Social Security Lags In Contracting With Small Firms

From Government Executive:

More than $1 out of every $4 spent on federal Recovery Act contracts has gone to small businesses, but several large spenders appear to be lagging behind in including small firms, administration officials told members of a Senate panel on Tuesday. ...

The Social Security Administration has awarded less than 2 percent of its contracts to small businesses ...

Attorneys To Get Electronic Access To Claimant Files

A case of swine flu kept me from attending the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) conference in San Francisco last week. Geri Kahn reports in his California Social Security Lawyer Blog on a presentation at the conference on a new program to allow attorneys and others representing Social Security claimants to have electronic access to their clients' Social Security files. Kahn reports that open enrollment will begin in Spring 2010.

Blahous Gets Nomination As Social Security Trustee

According to the Wall Street Journal, Chuck Blahous has been nominated by President Obama for Social Security's Board of Trustees as a public trustee. His appointment comes courtesy of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. It appears that there was no public announcement of the nomination. Blahous has been described by Andrew Biggs as "the Bush Administration's main man on Social Security reform."

Update: Robert Reischauer was also nominated for the Board of Trustees at the same time.

Processing Time Report

Courtesy of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR). Click on each thumbnail to view it full size.

Compare the average processing time as it has changed over time:

• January 25, 2007 -- 508 days
• May 25, 2007 -- 523 days
• July 28, 2007 -- 528 days
• August 31, 2007 -- 523 days
• November 30, 2007 -- 500 days
• February 29, 2008 -- 511 days
• May 30, 2008 -- 523 days
• June 27, 2008 -- 529 days
• July 31, 2008 -- 530 days
  
• September 3, 2008 -- 532 days
• November 5, 2008 -- 476 days
  
• December 3, 2008 -- 480 days
• March 8, 2009 -- 499 days
• April 24, 2009 -- 505 days
• June 3, 2009 -- 505 days
• September 29, 2009 -- 472 days
  

A Contradiction Left Unresolved?

Here are a quotes from two different Subcommittees of Social Security's Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (emphasis added):

The Physical Demands Subcommittee strongly believes that data collection for the physical demands of work cannot be done by self-report. [See below. Another Subcommittee wants to give self-reporting a try.] There are numerous studies that demonstrate that self-reported physical demands are neither reliable nor valid ... (Physical Demands Subcommittee report, pages 34-35 of pdf)

Recommendation: The SSA should train existing Experts [Are we talking about Vocational Experts who testify at ALJ hearings or state agency vocational specialists or both?] in the new OIS [Occupational Information System] and use them as a source to provide job level data for the pilot study. The SSA should also provide job incumbents with the opportunity to provide job level data in the pilot study and compare the quality of results from the two sources. (Work Taxonomy and Classification Subcommittee report, page 282 of PDF )

The references are to the PDF of the entire Panel report. It looks to me as if there is a serious contradiction about a key matter. I do not see that this contradiction was ever resolved by the entire Panel.

I do not understand why the idea of surveying workers about their job duties should even come up. If you spend any time interviewing people about their job duties you quickly discover that when you ask people detailed questions you get confused answers that run along the lines of "I never weighed what I was lifting" and "I never timed how long I was on my feet" and "I never measured how far I had to walk." When pressed, people just give wild guesses. Surveying workers about their job duties may sound plausible, but it would yield only confusing, inconsistent, meaningless data.

Beneficiaries By State And Zip Code

Social Security has released OASDI Beneficiaries by State and ZIP Code, 2008.

GAO Reports On Wounded Warrior Project -- SSA To Propose Legislative Changes In Retroactive Effect Of Disability Claims?

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued Additional Outreach and Collaboration on Sharing Medical Records Would Improve Wounded Warriors’ Access to Benefits, a report on Social Security's Wounded Warrior program which accelerates the disability process for those injured in military service. Some findings:

As of December 2008, about 7,600 of the16,000 wounded warriors who have applied for SSA disability benefits since 2001 have been approved. ... [A] sizable minority of approved claimants filed long enough after injury that they lost some retroactive benefits; SSA is considering a legislative proposal to change the retroactive period for wounded warriors. Among wounded warriors receiving DOD or VA disability benefits, 4 percent were receiving SSA benefits. In addition, more than 6 percent had applied but were not receiving SSA benefits; some still had claims pending. Those with higher disability ratings from DOD or VA were more likely to receive SSA benefits. ...

With help from DOD [Department of Defense] and VA, SSA has been able to expedite processing of wounded warrior claims. SSA has established a nationwide policy requiring its offices to give priority to wounded warrior claims. ...DOD’s paper-based transfer of medical records to SSA is slow, which can prolong the process by weeks or months, according to claims processing staff.

I wish the wounded warriors all the best but I can think of no reason why their disability claims should get a longer retroactive effect than those of other claimants.

Social Security Gets Involved In California Budget Lawsuit

A press release issued by Social Security:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that the Department of Justice, on behalf of the Social Security Administration, has filed a “Statement of Interest” in Union of American Physicians and Dentists v. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, which is currently pending in a state trial court in California. The Union of American Physicians and Dentists includes employees of the California Disability Determination Services Division (DDSD), Department of Social Services, who evaluate Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income claims. The Federal government fully pays for the salaries and overhead costs for these employees.

“For many months we have been trying to convince California officials that furloughing DDSD employees does not save the state a single penny, and actually costs the state money. It also unnecessarily harms their citizens with disabilities and their civil servants,” said Commissioner Astrue. “Unfortunately, our arguments have fallen on deaf ears. We hope our Statement of Interest will awaken state officials to the irreparable damage their furlough policy is causing.”

California’s furlough of DDSD employees costs the state $849,000 per furlough day in administrative funding. More importantly, each furlough day results in a delay costing California’s disabled citizens over $420,000 in much-needed Social Security benefits.

The Statement of Interest notes that California’s furloughs of DDSD employees are inconsistent with the state’s obligations and responsibilities under the Social Security Act. Specifically, implementing regulations obligate California to provide adequate facilities and qualified personnel to carry out the disability determination function and, “to the best of its ability, facilitate the processing of disability claims by avoiding personnel freezes, restrictions against overtime work, or curtailment of facilities or activities.”

“As Vice-President Biden noted in his recent letter to Governor Edward Rendell, Chair of the National Governor’s Association, ‘During these difficult economic times, it is critical that we all do what we can to ease the financial burdens on the American public,’” Commissioner Astrue said.