New Information On Hearing Backlogs

Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri asked Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) to study whether Social Security was devoting adequate resources to resolving the hearing backlog in her state. OIG has produced a report saying that Social Security has. The report contains some statistics by region that I had not seen previously. These statistics certainly back up the assurance given the Senator.

I have reproduced some of these statistics below. Limitations in Blogger make it impossible for me to reproduce the tables as well as I would like but I think you can figure out what it says.

What is interesting is how Social Security has targeted the backlogs. This is not an across the board effort. Social Security is targeting those areas with the largest backlogs. Areas with low backlogs are seeing no improvement or a worsening. This is as it should be. This is a national program. It should take roughly the same length of time to get a hearing whether you are in Boston, Atlanta, Denver or San Francisco. There have been terrible disparities which must be resolved. I wish I knew how the disparities got so bad. I would also like to know how the Boston Region could have a huge increase in the number of cases awaiting a hearing at the same time it decreased the average length of time to get a disposition on closed cases. That does not make sense.

Number Of Cases Awaiting A Hearing Before A Social Security Administrative Law Judge As of September 30, 2008 And September 30, 2009 And Percent Change Per Social Security Region

Kansas City 39,622 33,001 -16.7%
Atlanta 216,407 188,566 -12.9%
Chicago 143,188 125,820 -12.1%
Seattle 24,605 22,117 -10.1%
New York 71,295 65,310 -8.4%
Dallas 72,485 69,971 -3.5%
San Francisco 77,829 79,419 +2.0%
Philadelphia 73,426 77,273 +5.2%
Denver 19,934 21,544 +8.1%
Boston 19,780 28,199 +42.6%
National Hearing Centers 2,242 11,602 +417.5%
Totals 760,813 722,822 -5.0%

Average Processing Time of Administrative Law Judge Dispositions As Of September 30, 2008 And September 30, 2009 In Days And Percent Change By Social Security Region

Dallas 445 398 -10.6%
New York 519 465 -10.4%
Chicago 665 615 -7.5%
Seattle 561 531 -5.3%
Boston 373 356 -4.6%
Kansas City 556 531 -4.5%
Atlanta 551 528 -4.2%
Philadelphia 393 402 +2.3%
Denver 429 447 +4.2%
San Francisco 436 472 8.3%
National Hearing Centers 615 687 +11.7%
National Average 514 491 -4.5%

The 1099 Problem

Social Security is now sending out 1099s to attorneys and others who have received direct payment of fees for representing Social Security claimants. These 1099s show the gross amount of the fees paid before the user fee which is charged by Social Security.

Attorneys and others who represent Social Security claimants keep accounting records. We record income as it arrives in our offices. At the time we receive a payment of a fee we record what we receive rather than some theoretical fee as it might have been before the user fee.

Eventually, when the 1099s show all fees paid, the totals reported by Social Security on the 1099s will be higher than the totals shown on attorney financial records and that will cause tax problems for those who represent Social Security claimants.

It seems to me that there are two good solutions for this problem. One would be for Social Security to report on the 1099s the net fees actually paid to those who represent Social Security claimants. The other would be for Social Security to provide an annual statement of user fees withheld to each entity receiving a 1099. The entity could then make two offsetting entries in its financial records, one to show the user fees as income and the other to show the user fees as an expense. The accounting records would then match up with the 1099s and everyone would be happy.

I hope that Social Security does not take a third approach to this problem, which would be, "It's your problem. You figure out a solution."

Bonus Plan Voted Down

From the Associated Press:

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a proposal by President Barack Obama to give people on Social Security a $250 bonus check.

Republicans and Democratic deficit hawks combined to reject the idea by a 50-47 vote. The plan, offered in the Senate by Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., would have added $14 billion to the out-of-control budget deficit.

How Women Saved Social Security

From the Economix column in the New York Times:

One of the great advances of 20th century was increased life expectancy. This advance might have bankrupted Social Security, if it were not for women in the work force.

Proposed Regs On Disability Examiner Authority To Make Decisions

Coming tomorrow in the Federal Register:

We propose to amend our rules to permit disability examiners in the State agencies to make fully favorable determinations in certain claims for disability benefits under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act) without the approval of a medical or psychological consultant. The proposed changes would apply on a temporary basis only to claims we consider under our rules for Quick Disability Determinations (QDD) or under our compassionate allowance initiative.

Three Years, Four Months and 11 days

From the Lawrence Journal-World & News:

For three years, four months and 11 days, Debra Shirar waited for the Social Security Administration to say yes to her disability claim.

In that time, she accepted state assistance for a little more than $100 a month, lived with a friend and rummaged through her neighbors’ garbage to find aluminum cans she could sell to buy medicine.

“I have taken 30 days worth of pills and made them last 90 … because I don’t have the money,” Shirar said. ...

Two weeks ago, the Social Security Administration told Shirar something she had known since October 2006: She was disabled.

“It’s over,” 58-year-old Shirar said. “The resolution is nice, but not as sweet as it would be if I didn’t have to go through with it in the first place. I would rather be working.”

Rangel Leaves As Ways And Means Chairman

Charlie Rangel is temporarily stepping down as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. It is unclear who will succeed Rangel or whether this will lead to any reshuffling of the Subcommittee assignments. This matters since Ways and Means has jurisdiction over Social Security. The Social Security Subcommittee has an important role in Social Security matters. John Tanner, the chair of the Social Security Subcommittee, is retiring at the end of this Congress. I would like to think that this would mean that the Social Security Subcommittee would be untouched by Rangel's decision but we will have to see.

By the way, Representative Tanner voted against health care reform earlier but he is now undecided on how he will vote when it comes up again.

Hearing Backlog Declines

A press release from Social Security:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that the number of disability hearings pending stands at 697,437 cases -- the lowest level since June 2005 and down more than 71,000 cases since December 2008, when the trend of month-by-month reductions began. In addition, the average processing time for hearing decisions has decreased to 442 days, down from a high of 514 days at the end of fiscal year (FY) 2008.

“We have decreased the number of hearings pending by almost 10 percent over the last 14 months and cut the time it takes to make a decision by nearly two and a half months. This remarkable progress shows our backlog reduction plan is working,” Commissioner Astrue said. “With ongoing support from the President and Congress as well as the efforts of our hardworking employees, I am confident the hearings backlog will continue to diminish.”

Social Security has actively addressed the hearings backlog and increased the capacity to hold more hearings. The agency hired 147 Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) and over 1,000 support staff in FY 2009, and has plans to hire an additional 226 ALJs this year. The agency now has four National Hearing Centers to help process hearings by video conference for the most hard-hit areas of the country. The agency also has aggressive plans to open 14 new hearing offices and three satellite offices by the end of the year. The first of these offices was opened in Anchorage, Alaska on February 19, 2010.

Fourteen new hearing offices by the end of this year? A December 31, 2009 report listed only thirteen new hearing offices to open this year and one of those offices was to be in Fayetteville, NC. Take a look at a recent photo of the "building" where the Fayetteville office is supposed to go. Perhaps, some temporary space has been or will be found for the Fayetteville office but pending an announcement, count me as skeptical that there will be a true hearing office in Fayetteville, NC this year.