Mom On Ice Copycat

The Associated Press reports that Rosland Auslander of New York state has pleaded guilty to freezing the dead body of his 98 year old mother so he could continue to cash her Social Security checks.

Long time readers of this blog know that "Mom on ice" stories pop up on a regular basis on this blog. Criminals are so predictable.

Hearing Office For Alaska

This news is not all that new, but the Anchorage Daily News is reporting that the Social Security Administration plans to open a full hearing office in Anchorage in February of next year.

AFGE Jumps On Conference Criticism

From Al Kamen's Inside the Loop column at the Washington Post:

The American Federation of Government Employees [AFGE]... estimated the gathering -- which it said included receptions, door prizes, skits, a dance troupe, a lunchtime comedian and a trip to a casino -- cost $750,000, not including salaries. That, said Witold Skwierczynski, president of the union's field office local, was a "callous waste of money when video conferencing is available."

He said SSA had recently installed a "state-of-the-art" interactive video system for training new and newly promoted employees. "These employees sit in an office and watch on IVT while trainers instruct them from remote locations," Skwierczynski said. "Apparently the folks who run SSA feel" that's fine for lower-level employees but "managers deserve the amenities of the Arizona Biltmore when they get instruction."

Annual Statistical Report On Disability Insurance Program

The Social Security Administration has released its Annual Statistical Report On The Social Security Disability Insurance Program 2008.

Senate Health Care Bill Does Not Address Medicare Waiting Period

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has reported out the Affordable Health Choices Act to address the increasing number of uninsured Americans. As best I can tell from the Committee's summary of the bill, it does not address the 24 month (really 30 month for most people) waiting period after becoming disabled before Medicare benefits begin.

It appears increasingly likely that a major health care bill will be passed and signed by the President this year. Whatever is passed will dramatically reduce the number of uninsured Americans but a very significant part of the remaining uninsured Americans will be individuals who have been or will be declared disabled by their government. I wonder whether the number of free clinics -- already inadequate -- will decrease once a health care bill passes, making it even harder for the disabled to obtain health care.

Social Security Explanation Of Phoenix Conference

The Social Security Administration has prepared an explanation of the recent Regional Management Training Forum it held at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix. It is obvious that Social Security obtained an extraordinarily good deal from the hotel. I did not see an explanation of the motivational dance troupe, but that may have been covered in an attachment that is not available to me.

My problem with this meeting is not where it was held, but whether it should have been held at all. It would not have been much cheaper for the meeting participants to have stayed at a Motel 6 while meeting at Social Security's Western Program Service Center in Richmond, California. The problem I have is whether the meeting should have been held at all at a time when Social Security's field offices cannot answer their telephones. Does Social Security management understand the severity of the staffing problems at its field offices?

Gregory To Head NASI

From a press release:

Janice Gregory has been elected the tenth president of the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization made up of the nation's leading experts on social insurance. Gregory is the former Senior Vice President for the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), an organization that represents the health and retirement plans of major corporations, and a founding member of NASI.

“With Social Security once again emerging as a major issue in social insurance, NASI is fortunate that Janice Gregory has agreed to serve as its president. Janice Gregory is one of the most respected national leaders on social insurance and retirement security issues,” said Kenneth Apfel, NASI Chairman and Professor of the Practice at the Maryland School of Public Policy. “It is hard to imagine a better match between the issues that NASI and the nation will face in the years ahead and the talents of its new president.”

Gregory directed legislative affairs at the ERISA Industry Committee from 1984 through 2006. From 1979 through 1983, she coordinated activities of the Subcommittee on Social Security for its Chairman, the Honorable J.J. Pickle of Texas. She was awarded the Social Security Administration Commissioner’s Citation in 1984. She is a contributing author to Prospects for Social Security Reform and Checks and Balances in Social Security, and is principal author of The Vital Connection: An Analysis of the Impact of Social Security Reform on Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans and Getting the Job Done: A White Paper on Emerging Pension Issues. ...

Gregory succeeds Margaret Simms, Institute Fellow and Director of the Low-Income Working Families project at the Urban Institute, who was president of NASI for two years.

ABC Story On Social Security Conference In Phoenix

You know it's bad when the title of the piece is Social Security Execs Boogie Down at Lavish Phoenix Conference.

I have been to a lot of conferences but I have never been to one where a motivational dance troupe performed.

Update: From FederalTimes.com:

...[L]eading members of two House and Ways Committee panels are accusing the agency leadership of being tone-deaf in holding the retreat at such a posh resort at a time of high unemployment and record government deficits.

“At a time when millions of Americans are out of work and having to do more with less, and when the SSA has received significant new funding to address near record backlogs after longstanding funding requests made before our subcommittees, it is essential that great care be taken to use administrative funding wisely, in a way that brings the most value to the American people SSA serves,” the members wrote in a July 10 letter to SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue.

Reps. John Tanner, D-Tenn., and Sam Johnson, R-Texas, who are the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Social Security subcommittee; and John Linder, R-Ga., who is the top Republican on the income security and family support subcommittee, wrote the letter.

The lawmakers asked Astrue to provide by July 17:

• Details of costs for travel, rooms, meals, speakers, entertainment, conference room rental and equipment charges.

• The number of official hours SSA employees used traveling and attending the conference, as well as the number of employees who attended and their job titles.

• The process used to select the retreat location, including “whether government contracting rules were followed and whether the hotel housing the conference was the lowest bidder.”