor of the disabled woman and against the insurance company.

ABC Is Interested In Tomorrow's Hearing

From Tom Shine's blog, Politics As Usual, at ABC (the capitalization is Shine's and the bolding is mine):

She lived in Key West, Florida. One day her husband shot her 5 times in the liver and abdomen and then killed himself. In AUGUST 2004 she applied for social security disability benefits. Her disabilities were caused by the 5 wounds and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. After a delay, her claim was denied. In APRIL 2006, she requested a hearing. It took nearly two years, but in EARLY MARCH of 2008, she got her hearing. In LATE MARCH of 2008 SHE DIED. AFTER hear death social security ruled in her favor.

He lived in Charlotte, North Carolina and worked for 15 years as a pipe insulator. He usually also worked a second job. At age 52 he was suffering from congestive heart failure, chronic atrial fibrillation, pneumonia, obesity and peripheral artery disease. He applied for social security disability benefits in MARCH of 2006. He was denied. In NOVEMBER of 2006 he requested a hearing. He DIED on AUGUST 21, 2007. FOUR MONTHS LATER, on DECEMBER 27, 2007, social security RULED IN HIS FAVOR WITHOUT A HEARING.

Tomorrow, a group called the consortium for citizens with disabilities will testify before a house ways and means committee. They have a lot of stories to tell.

According to committee staffers, currently more than 1.3 MILLION Americans are waiting for a decision on their application for disability benefits. For those who APPEAL the wait for a decision can be as long as TWO to FOUR YEARS.

Severely under funded and understaffed, the Social Security Disability program has not been a priority for the President or most members of Congress.

Syracuse TV Station On Backlogs

From WSYR in Syracuse, NY:

If you get so sick or injured that you can’t work anymore, Social Security disability kicks in. But it may take a few months for benefits to go into effect.

Currently, it takes nearly three months just to process disability applications. If they go to hearing, it could take up to a year and a half.

The report deals with the issues associated with the five month waiting period for Disability Insurance Benefits, using the example of a man with pancreatic cancer who may not live that long.

I Hope This Doesn't Involve Many Employees

A notice posted by the Social Security Administration seeking a contractor to do medical testing of employees for asbestos contamination:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has a known requirement for a contractor to provide complete occupational medical testing services for SSA employees exposed to asbestos concentrations. The contractor shall arrange to provide examinations from a self-contained MOBILE UNIT ON-SITE at the SSA facility located at 6401 Security Boulevard, Woodlawn, MD 21235 when at least 10 employees are to be examined. If fewer than 10 employees are to be examined the employee(s) may visit the contractor’s site upon a one-week notification from SSA.

Is HALLEX Defunct?

Social Security has a manual for its Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR), called HALLEX. Almost two years ago, ODAR basically stopped updating HALLEX, at least so far as one can tell by looking at it online. Clearly, HALLEX is out of date now -- if the publicly available version of HALLEX can be trusted.

What is the explanation? Is HALLEX defunct? Is it still valid, but just not up to date because of lack of manpower at ODAR? Has it been updated, but ODAR is just keeping the updates confidential? Most of Social Security's Emergency Messages are being kept from the public. The only reason that I can imagine for trying to keep them secret is a general increase in pointless federal government secrecy during the Bush Administration. I hope that the answer is not "Well, the updates are really boring and we thought you wouldn't be interested, so we just didn't bother to post them online." You might be amazed at how interested I and other attorneys can be in these boring things, especially when it looks like someone is trying to keep them secret.

Master And Sub Accounts -- And Allsup

From today's Federal Register:

We are issuing this notice to obtain public input regarding an anticipated change to an Agency payment procedure that permits benefit payments to be deposited into a third-party's ``master'' account when the third party maintains separate ``sub'' accounts for individual beneficiaries. We anticipate changing our current procedure in light of concerns about how high-interest lenders are using this master/sub account procedure. We are also seeking comments on the practice that some beneficiaries follow of preauthorizing their banks to transfer their benefits to lenders immediately after the benefits are deposited into their accounts.

I think this has also been used by Long Term Disability (LTD) insurers to collect their offset against Social Security disability benefits. Allsup, which represents many LTD recipients before Social Security at the behest of their LTD insurers, advertises its "Overpayment Recovery Service", through which Allsup "Withdraw[s] overpayment funds directly from claimant’s bank account using our patented electronic process."

This my explain why attorneys who represent Social Security claimants, such as myself, exhibit some disdain for Allsup.