From 1955

IARP Survey On Social Security's Proposed Occupational Information System

The International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals (IARP) has surveyed its members on how Social Security should collect data for the Occupational Information System that the agency's Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (OIDAP) is working on.

It is good to see that IARP is keeping a tab on OIDAP's work. Somebody needs to. OIDAP's work sounds horribly technical, but the ultimate result of what OIDAP is doing could be far more or far fewer Social Security disability claims being approved -- and I would not bet on the outcome being far more claims approved.

I have this fear that most of those involved at OIDAP either do not care what happens to Social Security disability claimants or that most of those involved believe that Social Security disability benefits are almost unnecessary or undesirable because they naively think that almost any disabled person can be rehabilitated. However, I remind myself that it looks like Social Security had already made all the key decisions before OIDAP ever started meeting and that those decisions will delay any action that will affect any Social Security claimant until after Michael Astrue leaves office. Perhaps, delaying any tough decision until after Astrue leaves office is the real point of OIDAP.

OIG Says ODAR Will Meet Its Goals -- If ...

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

At the end of May 2009, over 750,000 hearings were pending in ODAR [Office of Disability Adjudication and Review], and the average processing time was 494 days. As outlined in its Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 2013 Strategic Plan, the Social Security Administration (SSA) plans to reduce the number of pending hearings to a desired level of 466,000 and the average processing time to 270 days by FY 2013. According to SSA, a pending level of 466,000 hearings ensures a sufficient number of cases to maximize the efficiency of the hearings process.

The Acting Deputy Commissioner of SSA asked that we evaluate the impact of ODAR's current MI [Management Information] and ODAR's proposals on its ability to reduce the backlog to the desired pending level. To address his request, we examined the workload ODAR would need to complete to process projected hearing requests and reduce the backlog to the desired pending level by FY 2013; identified MI currently available for officials to manage ODAR's workload, any reported shortfalls in available MI, and any reported shortfalls in the use of the MI to manage effectively; and reviewed ODAR's proposals, along with their potential impact on (1) addressing any shortfalls in ODAR's existing MI and (2) the likelihood SSA will meet its goal of reducing the backlog to the desired pending level by FY 2013. ...

Regardless of whether the FY 2010 proposals are approved, it appears SSA will achieve the desired pending hearings level by FY 2013 based on the currently projected level of receipts. Specifically, if SSA follows its current administrative law judge (ALJ) hiring plan and the current average ALJ productivity level remains constant, ODAR's pending hearing level should fall below 466,000. However, the timing of ALJ hiring will impact ODAR's ability to achieve this desired pending level. Therefore, SSA should continue to work with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to ensure ALJs are hired within the planned time frames.

Note that the goals can be achieved if Social Security's current projections of future receipts are accurate. However, we know that those projections are wildly inaccurate. Social Security is seeing a flood of new disability claims. Even if the projections are accurate, the backlog condition that Social Security is seeking to achieve, nine months, is far worse than what Social Security used to find acceptable.

WIPA Bill Passes House

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

On July 28, the House of Representatives passed the WIPA and PABSS Reauthorization Act of 2009, H.R. 3325, which was introduced by House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John Tanner (D-TN) and Income Security Subcommittee Chairman Jim McDermott (D-WA). The bill amends the Social Security Act to extend through Fiscal Year 2010 the authorization of appropriations for the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) and the Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS) programs. The WIPA and PABSS programs were established by the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act to assist Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security disability program beneficiaries with information about existing work incentives, benefits planning, and decisions about work and providing advocacy that beneficiaries may need to secure, regain, or maintain gainful employment.

Remember, authorizing an appropriation is not the same thing as appropriating money. Authorization has to come before money is actually appropriated, but authorization does not actually give an agency any money.

Hearing Backlog Reduction Update Booklets

The Social Security Administration has produced a series of booklets, one for just about every state, showing the state of the backlog of requests for hearing for each state. The booklets discuss efforts to reduce the backlog, both nationally and at the state level.

Social Security Seeks OMB Approval For Three Final Rules

All federal agencies must obtain the approval of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is part of the White House, before posting either proposed or final regulations in the Federal Register. Social Security has just submitted three final regulations to OMB for approval. One would update the Malignant Neoplastic disease -- or cancer -- listings, another would allow benefit payments to people living in Viet Nam and Cambodia and the third would:

... revise our rules regarding payment of representative fees to allow representatives, in certain cases, to charge and receive a fee for their services from certain third parties without requiring our approval. We also plan to eliminate the requirement that we approve fees for legal guardians or court-appointed representatives providing representational services in claims before us if a court has already authorized their fees. Lastly, we plan to define "legal guardians or court-appointed representatives."

These are the first regulations of any substance that Social Security has submitted to OMB since the inauguration.

How Many Of You Knew About This?

From the Lufkin Daily News:

People who use social networking websites know that it can be exciting to reconnect with long lost friends and relatives over the Internet. Such surprise connections can be fun and conjure up memories of times forgotten. But what if you have a more serious situation and you need to locate a particular person? Perhaps Social Security can help.

Social Security is in the business of paying benefits, not reconnecting people. But, in some cases, we will do what we can to help.

We will attempt to forward a letter to a missing person under circumstances involving a matter of great importance, such as a death or serious illness in the missing person's immediate family, or a sizeable amount of money that is due the missing person. Also, the circumstances must concern a matter about which the missing person is unaware and would undoubtedly want to be informed.

In less dire cases, such as when a son, daughter, brother or sister want to establish contact, we will write to the missing person, rather than forwarding a letter.

Because this service is not related in any way to a Social Security program, its use must be limited so that it does not interfere with our regular program activities.

There is no charge for forwarding letters that have a humanitarian purpose. However, we must charge a $25 fee to cover our costs when the letter is to inform the missing person of money or property due. This fee is not refundable. The fee should be paid by a check made payable to the Social Security Administration.

We must read each letter we forward to ensure that it contains nothing that could prove embarrassing to the missing person if read by a third party. Letters should be in plain, unstamped, unsealed envelopes showing only the missing person's name. Nothing of value should be enclosed.

To try to locate an address in our records, we'll need the missing person's Social Security number or identifying information such as date and place of birth, father's name, and the mother's full birth name.

Unless a missing person is receiving benefits under a program Social Security administers, we would not have a home address for them. Usually, we forward a letter in care of the employer who most recently reported earnings for the person.

Requests for letter forwarding should be sent to: Social Security Administration, Letter Forwarding, P.O. Box 33022, Baltimore, MD 21290-3022.

Learn more about this service at www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/html/ltrfwding.htm.

Daniel Bowline is district manager for the Social Security Administration in Lufkin.

FICA Receipts Down

The Associated Press is reporting that FICA tax receipts are down so far this year. The decrease is small, less than 1%, but an increase had been projected. This moves up the date upon which Social Security will start paying out more than it takes in, perhaps to 2013.