From The NOSSCR Conference -- Jim McDermott's Aide

Jim McDermott, the Chair of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Support and Family Security, was supposed to speak at the NOSSCR Conference today, but Congressional business kept him away. One of his aides, a Ms. Bernson, if I understood her name correctly, spoke in his behalf. It seemed that she was delevering a speech written for delivery by Representative McDermott. The only news which I got from her presentation was that Mr. McDermott thinks the earned income and resource limits in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program need adjustment, including an automatic cost of living adjustment -- and the subocmmittee he chairs has jurisdiction over SSI.

From The NOSSCR Conference -- Comissioner Astrue

To continue with the reports from the NOSSCR Conference, here are the points that I picked up from Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue's speech:

• 55% of the $250 economic stimulus checks went out last week. Most of the stimulus checks going out to SSI recipients will go out in the next two days.
• Astrue expects to send proposed regulations on "single decision-maker" to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval soon.
• He expects to hold two more compassionate allowance public hearings this year -- on Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. [I have a suggestion. Why not just make a simple confirmed diagnosis of schizophrenia enough to meet the Listing. That is what is happening anyway.]
• The actuaries predict a million more disability claims in the next three years as a result of the recession. Astrue seemed skeptical of the actuaries' ability to predict this. [I'm with Astrue, although maybe for different reasons. In my experience the number of claims filed has much more to do with public perceptions of the adjudicative climate at Social Security than with economic circumstances. At any given time there are several million people who could file a claim for Social Security disability benefits but do not have a claim pending. The decisions of members of this group to file or not file have little to do with the state of the economy.]
• Precessing times at state Disablity Determination Services (DDSs) will get worse this year.
• 8% of New York state DDS employees are being laid off due to state budget problems, even though Social Security is willing and able to pay for the New York DDS to hire 15% more employees.
• He believes that Social Security is hiring at an "incredible" rate, attempting to hire 6,400 employees this fiscal year.
• For four straight months the number of cases pending at Social Security's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) has gone down.
• Social Security plans to send a proposal for an extension of the senior attorney program to OMB for approval.
• ODAR will be adding 1,000 new staff on top of attrition this year. Many of those have already been hired.
• 157 new Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) are bing hired this month -- in the next week or so.
• Another 208 ALJs are to be hired before the end of the next fiscal year (September 30, 2010), with perhaps 55 of those to be hired in September of this year (which would still be in this fiscal year).
• Finding enough office space for additional ALJs is a problem which could hold back some hiring.
• Social Security is now aiming for 1,400 to 1,450 ALJs total.
• Social Security now has goal of an average ratio of 4.5 staff to each ALJ.
• Astrue expects to open 14 additional hearing offices in FY 2010.
• Astrue noted that it takes the General Services Administration (GSA) 18 to 24 months to lease space for federal agencies. This slows down the process.
• Astrue said that Fayetteville, NC would have a full hearing office once space can be leased which will take time. In the meantime, a large remote video site would be opened. I had previously posted that I thought it misleading for Astrue to talk about opening a hearing office in Fayetteville when all that was planned was a large remote hearing site. Astrue made reference to this blog and to me by name in his remarks, though not in an unfriendly way. He did not think what he had said was misleading. [Local Social Security employees were unaware until quite recently that a true hearing office was coming to Fayetteville.]
• Astrue hopes for a real turaround in electronic records in the next three years, which will help Social Security reduce the time it takes to adjudicate claims.

From The NOSSCR Conference -- Marty Ford

This morning I was at the general session of the conference of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) in Washington. I will be summarizing the points that I found of interest in the presentations.

I start with Marty Ford, who is the Chairperson of the Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), the major umbrella organization of disability advocacy groups in the United States. I do not mean to slight Ms. Ford, whose presentation was mostly news to the audience, but the only thing that I heard from her that was more or less news to me, was that the twenty-four month waiting period for Medicare after one qualifies for disability benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act is "on the table" at the Senate Finance Committee.

Most Popular Baby Names By State

Social Security has a website showing the most popular baby names by state. In my state, North Carolina, Aiden and Caleb are both more popular names for boys than my name, Charles. In fact, Charles isn't much more popular than Tristan!

Recession Hurting Trust Funds

From a Social Security Press Release:

The Social Security Board of Trustees today released its annual report on the financial health of the Social Security Trust Funds. The Trustees project that program costs will exceed tax revenues in 2016, one year sooner than projected in last year’s report. The combined assets of the Old-Age and Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds will be exhausted in 2037, four years sooner than projected last year.

Social Security Subcommitee Hearing Scheduled

From a notice posted by the Social Security Subcommittee:

Congressman John S. Tanner (D-TN), Chairman, Subcommittee on Social Security, today announced a hearing on the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) employment support programs for disability beneficiaries, including the Ticket to Work Program. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 ...

[A]n April 2009 report by the SSA Inspector General found that SSA was not acting quickly enough to terminate the benefits of disability beneficiaries who lose eligibility because they have returned to work. This has been a longstanding concern. Past testimony before the Subcommittee has reported that former beneficiaries have been overpaid tens of thousands of dollars due to SSA’s delays in terminating benefits, even if beneficiaries have informed the agency that they are working. The threat of receiving large overpayments which must later be repaid can be a significant work disincentive for disability beneficiaries. In addition, the failure to terminate benefits in a timely way increases costs to the Social Security Trust Fund, as overpaid funds may not be completely recovered.

Union Prepares For Contract Negotiations

Council 220 of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents most Social Security employees, has issued two different newsletters. One is called Unity and the other the National Council Digest. The newsletters feature articles about the union's preparations for upcoming contract negotiations with Social Security. Here is an excerpt from Unity:

... “Last November’s election results will certainly have a lot to do with our abilities to achieve success,” [Witold Skwierczynski, the President of Council 220] continued. “Under the Bush administration, the attitude was to diminish the Union’s strength and to de-unionize the workforce as much as possible. I expect just the opposite from President Obama.

“Unfortunately, current SSA Commissioner Astrue has cut off all communication with the Union and he has no inclination to provide employees with new benefits or better working conditions.” ...

“A grass roots employee movement will be the key to success, especially if Mr. Astrue doesn’t change his attitude toward SSA employees,” Skwierczynski believes.

Astrue On "Reforming" Social Security

There is nothing new in what Commissioner Astrue is saying, but I will repeat it here for the sake of reporting it all. From Financial Planning:

Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue thinks the long-delayed discussion about reforming the government insurance program could be taken up as early as next year.

Astrue, who was in New York on Thursday to promote the $250 recovery payments that were sent out this week to people who receive Social Security and Supplemental Security Income, acknowledged that Social Security discussions could be delayed in favor of addressing healthcare reform, but doesn’t foresee the issue getting completely lost as it did during President Bush’s tenure. ...

“I think President Obama would like to have this conversation right now,” Astrue said in an interview. “But I think it will definitely happen during his first term.” ...

“We have a menu of hard choices and we have to suck it up and make those choices,” he says. ...

While there is little argument about the need to reform Social Security, Astrue also seeks to dispel the common notion that the program is in danger of going bankrupt.

By the way, I will dispute the author's smug assumption that almost everyone agrees that Social Security is in need of "reform." I think a lot of people dispute this. All Social Security needs is more revenue to replace the extra money being paid out since the Republican Contract with America ended Social Security's retirement earnings test.