Expect More Stories Like This

From the Charleston, WV Daily Mail:

Virginia Nesselrotte, 65, of Dunbar is upset about not getting a cost-of-living increase with her Social Security benefits this year. [They mean next year.]

"We'll lose $300 a year in 10 years," said Nesselrotte, a retired Verizon worker. "That kind of loss is going to be hard on a lot of people." ...

The Congressional Budget Office said 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. ...

Scott McClanahan, executive director of Kanawha Valley Senior Services, said he sees tough choices ahead for senior citizens.

"It's going to be needs versus wants," he said. "Is it going to be medicines or food? Now some of the seniors are already cutting their meds in half in order to keep the longevity of the drugs to meet the dynamics of those meds." ...

Furloughs In Ohio

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Some employees of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission will be forced to take unpaid furloughs for no good reason ...

The 550 employees of the Bureau of Disability Determination are paid out of federal Social Security Administration funds but work for the state. The bureau determines whether disabled Ohioans are eligible for federal Social Security benefits. ...

So why is Ohio making the employees take the unpaid time off?

It's required under a union contract covering thousands of state workers, said Steve Ostrander, spokesman for the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission. The 550 Bureau of Disability Determination employees are covered by an Ohio Civil Service Employees Association contract that requires workers to take 20 unpaid days off over the next two years.

Why would the union object to the Bureau of Disability Determination employees being exempted from the furlough? Has this been raised with the union?

Not A Good Sign

The El Paso Times reports that the local Social Security office will be conducting a free workshop to help people learn how to use the agency's website.

Such workshops would be unnecessary if Social Security had a truly user friendly website.

DDS Furloughs May Extend To NY and NJ

The New York Times has an article today on the furloughs at some state Disability Determination Services (DDS). The DDS offices make the initial and reconsideration determinations on Social Security disability claims. The news in this article is that the furloughs may spread to New York and New Jersey. Here are some excerpts:

“We pay the full freight,” Mr. Astrue said. “States do not save any money when they furlough or lay off these employees. They only delay payments to disabled citizens who rely on the monthly benefits.” ...

Mr. Astrue has expressed “grave concern” over such personnel actions in letters to governors, including Jon Corzine of New Jersey and David A. Paterson of New York, both Democrats, and Mr. Schwarzenegger.

In a letter to New York employees last week, Mr. Paterson said he intended to lay off 8,700 state workers by July 1.

Peter E. Kauffmann, a spokesman for Mr. Paterson, said, “The governor is aware of the concerns raised by the Social Security Administration and will act carefully.”

Happy Easter

Even A Nutjob Can Make A Good Point

From the otherwise nutty LRC Blog:

So I went to the local Social Security office, with my original birth certificate, to prove that I am 64. Now, being Alabama, everyone was sweet and polite, including the armed guard and the bureaucrats. And there was the racial respect that characterizes the South, despite the MSM [Main Stream Media] morality tale. But what a room! There was that armed guard at the front, waiting citizens, surveillance cameras, and five thick lucite windows with chairs in front of them, like a prison visiting room. When your number was called, you talked to the clerk through a grid, and passed your documents through a slit. I thought: the state is terrified of the people.

Former Social Security Official Pleads Guilty

The Associated Press reports that Heriberto Sanabria, formerly manager of Civil Rights-Equal Opportunity at Social Security's Atlanta Regional Office ,has pleaded guilty to eight counts of theft of government funds. He admitted filing false expense accounts for thousands of dollars .

Checking Facebook To See Whether Claimant Disabled?

United Press International (I thought they were out of business) is reporting that a Canadian court has ordered a search of the hard disk drive of a man applying for disability benefits from the provincial insurance agency to see how much time he has spent visiting Facebook. This was felt to be probative.