Rep Payee Steals $6,500

From The State of Columbia, SC:

An Alabama woman has pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing Social Security benefits from a handicapped Lexington man, a U.S. attorney’s office news release said.

Patricia Butler England, 35, was asked by the man to serve as his representative payee and received more than $6,500 in disability benefits meant for him between May and August 2006, the release said.

She used the money to buy illegal drugs for herself and faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced, the release said.

Corrected List Of Locations For ALJ Openings

I had posted a list of locations for which the Social Security Administration was seeking Administrative Law Judges (ALJs). Apparently, that list was incomplete. Here is what I believe is a complete list, but again, I have cribbed this from another site. Note that the list gives the region in which the job opening is located and then the city and state. The region is identified by Social Security's region number.

• 01 Hartford, CT
• 01 Portland, ME
• 02 Albany, NY
• 02 Bronx, NY
• 02 Jericho, NY
• 03 Charleston, WV
• 03 Harrisburg, PA
• 03 Pittsburgh, PA
• 03 Richmond, VA
• 04 Atlanta, GA
• 04 Charlotte, NC
• 04 Fort Lauderdale, FL
• 04 Greenville, SC
• 04 Jackson, MS
• 04 Jacksonville, FL
• 04 Lexington, KY
• 04 Louisville, KY
• 04 Memphis, TN
• 04 Miami, FL
• 04 Montgomery, AL
• 04 Nashville, TN
• 04 Orlando, FL
• 04 Paducah, KY
• 04 Raleigh, NC
• 05 Cincinnati, OH
• 05 Evansville, IN
• 05 Fort Wayne, IN
• 05 Milwaukee, WI
• 05 Orland Park, IL
• 06 Albuquerque, NM
• 06 Alexandria, LA
• 06 Dallas (DT), TX
• 06 McAlester, OK
• 06 New Orleans, LA
• 07 Creve Coeur, MO
• 07 St. Louis, MO
• 09 Downey, CA
• 09 Los Angeles (DT), CA
• 09 Orange, CA
• 09 San Bernardino, CA
• 09 San Francisco, CA
• 10 Eugene, OR
• 10 Portland, OR

No Help In Upstate NY

From the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, NY:

Despite a national effort to cut down the backlog of pending disability cases in Social Security offices, local legislators and advocates say disabled people in the Rochester area will keep waiting to get their cases heard in Buffalo.

Earlier this month, Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue announced 135 new administrative law judges in offices throughout the country, including 10 in New York, to help take on the mounting requests for appeals hearings. None were assigned to Buffalo, which handles most local cases.

Congressional Hearing Alert

From a press release issued by the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee:

Congressman Michael R. McNulty (D-NY), Chairman, Subcommittee on Social Security of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on current and proposed employment eligibility verification systems and their impact on the ability of the Social Security Administration (SSA) to fulfill its core mission of administering Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, May 6, 2008, in room B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m. ...

The effect of a national system on SSA’s costs and workload is subject to substantial uncertainty. Mistakes committed by employers and inaccuracies in SSA’s database would combine to produce millions of erroneous non-confirmations. Unless the cost of this workload is fully funded, every year, a national system would disrupt not only hiring decisions, but also SSA’s ability to conduct its core operations related to administration of Social Security benefits. Also, existing programs under which employers must match data with SSA have very high rejection rates. For example, ten percent of the 240 million wage reporting forms (W-2s) received annually by SSA do not match the names and Social Security numbers in SSA’s records. Last year, SSA testified that seven of every 100 workers checked were initially rejected by E-Verify because of mismatches with SSA records, and that three of every 100 workers contacted SSA in response to an E-Verify “tentative non-confirmation” letter.

New Cancer Listings Proposed

The new proposed listings for cancer were published in the Federal Register today.

Social Security Turns To Technology -- And Plans To Make You Use It

From the Federal Times (emphasis added):

The Social Security Administration is hoping a series of technology upgrades planned for this year and next will help the agency improve its efficiency and whittle down its backlog of unheard benefit claims cases....

SSA’s first upgrade will come next month, when it relaunches its Web site with a revamped retirement application program. Astrue said the current online application was hastily created eight years ago and does not work well — it is used by only about 10 percent of the public. Astrue wants half of retirement applications to be filed online in five years to keep field offices from being overwhelmed with paper applications. ...

SSA has gone back to the drawing board to replace one tool that has consistently underperformed since its 2006 debut, Astrue said. The Electronic Case Analysis Tool, or eCAT, is intended to help disability examiners decide whether someone qualifies for disability benefits and document their cases. For example, the system can prompt examiners to ask certain questions or to review necessary documents.

But the original version of eCAT was rushed to the field before it was ready and “failed miserably,” Astrue said. The Government Accountability Office in January found that eCAT frequently crashed because of technical glitches and lost information. Astrue said eCAT even created backlogs in some places, such as New England, that previously had none.

The new version of eCAT will not be rushed, Astrue said. SSA will not pilot it until 2009 at the earliest, Astrue said, and it will be closely reviewed as it is rolled out to one or two states. He promised that eCAT will eventually help examiners make and document their decisions faster and better.

“Now, we’re trying to do it right,” Astrue said.

SSA recently digitized its appeals process with a new program called iAppeals, Astrue said. This program lets claimants or their representatives file an appeal online. Previously, appeals were filled out on paper forms and mailed to field offices, where SSA staffers entered the information into a computer system....

SSA plans to require all claimant representatives to use iAppeals; unrepresented claimants would still be able to file their appeals on paper.

Hearing Update

There have been so many press releases concerned with this past Wednesday's House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Social Security's budget and backlog problem that I am going to sweep them into one post.

Senators Schumer and Clinton of New York put out a press release expressing outrage at Commissioner Astrue's assertion that lack of office space was behind the failure to add more Administrative Law Judges to the Buffalo hearing office. They are demanding more information from Astrue.

Mike McNulty, the chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee issued a press release on the day of the hearing.

Representative John Lewis of Georgia put out a press release shortly before the hearing, trying to drum up press attention.

Representative Xavier Becerra issued a press release and put his comments during the hearing onto YouTube.

Becerra also put up a second YouTube video from the hearing that contains some answers from Commissioner Astrue about staffing and office closures.



Finally, the ACLU has put out a press release commending the House Ways and Means hearing.

Waiting In The Shadows Of Woodlawn

The Frederick News Post of Maryland is running an article about a man who had to wait two and a half years before being approved for Social Security disability benefits. The man was waiting for a hearing before a Social Security Administrative Law Judge based in Baltimore. Woodlawn, Maryland, where the Social Security Administration has its headquarters, lies between Baltimore and Washington.

By the way, this is another newspaper article apparently generated by Allsup's public relations offensive.