How Does This Happen?

I recently received a printout of the cases I have pending with the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR). The oldest request for hearing date for a case that has not yet been scheduled (and for which there is no other explanation for it taking so long) is February 18, 2009, about thirteen months ago. The newest request for hearing date for which a hearing has been scheduled (and for which there is no other explanation for the rapid scheduling) is February 4, 2010. The one where the hearing was just requested a month ago has been scheduled for May 7, 2010.

I am happy that the oldest case is less than 13 months old. Not long ago, my oldest case would have been well over two years old. I still have to ask, how does it happen that one claimant is still waiting for a hearing to be scheduled after thirteen months while another gets a hearing scheduled within a month after a request for a hearing?

Compassionate Allowance Cases To Be Given Priority

A recent issuance in Social Security's Program Operations Manual Series (POMS) gives some details on processing of compassionate allowance cases. One important detail is that these cases are to be given priority at all levels or review.

Fee Payment Stats

Social Security has released updated statistics on payments of fees to attorneys and others entitled to direct payment of fees for representing Social Security claimants:

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-10	32,227	$111,440,046.23
Feb-10	29,914	$105,708,101.59

Union Contract Negotiations News

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union represents most Social Security employees. Since last summer, AFGE and Social Security have been in negotiations over a new contract. I just discovered that AFGE is posting regular updates on the status of the negotiations on its website. Interesting reading.

Sander Levin Gets Ways And Means Chairmanship

Representative Sander Levin has been named as the new Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Wait, I said that wrong. One always says "the powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee." Ways and Means has jurisdiction over Social Security. Take a look at some old comments I made about Levin's performance at a Social Security Subcommittee hearing.

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.