Astrue Says ALJs Who Want More Staff Promote "A Fiction Designed To Sidetrack Some Of Our Productivity Initiatives"

Some excerpts from Commissioner Astrue's written statement to the House Ways and Means Committee (emphasis added):

I would like to start with Social Security’s front door, the field office. The past few years have been tough for field offices. As overall agency employment dropped from 63,569 in 2003 to 60,206 at the end of 2007, field offices felt the effect of staffing losses more intensely because so many of our activities mandated by law are performed in our field offices.

As staffing fell, workload burdens grew. The general population continued to grow, and it got older, which meant more retirement applications and more disability applications. New state laws aimed at illegal immigrants increased the number of people seeking replacement Social Security cards. New federal statutes required claims representatives, teleservice representatives, and other field staff to take on complex and time-consuming new responsibilities in Medicare Part D. This year, our field offices are processing additional requests for 1099s to help taxpayers file for payments under the stimulus bill.

Our field offices do their best, but simply cannot provide the level of service the public expects from the Social Security Administration at recent levels of funding. This Committee has recognized this problem and I would like to thank you for providing SSA with the resources to better fulfill our responsibilities to the American public. The 2008 appropriations was the first time that Congress has appropriated at or above the President’s Budget request since 1993. ...

The resource distribution problem [at ODAR] is neither obvious nor is its cause clear to me. Nonetheless, when you look at where we were a year ago, it is clear that there was a longstanding imbalance in Office of Disability Adjudication and Review resources. In particular, the Chicago and Atlanta regions were dramatically under-resourced compared to the rest of the country. The hearing offices in many of the most backlogged cities – such as Atlanta, Cleveland, and Detroit – were receiving 3-4 times as many filings per administrative law judge as offices in Southern California and New England.

We have moved swiftly to correct this problem. Where we can address it by changing jurisdictional lines in adjacent locations, we have done so. As an example, our suburban Pittsburgh office now serves Youngstown and other parts of eastern Ohio to take some of the burden off overloaded offices in Cleveland and Columbus. For the same reasons, we have reassigned responsibility for cases scheduled for video hearings to less busy offices. At our site in Toledo, we have video hearing capability, so that now administrative law judges in Boston assist the Toledo office with their video hearings. ...

With the allocation of the 175 newly-hired administrative law judges, we have made equalizing resources a priority even though we have received some criticism for doing so. We are sending 10 to Ohio and just 1 to New England. That is not a regional bias – I am from Boston myself – but a data-driven decision that recognizes that there is a strong correlation between filings per administrative law judge and cases pending. ...

We have also received some criticism that we are not providing adequate support staff for our administrative law judge corps. In my opinion, that is a fiction designed to sidetrack some of our productivity initiatives. Since I began as Commissioner, I have increased the number of support staff per ALJ from 4.1 to 4.4. The number of staff needed to support a disposition will change as we fully implement the backlog plan, but at the moment that number is difficult to project with any certainty. We know that automating many of our clerical functions will reduce the amount of time spent by staff on more routine tasks, and allow them to absorb additional workloads. We are also working to standardize our business process, which should result in additional staff efficiencies. We will continue to monitor the appropriate staff to ALJ ratio as the new processes are implemented. ...

We have other possible improvements in the pipeline. In June, we expect to start a 6-month pilot program with the National Organization of Social Security Claims Representatives, an association primarily comprised of lawyers. In this pilot, we are testing a program that will allow representatives to conduct video hearings from their offices. This initiative should offer convenience and comfort for many claimants, save time for attorneys, and cut down on our investment in bricks and mortar, a cost which increases above the rate of inflation year after year.

I did not realize that I and the vast majority of ALJs were promoting a fiction designed to sidetrack productivity gains at ODAR. To be blunt, how does Michael Astue have enough experience at Social Security to make such an inflammatory statement impugning the motivations of ALJs with many years of experience on the frontlines? Astrue is making enemies of ALJs whose cooperation he needs.

Watch Ways And Means Committee Hearing

Today's House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Social Security's backlogs and staffing problems will be available in live streaming video at 10:00 EDT.

C-SPAN is not planning to broadcast it. They are doing a Senate Foreign Relations hearing on Darfur instead. It is a shame that we cannot get George Clooney interested in Social Security matters! Of course, you have to figure in that C-SPAN's fourth most watched program recently was a Ralph Nader campaign event and its sixth most watched program was entitled "Proust Was A Neuroscientist."

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.