Schedule C Positions At Social Security

Does anyone have a list of the Schedule C positions at Social Security? These are policy-determining positions that are subject to change when a new administration takes office. Advance approval from the White House is required to appoint someone to a Schedule C position.

De Soto Out?

There is an anonymous report that Lisa de Soto, Social Security's Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, is leaving her position to teach at the Federal Executive Institute. David Foster is to replace her. Her last day at Social Security is January 16, four days before Barack Obama's inauguration.

Update: Here is some confirmation that de Soto is out. Apparently, there were a number of other personnel changes as well. Here is some information on David Foster:

Mr. Foster has held high-level positions in the federal government, having served in various capacities at the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC and the United States Attorney's Office in Alexandria, Virginia. In the private sector, Mr. Foster has worked extensively in the health care field as the head of government relations for biotechnology firms and as counsel for the National Leadership Coalition on Health Care. He also has chaired committees for the American Bar Association, the Federalist Society and the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

Mr. Foster is a magna cum laude graduate of Bowdoin College and received his J.D. from Northeastern University.

Federalist Society. That's reassuring!

Problem Solver Gets More Results! Potemkin Lives!

From television station WSPA in Spartanburg, SC:

When you wait years for the government to approve your disability insurance request there’s no doubt you need that money. One woman who called us said the Social Security Administration took months to send her more than $50,000 in back pay. Our Dianne Derby got the money for her in no time. It’s a 7 On Your Side Problem Solver. ...

She was approved for disability insurance earlier this year but can’t get the Social Security Administration to send her the more than $50,000 in back pay they granted. It’s money she needs after dipping into her retirement for 3 years while waiting for a final answer from the SSA.

“I called and they kept saying ‘Oh it just takes a while’,“ said Ogburn.

Our calls to SSA’s regional headquarters in Atlanta brought forth an apology to Ogburn from spokesperson Patti Patterson and an admission they should have moved faster. “We do try to pay people as quickly and timely as possible,“ said Patterson. “Unfortunately, on some occasions things don’t get processed as quickly as they should. This is an example of that.“

Within days Ms. Ogburn was more than $50,000 richer.

I think I will describe this sort of thing as a "Potemkin", in honor of Grigori Potemkin, a minister to Catherine the Great of Russia. Potemkin allegedly had hollow facades of buildings constructed along the route that the Empress was taking in a newly conquered area of the Crimea to impress her with the value of area.

CCD Recommendations For Transition

Here is an excerpt from Disability Policy Recommendations for Presidential Transition and 111th Congress, a lengthy document produced by the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), the major umbrella organization lobbying on behalf of the disabled in the United States:

The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities urges the Administration and Congress to consider the following priorities:

• Ensure that SSA is given sufficient funding to make disability decisions in a timely manner and to carry out other critical workloads. SSA must be provided with adequate funds for its administrative expenses to make significant strides in reducing the disability claims backlog, improve other services to the public, and conduct its program integrity activities. Congress also should consider separation of SSA’s administrative budget authority from the Section 302(a) and (b) allocations for discretionary spending in other important programs. The budget would still be subject to the annual appropriations process and Congressional oversight.
• Develop proposals to promote employment among beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries and improve work incentives. However, any proposals should not make changes that would damage the existing Social Security and SSI disability programs. CCD has developed a set of principles to guide the development of proposals. The principles include: no changes to the Social Security definition of disability; no work requirements or time limits in the Social Security and SSI disability programs; and no cutbacks to eligibility criteria for these programs. The Statement also includes a comprehensive discussion of improvements to the disability programs and work incentives that CCD has supported over the years.
• Ensure that proposed changes to the disability claims process protect the rights and interests of people with disabilities and do not elevate speed of adjudication above accuracy of decisionmaking. This is problematic and not appropriate for a non-adversarial process. CCD has numerous suggestions for improving the disability claims process for people with disabilities and many have already been initiated by SSA. We believe that these recommendations and agency initiatives, which overall are not controversial and which we support, can go a long way towards reducing and eventually eliminating the disability claims backlog. The CCD recommendations, which include improved development of evidence at the beginning of the process and technological improvements, are summarized in testimony presented before the House Ways and Means Committee on April 23, 2008.
• Guarantee, if the debate on the solvency of the Social Security Trust Funds is revived, that the impact on people with disabilities is considered and that their interests are protected. CCD has urged that consideration of any proposal be required to include a beneficiary impact statement.
• Improve, simplify, and update the SSI program through legislative, regulatory, and operational changes.

Obama Plan For FY 2009 Appropriations

From the Capitol Insider put out by the Disability Policy Collaboration:

House and Senate leaders have charged the Appropriations Committees to complete action on the nine Fiscal Year Appropriations bills before the January 20 inauguration. President-Elect Obama wants to sign a stimulus package and the remaining FY 2009 Appropriations bills shortly after he takes office. Current appropriations are frozen at the FY 2009 levels under a continuing resolution that expires in early March.

Apfel At University of Maryland

I had earlier posted that former Social Security Commissioner Kenneth Apfel had just left the University of Texas to take a job with an insurance company. Later, I updated that to say that it appeared that the Kenneth Apfel at the insurance company is a different fellow with the same name. An article in the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP) Bulletin reports that the Apfel who used to be Commissioner is now at the University of Maryland.

8,100 Work Year Backlog And Other News

On Friday I attended a continuing legal education session put on by the North Carolina Association for Justice (formerly the NC Academy of Trial Lawyers) which included Ethel Zelenske from the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and several speakers from the Social Security Administration. Here are some news items I picked up.

Ethel Zelenske is the Director of NOSSCR's Government Affairs Office in Washington. She reported that Social Security entered the 2009 Fiscal Year (FY) on October 1, 2008 with an 8,100 man year (or in government terms Full Time Equivalent or FTE year) backlog of work apart from the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review. Note that I did not say man hour backlog, but man year backlog. (Update: This 8,100 man year backlog figure was used earlier by Senator Baucus as the size the workload backup may grow to in FY 2009.)

Zelenske reported that Michael Astrue appears to want to stay in his position as Commissioner of Social Security.

Zelenske brought with her some statistics from Social Security on average Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) dispositions per day per hearing office and average age of pending at each hearing office. You can view these on the separate Social Security Perspectives Blog. Please note that that the average age of pending number is potentially misleading.

Zelenske mentioned that Representative John Lewis of Georgia, an important member of the House Ways and Means Committee, has promised to introduce legislation to raise the cap on fees for representing Social Security claimants and to index that cap for inflation.

Reginald Jackson, Social Security's Acting Deputy Associate Commissioner for the Office of Disability Policy, talked about various policy issues, one of which is that Social Security is updating its medical listings for disability. I inquired about the status of the mental impairment listings. Social Security had obtained approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for new mental impairment listings in July but has not published the proposal in the Federal Register. Jackson's response was essentially, "Oh, you mean the 12.05 proposal? We were told that was on hold because of the transition to the new administration." Listing 12.05 is for mental retardation. It has become the most controversial of listings. I have no doubt that Michael Astrue intended to make it dramatically more difficult for mentally retarded people to qualify for disability benefits, but realized that he would never be able to get this past OMB as a final regulation in an Obama Administration.

Susan L. Brown, Social Security's eDIB Coordinator, told the group that Social Security hopes to roll out attorney and representative access to the electronic files over the internet nationally by this time next year. Interestingly, she mentioned that attorneys and representatives would be assigned an ID code for access to electronic files. Attorneys and representatives have objected to being required to use their own Social Security numbers as a unique identifier with Social Security, as is now the case. The concern is that this gives their own staff, Social Security staff and even their clients access to this confidential information. An ID number other than a Social Security number would be welcome news for people like me. I would be willing to bet that because they have ready access to my Social Security number several Social Security employees have already looked up my earnings record. They could get fired for it, but human nature being what it is, they have probably already done it.

Dorcas Hardy Remains Active

Former Social Security Commissioner Dorcas Hardy serves on two corporate boards and is President of Hardy and Associates, although it is unclear whether this remains an active business. She served as a surrogate for Republican Presidential candidate John McCain during the recent campaign. She is a member of the Social Security Advisory Board.