Buffalo News Editorial

The Buffalo News, which has been closely covering the story of the backlogs and delays caused by Social Security's inadequate staffing ran an editorial yesterday, again calling for the agency to hire needed employees.

No Last Minute Rush

From the New York Times:

The Bush administration has told federal agencies that they have until June 1 to propose any new regulations, a move intended to avoid the rush of rules issued by previous administrations on their way out the door.

The White House has also declared that it will generally not allow agencies to issue any final regulations after Nov. 1, nearly three months before President Bush relinquishes power.

VOIP At SSA

Fed Tech magazine has an article about Social Security's transition to a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telecommunications system. The project is expected to take ten years and cost $300 million. Implementation began this Spring.

What Does This Mean?

This is from a notice that the Social Security Administration has set for publication in the Federal Register tomorrow:

In this final rule, we are extending until July 1, 2010, the date on which the listings for the following six body systems will no longer be effective:
Growth Impairment (100.00)
Respiratory System (3.00 and 103.00)
Hematological Disorders (7.00 and 107.00)
Endocrine System (9.00 and 109.00)
Neurological (11.00 and 111.00)
Mental Disorders (12.00 and 112.00)

And yet, Social Security has an item pending at the Office of Management and Budget to amend the mental listings. I suppose that the agency is up against a June 1 date upon which the mental impairment listings will no longer be effective unless extended, but this does look odd.

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Easier To Get Liver Transplant Than To Get On Social Security Disability

Social Security's Listing for liver disease contains as one possible criteria a SSA CLD score of 22 or greater. CLD stands for Chronic Liver Disease and SSA stands for Social Security Administration. I have no idea why Social Security decided to label the formula in the Listing as SSA CLD, since the formula for determining CLD is the same as the MELD (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease) formula used in determining eligibility for a liver transplant.

According to the California Pacific Medical Center "... the average MELD score for a patient undergoing a liver transplant is 20 nationally." Yet, Social Security requires a MELD score of 22 to meet the Listing. Yes, there are other criteria for meeting the Listing and claimants with MELD scores under 22 must be found to meet the Listing, still, why would Social Security set the criteria well beyond what is required to get a liver transplant?

Widows Still Being Underpaid

From a report of Social Security's Office of Inspector General(OIG):

Some individuals are dually entitled to both disability benefits based on their own earnings history and widow's benefits based on their deceased spouse's earnings. Although disability benefits are generally not reduced based on the beneficiaries' age, widow's benefits are reduced when beneficiaries elect to receive them before they reach FRA [Full Retirement Age]. However, if the widow's benefits started when the disability benefits began or later, the widow's benefits are adjusted and the reduction for age is eliminated when disability benefits end and retirement benefits are awarded. Usually, this occurs when the beneficiaries attain FRA. In December 2006, about 3.6 million beneficiaries were dually entitled to both retirement benefits and widow's benefits.

SSA technicians are instructed to prepare manual diaries to control cases in which disability beneficiaries become entitled to reduced widow's benefits, to ensure the appropriate adjustments are made when disability ends and retirement benefits are awarded. In addition, SSA's Title II Redesign system produces alerts when these beneficiaries attain FRA. SSA technicians then determine whether adjustments to the widow's benefits are needed. Because the Agency does not have an automated system to make the necessary adjustments, employees must take manual actions to ensure these beneficiaries are paid correctly.

In May 2007, we issued a report on Adjustment of Widow's Insurance Benefits at Full Retirement Age (A-01-07-27122). Based on the results of our audit, we estimated that about 9,751 beneficiaries were underpaid approximately $113.7 million through November 2006. In May 2008, SSA reported these widow's records were reviewed and corrected in Fiscal Year 2007. Because SSA corrected the benefits for these widows, they will receive about $137.8 million in additional payments over the rest of their lives. ...

Because the population used for our May 2007 audit was identified in 2004, we indicated in that report that we would conduct additional analysis to identify a more recent population of widows who may have been underpaid. Therefore, we identified 9,603 widows who were not in the prior audit population but appeared to be underpaid. In March 2008, we referred these new cases to SSA's Office of Operations for review and corrective action. SSA informed us it began working these cases in April 2008 and expects to complete them all in Fiscal Year 2008.

We selected a random sample of 200 cases from this new population for detailed analysis. (See Appendix A for additional information about our scope, methodology and sample results.)

Results of Review
Based on the results of our review, we estimate that about 8,403 beneficiaries were owed approximately $95 million through February 2008. In addition, if SSA does not take action to correct the benefits paid to these widows, we estimate they will continue to be underpaid about $211 million over the rest of their lives.

And This Is Supposed To Reassure Us?

Take a look at a piece from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) trying to reassure us that the E-Verify error rate is not that high. Using a rather optimistic assumption, DHS comes up with one-half of one percent of all workers having to contact the Social Security Administration to straighten out the mismatch between their name and Social Security number. There are 138 million people employed in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This would mean only 690,000 people desperately trying to contact the Social Security Administration at a time when the agency cannot adequately answer its telephones and has lines forming outside the doors of some of its offices because they are afraid of losing their jobs. That is a nightmare for Social Security and for those 690,000 people right there.

What I love about this DHS piece is the placid assumption that the 5.3% of people with mismatches who fail to straighten out their records must be illegal aliens and that anyone who worries about that 5.3% is a nasty lover of illegal aliens. No doubt that a lot of that 5.3% are illegal aliens, but anyone who thinks they are all illegal aliens is naive. There is a lot of procrastination in the world. Some significant part of that 5.3% are procrastinators. No one knows what percent of people with mismatches are U.S. citizens who will get thrown out of their jobs because they fail to promptly resolve the mismatch -- or will only make a serious effort to resolve the mismatch after they get thrown out of their jobs.