No More Corners To Cut

From the Las Vegas Sun:

The Social Security Administration is being slammed by a surge in disability and retirement claims that is threatening to shortchange applicants and cripple a system that, even before the downturn, was starved for resources.

To cope with the growing tsunami, the agency is putting pressure on its ranks of administrative law judges, both here and nationally, to clear a massive backlog of disability appeals cases. But the union representing those judges says the hearing officers are overworked — and that some, under threat of disciplinary action, have been cutting procedural corners to hit the agency’s mandate of 500 to 700 cases a year.

Since October, the number of people waiting to have a claim processed has jumped more than 30 percent, from about 556,000 to 736,000 last month. Although most of those initial claims will be denied, many will end up before an administrative law judge on appeal. Nearly 750,000 people are waiting for a hearing before overwhelmed judges.

“No one ever says, ‘do a sloppy job,’ ” said Marilyn Zahm, executive vice president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges. “But to pretend you can keep pumping out decision after decision and spend the requisite amount of time on each case is foolish. That’s shortchanging people, and the system will lack integrity if you do not require everyone to do a good job.” ...

“Corners are being cut in order to accommodate a backlog and at the end of the day everyone is going to suffer,” she said. “People have a right to expect due process ... At a certain point, no more corners can be cut.” ...

“Hearings are being shortened, not all information in the file is being reviewed, not all medical reports are being obtained, and full and legally defensible decisions may not be rendered, either because due consideration hasn’t been given or the decision is poorly written,” she said. “When people have too much work to do in the amount of time allotted to do it, you get sloppy work.”

The First -- And Only -- Visit By A Sitting President To Social Security Headquarters

Lyndon Johnson, October 12, 1966

Almost all of the historical photos I post come from Social Security's History website. The agency has an official historian, Larry DeWitt.

NASI Survey On Social Security

The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) and the Rockefeler Foundation sponsored a survey on Social Security. Here are a few excerpts:

Three-quarters of Americans say it is critical to preserve Social Security even if it means that working Americans have to pay higher taxes to do so ...

[A]n overwhelming number – 90 percent – want Congress to act within the next two years to preserve Social Security. ...

Three times as many Americans say that we spend not enough on Social Security (45%) as believe that we spend too much (15%). ...

Ninety percent of Americans say they are concerned about the program’s ability to pay benefits for the next generation. Just 44% of non-recipients say they’re confident that Social Security will be available to them when they retire ...

83% support lifting the Social Security tax cap so that all workers pay the same payroll tax rate, regardless of income.

70% support dedicating the estate tax solely to Social Security.

69% support adding a 5% tax on families earning over $250,000 and individuals earning more than $125,000. ...

78% support extending benefits for “children whose working parents have died or become disabled from the current cut off of 19 years to 22 years old if the child is in college or vocational school.”

76% support increasing benefits “by $50 a month for recipients over the age of 85 because they generally depend more heavily on Social Security.”

76% support improving “benefits for widowed spouses of low income working couples who generally have inadequate benefits from lifelong low-pay work.”

69% support “guaranteeing that Social Security benefits for steady workers exceed the poverty line, even if workers choose to receive early benefits at the age of 62.”

64% support “counting the time that working parents take off to care for children toward workers’ future Social Security benefits so they do not receive lower benefits because of this gap in paid work.” ...

[T]wo out of three Americans (65%) agree “we should increase Social Security benefits because millions of Americans have lost savings and pensions in the current economic crisis

Arrest In Georgia

From the Ledger-Enquirer of Columbus, Georgia:

Michael Eugene Hale, accused of threatening a Social Security employee on Aug. 5, had 10 weapons in his Midland home when federal authorities executed a search warrant, court records show. ...

Hale, who allegedly was upset about the denial of his disability claim, faces only an accusation of telling a Social Security employee that he would go into an office and kill everyone, an affidavit states. He faces no weapons charges.

Happy 74th Birthday, Social Security!

Make It Readable

From a recent issuance of Social Security's Program Operations Manual Series (POMS) concerning standards for notices issued by Social Security:

Know your audience. Write to your average reader. Do not write to the experts, lawyers, or advocates unless they are your intended audience.

It is important to use short sentences as often as possible. The longer and more complex a sentence, the harder it is for readers to understand.

When writing notices:

• Write at the sixth to eighth-grade reading level.

• Use an average sentence length of no more than 15–20 words.

• Use no more than seven lines per paragraph.

• Use short, common words whenever possible.

The article tells Social Security employees to use Microsoft Word software to score notices on readibility.

There is another POMS issuance on the font and font size to use in notices, as well as the type of paper to print the notices on.

Rwanda Ahead Of U.S. In Online Access To Social Security Records

From allAfrica.com:

Pensioners with the Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR) can now access their social security accounts by use of mobile phones and the Internet.

The developments introduced recently are aimed at facilitating SSFR's members in knowing their social security contributions. James Nsabimana, the Director of Contributors Education and Customer Relation Department said that this is an easy way of checking one's social security status.

27% Jump In Disability Claims This Year

This is the day for interesting statistics to jump out at me from mundane articles. Information Week has an article on Social Security's plans for accessing electronic medical records. The article contains no news until you get to the fifth paragraph where unnamed Social Security officials are reported to have said that the agency expects a 27% increase in the number of disability claims filed this fiscal year. We are nearing the end of the fiscal year so this projection will probably turn out to be fairly accurate. Previously, the agency had been projecting a 40% increase in disability claims for this fiscal year, so this may be an improvement. However, the article talks of 3.3 million claims this year, which is the same number that Social Security had been talking about earlier. I do not know why this is reported as a 27% increase at one time and a 40% increase at another time.