AALJ Press Release On "Laptop Law"

From a press release issued by the National Executive Board of the Association of Administrative Law Judges (AALJ), a labor union that represents many of Social Security's Administrative Law Judges (ALJs):

Currently the nation´s Social Security disability insurance program is struggling under a severe case backlog. In some parts of the country, claimants can wait more than two years for a hearing. According to the Government Accountability Office the backlog results primarily from increased applications, staffing shortages and management weaknesses.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has tried a number of fixes to speed the process including video hearings. In recent years, these hearings have been conducted in special chambers located in government buildings where federal administrative law judges control the camera and where claimants can discuss the most intimate details of their lives and disability, without worrying others will hear. ...

Now, SSA´s management has begun testing a new and until now unpublicized form of video hearing where judges are not in control of the camera, where hearings originate from the offices of private disability lawyers and where no federal employee is present to monitor the hearing and oversee operation of the camera or protect the privacy of claimants.

Judges would like to see steps taken to reduce the backlog and more quickly settle claims, however the use of video hearings originating from claimants´ lawyers laptops is not the solution. Claimants who have paid into the Social Security system throughout their working lives have a right to a fair hearing before a judge in a dignified setting. The new "laptop law" video forum has no provision for the judge to position or move the camera during the hearing. It deprives the judge of control of the hearing process and creates too many opportunities to game the system. It is not hard to imagine a claimant testifying from his lawyer´s office reading testimony from a teleprompter or being coached by another lawyer in the background.

Don't Tell Anyone! It's A Secret!

Bender's Immigration Bulletin has obtained a Program Operations Manual Series (POMS) issuance on Social Security's implementation of the Ensign Amendment, concerning the crediting of earnings when a person was working under a false Social Security number with intent to deceive. The issuance is marked "Sensitive -- Not To Be Shared With The Public."

This POMS issuance is small potatoes. The larger issue is the preposterous secretiveness. What is truly "sensitive" about this? This is the public's business that Social Security is transacting. Those of us who do business with the agency deserve to know the policies the agency is applying. Trying to keep this sort of thing secret indicates an improper desire to avoid public scrutiny. I am appalled.

Time To Pull The Plug On Ticket To Work?

From a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General on the Ticket to Work program (emphasis added):

We understand that the Ticket Program is a relatively new program and any savings achieved may be realized over a long period of time. Still, we found the economic self-sufficiency and related benefit savings outcomes were similar for beneficiaries, whether they participated in the Ticket Program or not. While the two groups had similar outcomes, SSA paid additional costs for the Ticket Program and recent changes are projected to increase the overall costs of the Ticket Program. Also, implementation of the Ticket Program did not appear to increase the percentage of disabled beneficiaries who returned to work, nor realize the outcomes and savings envisioned by Congress. Given our findings, we recommend SSA:

1. Evaluate the continued viability of the Ticket Program.

2. Work with Congress to reform or end the Ticket Program if the Agency determines it is not having the desired impact and/or it is not cost-effective.

AGENCY COMMENTS

SSA agreed with our recommendations ...

Bush Succeeded In Scaring People, If Nothing Else

From Rasmussen:

National Survey of 1,000 Likely Voters

Conducted August 1, 2008
By Rasmussen Reports

1* How confident are you that the Social Security system will pay you all promised retirement benefits during your lifetime?

15% Very confident
29% Somewhat confident
28% Not very confident
25% Not at all confident
3% Not sure

2* Should working Americans be allowed to opt out of Social Security and provide for their own retirement planning?

45% Yes
41% No
13% Not sure

3* Is Social Security a good deal for working Americans today?

46% Yes
37% No
18% Not sure

4* Currently, people pay Social Security taxes on the first $102,000 workers earn each year. People who make more than that do not pay Social Security taxes on salary and wages above that level. Should Social Security taxes be paid on ALL OR MOST OF THE income workers earn each year?

62% Yes
25% No
13% Not sure

5* Should people who pay more in Social Security taxes receive more Social Security benefits when they retire?

62% Yes
24% No
14% Not sure

NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence

Happy 73rd Birthday, Social Security!

Screwup In Nebraska

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

About 7,400 Medicare beneficiaries in Nebraska can request a waiver of a recent decision that two months Part B premium arrearages would be withheld from their September Social Security check.

This situation arose when an incorrect list from the State of Nebraska was sent to Social Security identifying more than 9,500 Part B beneficiaries for whom the State of Nebraska was going to pay their Medicare Part B premiums beginning April 2008. ...

Each beneficiary received a refund of several months Medicare Part B premiums. After the list was corrected, beneficiaries were told that the overpayments created by this erroneous list would be collected from the benefit they will receive in September.

To request a waiver of the overpayment, beneficiaries should contact Social Security ...

Interesting that they are treating this as an overpayment subject to waiver.

Hearing Loss Listings

The Notice of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRM) for the new hearing loss listings will be in the Federal Register tomorrow, but you can read it today. I see no major departure from the current listings on a cursory review.

This was cleared by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on August 6 and will appear in the Federal Register on August 13, which is a fairly normal interval between these two events. The NPRM for the new mental impairment listings was cleared by OMB on July 9, but has still not appeared in the Federal Register. I do not know the reason for the delay, but I have to guess that it has some significance.

Waiting In South Carolina

WSPA-TV in Spartanburg, SC has a "Problem Solver" reporter. This reporter found that she was getting more calls about backlogs in adjudicating Social Security disability claims than anything else, so she did a story on the subject. Take a look at the video.