Powerful TV Story On Backlogs

WGRZ-TV in Buffalo is running a lengthy story (more than six minutes) on Social Security's terrible backlogs in adjudicating disability claims. The story includes interviews with Congressman Brian Higgins and Senator Chuck Schumer.

I know that the description of the problems suffered by the claimant who is used as an example may give you pause, but that is merely a television reporter's understanding of a claimant's understanding of her medical problems. It should not be surprising if there is a lot misunderstood along the way. There are plenty of people who give similarly incoherent accounts of their medical conditions who are genuinely in terrible shape. I talk with them every day and try to help them better understand what their doctors have said and what they are experiencing so they can testify in a coherent fashion.

If you have wondered why there have been so many backlog stories coming from the Buffalo area, watch. The reason is one person, Linda Fullerton. It makes you wonder what would happen if there were a hundred or a thousand people out there like Ms. Fullerton pressing Congress and the media.

By the way, the reporter's desire to blame President Bush and former President Clinton may not be completely off the mark, but, by far, the bigger problem was Republican control of Congress between 1994 and 2006. This is not Republican bashing. This is plain fact.

Updated Fee Payment Stats

The Social Security Administration has posted updated statistics on payment of fees to attorneys and others for representing Social Security claimants. This is a good analogue to show the ups and downs in payments of back benefits to newly entitled claimants. The numbers are below:

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-08	20,559	$75,368,163.45
Feb-08	26,570	$95,228,284.32
Mar-08	23,088	$83,166,027.02
Apr-08	27,296	$98,616,579.78
May-08	29,305	$104,283,373.35
June-08	25,243	$89,786,459.83

Poll

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

Results Of Last Week's Unscientific Poll

How Did You Spend Your Fourth Of July?

At the beach (8)	10%
At a lake (5)	6%
Poolside (2)	3%
In the mountains (2)	3%
Other vacation destination (3)	4%
Traveling to visit family or friends (5)	6%
Staying home but getting together with family or friends (26)	33%
Catching up with chores around the house or yard (9)	11%
Didnt't do anything much (16)	20%
Working (3)	4%

Total Votes: 79

Closer To Social Security Treaty With India

The possibility of a U.S. Social Security treaty with India is not much of a story in the U.S., but it draws a lot of attention in India. From the Indian Express of Mumbai:

... A long-standing Indian demand for a social security pact that allows Indian workers stationed in the US to bring back their contributions to the US Social Security system on their return to India, is close to being met.

Over $1 billion of contributions to the US Social Security Fund are made annually by an estimated 80,000 “detached workers” from India working on consultancy and onsite assignments — each one has to contribute at the rate of 15% of basic salary. However, when they return to India, these contributions are forfeited as the minimum period to qualify for pension benefits in the US is 10 years (the same is true of India as well).

After a series of meetings between Indian officials and the US Social Security Administration as well as a senior White House official in Washington last week, Indian workers’ annual donations to the US social security fund — which currently has a $4.1 trillion deficit — may finally come to an end.

“We are close to sealing the pact. Indian workers who spend three years in the US would get a refund of their contributions to the US pension system. Moreover, the pension will also be portable — once a worker completes the qualifying period of 10 years, the pension will be payable in either country,” a senior government official said. ...

Between December 2007 and now, India has made some progress on this front which it convinced the US administration about. The Unorganised Sector Workers’ Social Security Bill has been introduced in Parliament as well as reviewed by a standing committee. ...

“It has been an intractable wall we have been chipping away at for years, but this time, we feel they are convinced that there is a sound social security sytem in India,” the official said. ...

Backog Report

The National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) has obtained from Social Security and published statistics on the hearing backlogs at each of Social Security's hearing offices as of the end of May. Thumbnails of each page are reproduced here. Click on each thumbnail to view it full size.

It's Official: Appropriations Process Suspended

From the Associated Press:

Sidestepping battles with Republicans over offshore oil drilling and pork barrel projects, Democrats controlling the House have called a halt to efforts to pass the 12 annual bills that fund Cabinet agency budgets. ...

Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis. -- blindsided last month by a GOP effort to transform a bill funding education and health care into a vehicle to permit additional offshore oil drilling -- has suspended his panel's work on spending bills for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. ...

Obey says Republicans simply want to drag out the annual appropriations debates for political ends and that he won't be a pawn in such a game. But with President Bush promising veto after veto of the Democratic bills -- and Senate action unlikely for most of them as well -- there's little enthusiasm among either rank and file Democrats or their leaders to pass all the bills. ...

At a hearing last month, Lewis and a colleague tried to force a vote to lift the offshore drilling ban, enraging Obey, who quickly gaveled the meeting to a close. The panel hasn't reassembled since and has no plans to vote on bills this week.

"With all due respect, there are only seven weeks left in the session. I don't see why we should spend those seven weeks in Jerry Lewis' playpen," Obey said.

Mental Impairment Listings Coming

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) acted yesterday on Social Security's proposed new mental impairment listings. We can expect to see the proposal in the Federal Register shortly. Apparently, OMB forced Social Security to alter the proposal since the notice indicates that the "Concluded Action" on the proposal was "Consistent with Change."

The public will be able to comment on the proposal after it is published in the Federal Register. Social Security must then consider what will probably be extensive comments. It is virtually inconceivable that these regulations would be finalized before President Bush leaves office, especially since Bush has already promised no new regulations after November 1. Since final regulations will have to be approved again by OMB, the new President who takes office in January 2009 will be able in influence the final rules.

As I have said before, I and many others are apprehensive about this proposal. Previously, Social Security proposed regulations that would have increased the age categories of the grid regulations by two years in an obvious attempt to save money at the expense of Social Security disability claimants. This has been blocked by Congressional opposition, but could be revived at any time with little prior notice. More recently, Commissioner Astrue proposed new procedural rules that would have created barriers to claims being approved in another obvious attempt to save money at the expense of Social Security disability claimants. This too has been blocked by Congressional opposition, but, again, it could be revived at any time with little prior notice. Is this proposal in the same vein?