What Would Open Government Mean At Social Security?

From Amy Harder at the Lost in Transition blog:

Fast-forward 10 or 20 years and you might see a Congress that passes "wikied" legislation created by millions of Americans, a president who submits a daily diary via video, and a vast online repository of all the Freedom of Information Act requests ever submitted.

Rewind back to today, and you'll see a handful of innovative, tech experts discussing these ideas at Google's Washington headquarters. During a panel discussion today, a packed room listened to Internet-savvy people within Congress, from the presidential campaign and third parties weigh in on how President-elect Obama should use the Web to promote open government.

So, what sort of things should the Social Security Administration do to promote open government? What are your ideas?

I will start by mentioning one small area. Social Security should quit keeping most of its Emergency Messages to its staff secret. Anything that is available to tens of thousands of Social Security employees cannot be truly sensitive. Social Security employees do not have to engage in the old school bureaucratic nonsense of keeping pointless secrets to prove their importance. I already think Social Security employees are important. Knock off the pointless secrecy, Social Security.

Judge Judy And Disability

The clip that I posted from the Judge Judy show may not be the first time that the subject of Social Security disability benefits has come up on her show. Here are some comments from the web about two other Judge Judy shows.

• Judge Judy just had a case with a woman who was the defendant and losing and Judy did her usual grilling. She asked the woman if she worked and she said no, that she was on SSI. Judy asked the nature of her disability and she answered "multiple sclerosis." "Well, you look fine to me!" Judy said haughtily. MS World Board February 14, 2008
• We LOVED the guy on Judge Judy who sued his wife (or ex wife) for selling his musical instruments, in order to feed their children. He said he needed them in order to earn $100 a night, playing in a band. This was the only work he could do, under the table, to supplement his SSI. HUH? Judge Judy declared the instruments "marital property" and said the wife was within her rights, to sell them. She added that someone from Social Security was going to see the show and would be very interested in his case. Etiquette Hell Forum April 19, 2007

Etiquette Hell! An appropriate forum to discuss Judge Judy.

OIG Report On Processing Time

Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has done a report on the agency's processing times on Social Security disability claims. It seems to me to show that a lot of the processing time figures given out by Social Security over the years may be misleading or at least may not accurately reflect what a claimant would experience. OIG was doing a study on calendar year 2006. Social Security reported that in 2006, the average processing time at the initial level was 88 days, 483 days at the hearing level and 203 days at the Appeals Council. OIG's audit found that it actually took 131 days at the inital level, 532 days at the hearing level and 242 days at the Appeals Council. OIG's description of how they did this study could be better, but it appears that the difference is that OIG included the time it took for the agency to get a new claim or appeal to the desk of the person who was supposed to work on it and also included the time it took for favorable and unfavorable decisions to be processed after they were made, including the time it took to compute and pay benefits when favorable decisions were made. It looks like OIG did not include the time it took claimants to file appeals, so the actual experience of a claimant would be even worse.

NOSSCR Comments On Proposed Scheduling Rules

The National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) has posted its comments on the proposed regulations that would allow the Social Security Administration to remove any control that an individual Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has on scheduling hearings. NOSSCR's comments express concern that the proposal would diminish ALJ indepedence and that it is a distraction from the vastly larger problem of lack of adequate staffing at Social Security.

File your own comment online. The deadline for comments is January 9, 2009.

Judge Judy Gives A Lecture

Social Security Begins Podcasting

You can download podcasts from Social Security. The first is Deciding When To Start Receiving Retirement Benefits.

Across The Pond

Disability determination is very different overseas Here is an exchange from the Rightsnet board in Great Britain:

Joe Barton:
Had a client who could not use her right hand so could not peel or chop vegetables as a result we applied for the low rate Care Component of DLA [Disability Living Allowance, which looks as if it may be the rough equivalent of SSI disability benefits] on the basis that she could not plan, prepare and cook a main meal. At the tribunal hearing clients appeal was disallowed on the basis that she could buy packets of frozen veg that did not need chopping? Has the law on the cooking test changed because it seems judges at tribunals are now resorting to the above tactics and mentioning things such as microwaves.

ken:
I think that a tribunal could argue there is sufficient case law that allows for the reasonable use of a microwave to help in in the 'preparation' of a main meal.

However, in terms of ingredients, the commissioner in R(DLA) 2/95 held that -

• 'The word 'prepare' emphasises a claimant's ability to make all the ingredients ready for cooking. This includes the peeling and chopping of fresh vegetables as opposed to frozen vegetables which require no real preparation.'

I imagine that we look similarly bizarre to those on the other side of the Atlantic.

Merry Christmas!