Backlogs -- Astrue Still Defining Acceptable Service Downward

From the Associated Press:

For all the talk of an impending crisis in Social Security, one already exists: The system is clogged with hundreds of thousands of disputed disability claims, a backlog so big that some people wait years for a hearing. ...

"Workloads have gone up, resources did not go up proportionately, and the agency was too slow to embrace new technologies," said Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue, explaining the backlog. "It's a combination of all those things." ...

Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., introduced a bill that would require a hearing be held no more than 75 days from the time it is requested, and a final verdict no more than 15 days after that. ...

Astrue said Castor's proposal does not take into account the time applicants need to prepare their cases. He has set a goal of a nine-month maximum wait for a hearing.

I will be happy to prepare my clients' cases in 75 days. When I first started practicing Social Security law in 1979, the average wait time for a hearing was only about 90-120 days and some cases were scheduled in as few as 75 days. I coped just fine then and I would be happy to do so again. The fees were lower, but the work required per case was much lower. There was certainly much less stress. Until Republicans took control of Congress in 1995 it had rarely taken as long as nine months for a claimant to get a hearing on a Social Security disability claim at any time in history. When Michael Astrue worked at Social Security in the Reagan Administration, it was certainly not taking nine months to get a hearing. Astrue seems eager to define acceptable service levels at Social Security downward. Service during the era when Republicans controlled Congress from 1995 to 2006 was the exception, not the norm.

No COLAs For Three Years

From the Associated Press:

The recession is projected to wipe out annual cost-of-living increases for 50 million Social Security beneficiaries for the next three years, something that hasn't happened since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975.

The Congressional Budget Office says in its latest budget estimates that inflation will dip so low that Social Security recipients will not qualify for annual increases in 2010, or for two years after that.

Medicare Waiting Period

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

Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Susan Collins (R-ME) and Reps. Gene Green (D-TX) and Lee Terry (R-NE) introduced the Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of 2009 (S. 700/H.R. 1708). This bill would phase out Medicare's two-year waiting period for individuals with disabilities under age 65 who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits.

Social Security Loses Arbitration Over National Hearing Center

Social Security has opened a National Hearing Center (NHC) with a few Administrative Law Judges (ALJs). The workflow in the National Hearing Center was arranged a bit differently and Social Security declared that the ALJs at the NHC were supervisors, making them ineligible to join the union that represents other Social Security ALJs. An anonymous poster on the ALJ Discussion Forum reports that the Social Security Administration has lost an arbitration on this issue. The ALJs in the NHC have been declared to not be supervisors and eligible to join the ALJ union.

Washington Post Attacked On Social Security

I had posted earlier about an article in the Washington Post on the recession and Social Security. I have also mentioned some time ago that the Washington Post has moved significantly to the right in recent years. Take a look at these excerpts from a piece in The American Prospect:

The Washington Post has long been a strong proponent of reducing Social Security benefits. While it frequently expresses this view in editorials and in the opeds it chooses to publish, it also pushes its editorial position in the news section.

In keeping with this practice, it headlined an article today, "Recession Puts a Major Strain On Social Security Trust Fund."...

While those seeking to cut Social Security benefits are highlighting these new projections, in reality they have very little significance for the program. ... The lower projected surpluses for the next few years will have some impact (if the projections prove correct) on the date at which the fund is projected to be depleted, but the projected depletion date will almost certainly be beyond 2040 ...

Recession And Social Security

From the Washington Post:

With unemployment rising, the payroll tax revenue that finances Social Security benefits for nearly 51 million retirees and other recipients is falling, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office. As a result, the trust fund's annual surplus is forecast to all but vanish next year -- nearly a decade ahead of schedule -- and deprive the government of billions of dollars it had been counting on to help balance the nation's books. ...

The new forecast is fueling calls for reform of the Social Security system from conservative analysts, who say it underscores the financial fragility of a system that provides a primary source of income for millions of Americans. ...

Many liberal analysts reject the notion that Social Security needs fixing, arguing that the system is projected to fully support payments to beneficiaries through 2041 -- so long as the Treasury repays its debts. But they agree that the news is not good for the federal budget.

State Furloughs And Social Security -- Bad Situation

From a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

SSA reimburses the DDS [Disability Determination Services, which are agencies of state governments] for 100 percent of allowable expenditures up to its approved funding authorization. The expenditures include both costs directly related to claims processing (such as disability adjudicators’ salaries) and indirect costs. ...

To deal with budget deficits, some States have instituted, or are considering, furloughs for State employees—including staff at the DDSs, which are 100 percent funded by SSA. However, Federal regulations state:

Subject to appropriate Federal funding, the State will, to the best of its ability, facilitate the processing of disability claims by avoiding personnel freezes, restrictions against overtime work, or curtailment of facilities or activities. ...

Additionally, on February 3, 2009, California began delaying payments to individuals who provide consultative examinations and medical records. California also notified SSA that there would be a 30-day delay in payment (which was due to SSA by February 26, 2009) of the estimated amount of its March 2009 federally administered State supplement to SSI recipients. ...

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, SSA spent $1.8 billion funding DDS operations for almost 14,000 DDS employees who processed about 3.6 million disability claims nationwide. ...

However, SSA’s ability to process this workload will be negatively impacted by furloughs. As of March 3, 2009, of the 52 DDSs,

• 5 were furloughing,
  
• 3 were considering furloughs ...
  

Of the five States furloughing:

• California is furloughing all DDS staff 2 days each month through June 2010.
• Connecticut had one voluntary furlough day for managers on February 13, 2009. Since then, the Governor has extended the request for voluntary furloughs to all State employees through June 1, 2009.
• Maryland is furloughing 2 unpaid holidays for all State employees and additional furlough days for State employees within certain salary ranges through June 2009.
• Massachusetts is furloughing DDS managers 3 days through June 2009.
• Oregon is furloughing DDS managers from 1 to 4 days, depending on salary range, through June 2009....

Of the 52 DDSs,

• 5 had hiring freezes,
• 1 was considering a hiring freeze ...

The attrition rate for DDS disability examiners was 12.5 percent in FY 2008 and 9.8 percent in FY 2009.

In related news, Commissioner Astrue and Congressman Early Blumenauer have jointly authored an op ed piece on this subject in the Oregonian.

Dr. Gunnar Andersson

Gunnar B.J. Andersson is one of the members of Social Security's Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel I had written earlier that it appeared that he had no background to prepare him for service on the Panel. That may have been the appearance from the brief biography posted by Social Security, but a couple of people e-mailed me about Dr. Andersson's background. He is the editor of the most recent edition of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment and the co-author of Disability Evaluation.

However, I still think this Panel's work is likely to be almost entirely new to him. Assigning percentages of disability or saying that someone is limited to "Sedentary Work" is quite different from determining whether there actually are unskilled sedentary jobs remaining in the U.S. economy. My experience is that physicians have trouble with the very idea of non-medical aspects being considered in determining disability.