Field Office Experience With Social Security Verification Of Citizenship

It sounds bizarre to me and probably to many of my readers but Social Security records are being used more and more as a means of verifying citizenship. As an example, Social Security has just put out an Emergency Message to its staff concerning inquiries from the public occasioned by the use of Social Security records to verify citizenship for purposes of Medicaid and the S-CHIP program.

My concerns with this are that the Social Security records were not set up as a means of verifying citizenship and that the Social Security Administration may lack adequate staff to deal with the inquiries and problems resulting from the inevitable errors in these records.

I would be interested in hearing how this is going from those who work in the field offices. How many inquiries are you getting? Is it a major part of your workload? Are the people making the inquiries upset, even desperate? How long is it taking to resolve problems? Is this is a big and growing problem or something Social Security can take in stride?

Most Popular Stories Of 2009

Here is the top ten list of most popular stories on Social Security News in 2009, many of which are actually stories from prior years:

1. $250 Economic Stimulus Payment Questions And Answers
2. Stimulus Bill Payment To Social Security Recipients Down To $250
3. List Of New ALJs (2008)
4. New ALJ Forum (2007)
5. Economic Stimulus Bill Has $900 Million For Social Security And Bonus For SSI Recipients
6. Federal Employee Salaries
7. Binder and Binder Lawsuit (2008)
8. More Deflation -- COLA Consequences? (2008)
9. Payment Center Direct Contact (2007)
10. I Had Noticed ...

No, I don't understand why some of these were so popular.

First Claim For Disability "Freeze" Taken On This Date In 1955

According to Social Security's history office, "This photo shows the first disability freeze application being taken in the Wheeling, West Virginia office on January 2, 1955. The applicant (left) is Mr. William Calvin King. The claim is being taken by the local Social Security office manager, Edgar Allen Poe (no foolin'!)." The earnings record "freeze", or period of disability to be technically correct, was enacted two years before cash disability benefits.

California Court Enjoins Furloughs

I was not expecting there to be news about Social Security on New Year's Day, but there is. State budget problems have become a major headache for Social Security. States are furloughing employees and imposing hiring freezes. These actions usually affect the state disability determination agencies that make determinations on Social Security disability cases at the initial and reconsideration levels. This is happening even though the furloughs and hiring freezes do nothing to help state budgets since all salaries and costs associated with the disability determination agencies are picked up by the federal government. State governors seem to believe that the fair thing is to treat all their employees the same.

The state that has the worst budget problems is California. It was had the worst furloughs of state employees, including disability determination emploees. This has had a dramatic effect upon disability determination in that most populous of all states.

One response to this mess has been litigation. Social Security did not start this litigation but has filed a "Statement of Interest" with the California court. It is extremely unusual for any federal agency to take an official position in a case pending in a state court other than to file papers to remove a case to federal court or to assert that a state court lacks authority to compel the federal agency to do anything. The Los Angeles Times reports on what happened yesterday in that litigation:

An Alameda County Superior Court judge Thursday ordered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to halt thrice-monthly furloughs for tens of thousands of state workers, saying the administration overstepped its authority in approving the unpaid days off. ...

He said that the governor's use of furloughs was an "abuse of discretion" and that he "violated a mandatory duty to take into account the agencies' varying needs before reducing workplace hours."

The governor plans to appeal Roesch's decision and noted that the order blocking the furloughs would be stayed until the appeal is ruled on, said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger.

Happy New Year!

How They're Using The Economic Stimulus Money For The DDS's

Here are some excerpts from Disability Determination Services' Staffing Under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

ARRA [American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the economic stimulus bill] provided SSA an additional $500 million to process retirement and disability workloads. ARRA funds should help SSA address increasing disability and retirement workloads caused by the combination of the economic downturn and the leading edge of the baby boomer retirements. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, SSA expected disability and retirement claims to increase by 600,000 over FY 2008.

At the time of our review, $87 million of SSA’s ARRA funds for FYs 2009 and 2010 had been allocated for labor costs of DDS employees and additional overtime, including indirect costs. The labor costs included hiring 300 new DDS employees. The remaining $413 million was allocated to the Offices of Operations and Disability Adjudication and Review, as well as for health information technology (IT) research and activities to facilitate the adoption of electronic medical records in disability claims. ...

Seven On Your Side Gets It Done!

From "News Channel 7" in Spartanburg, SC:

“I have 5 herniated disks,“ said disability insurance applicant Debi Lovell.

Lovell said she has so much pain from degenerative disk disease she has to use a walker to take the pressure off her back.

“My spinal cord is being strangled,“ she said.

Debi says in 2007 her doctor declared her disabled and it’s taken since then to get a final answer from the Social Security Administration about her disability claim. ...

On December 14th 7 On Your Side asked the Social Security Administration in an e-mail why Debi hadn’t received a decision about her hearing. The next day a judge sent a letter to Lovell saying she had been approved.

Astrue v. Ratliff Wiki

The SCOTUS Blog has started a Wiki for each case to be argued before the Supreme Court this term. One of these cases is Astrue v. Ratliff which is on the issue of whether attorney fees payable under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) belong to the Plaintiff or the Plaintiff's attorney.

The government is ordered to pay EAJA fees far more often in Social Security cases than in any other type of case. If the EAJA fee belongs to the Plaintiff, it is subject to offset for debts that the Plaintiff owes the federal government.

The case is set for oral argument on February 22, 2010. The certiorari stage briefs are available through the Wiki. The government's brief on the merits is also available. The opposing brief should be available in the near future.