Senate Letter Regarding Social Security Appropriations For Current Fiscal Year

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House Letter Regarding Social Security Appropriations For Current Fiscal Year

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A Press Release

The article below was supposedly written by Stephen Martin, the Chillicothe, Ohio Social Security District Manager. It was published in the Chillicothe Gazette.

With the end of the year fast approaching, many people already are making plans for the new year - and beyond. As Americans look to the future, so, too, is Social Security. Recently, the agency released its new strategic plan with the motto, "Social Security Benefits America."

This five-year plan identifies the challenges Social Security faces and the steps needed to meet those challenges head-on. This plan charts the course that will enable us to effectively manage Social Security's core workloads and work toward long-term enhancements of our service to the public.

There are challenges, such as the backlog of disability claims and the increasing population of retirees due to the aging baby boomer population. To address these and other challenges, the plan concentrates on four specific goals:

Eliminate the hearings backlog and prevent its recurrence

Improve the speed and quality of the disability process

Improve retiree and other core services

Preserve the public's trust in Social Security programs.

The plan also notes the two keys to meeting our goals: Social Security's dedicated employees and advances in information technology.

Our commissioner, Michael J. Astrue, has said, "Our work force is one of our greatest strengths. The challenges we face have not shaken our resolve to provide the vital services Americans depend on. But we will need to rigorously explore and wisely employ new technology. To achieve a strong and modern infrastructure we need to invest in technology. That's all part of the plan."

Abraham Lincoln once said, "The best way to predict your future is to create it." That's exactly what we're doing with this plan - creating our future. This strategic plan charts the course we will need to take over the next five years to make our vision a reality. Working together with the president, members of the Congress and our stakeholders, we can provide world-class service for generations to come.

The comments that readers of the paper made in response to this are interesting.

Solving Social Security's Problems The Potemkin Way -- One Case At A Time

In November I posted about how "Problem Solver" at WSPA had helped a woman in the Greenville-Spartanburg, SC area get her Social Security disability benefits. They have done it again! It is just amazing the results this television station can get! Let me drop the scarcasm. I am glad this claimant got the benefits, but it is obvious that Social Security is rushing to get benefits to any Social Security disability claimant featured in a media report. Unfortunately, it is impossible for hundreds of thousands of people to get media attention -- even for fifteen minutes. Taking people out of turn for public relations purposes just makes those who are not featured in the news media wait longer. This is wrong and everyone at Social Security involved in this knows that it is wrong.

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Happy New Year!

Backlog Report December 2008

Click on each thumbnail to view the processing time report for Social Security's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, the part of Social Security that holds hearings on disability claims, obtained by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR).

Compare the state of the national backlog over time:

• January 25, 2007 -- 508 days
• May 25, 2007 -- 523 days
• July 28, 2007 -- 528 days
• August 31, 2007 -- 523 days
• November 30, 2007 -- 500 days
• February 29, 2008 -- 511 days
• May 30, 2008 -- 523 days
• June 27, 2008 -- 529 days
• July 31, 2008 -- 530 days
  
• September 3, 2008 -- 532 days
• November 5, 2008 -- 476 days
  
• December 3, 2008 -- 480 days

Update: I am going to take a guess at the explanation behind that remarkable improvement in the reported backlog between September 3 and November 5. What I think happened was that a few dozen new ALJs came on board during this time period. While the total number of cases backlogged increased, Social Security assumed that the increase in the number of ALJs would improve its output, thus decreasing the wait time.

Czech Treaty And User Fee Notices In Federal Register

Today's Federal Register has a notice that a Social Security treaty is going into effect between the United States and the Czech Republic and another notice that the user fee charged to attorneys and others who represent Social Security claimants and whose fees are deducted from their clients benefits will remain at 6.3% in 2009.