I Wish It Were True, But It's NOT TRUE!

From The Daily Tribune of Oakland County, Michigan:

People with early-onset Alzheimer's disease or any of 37 other diseases now are eligible for Medicare benefits without having to wait two years after being diagnosed.

Currently, the Social Security Administration has a "compassionate allowance" for people with any of 50 different diseases, most of which are fatal, that allows the patient to begin receiving medical coverage under Medicare without being 65 or having to comply with the mandatory two-year wait after becoming eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance.

"These patients will no longer be stuck in 'no-man's land' in regards to medical coverage," said Carrie Collins, the client access director for the Alzheimer's Association.

I have no idea where this came from but it is completely wrong. There are only two exceptions to the two year waiting period for Medicare, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). The ESRD exception is only for Part A of Medicare. I hope the Alzheimer's Association nationally is not spreading this nonsense. The Commissioner of Social Security has no authority to change that.

Yeah, Right

The New York Times thinks that "Now that landmark legislation overhauling the health insurance system is about to become law, addressing Social Security’s solvency could well become the next big thing for President Obama and Congressional Democrats. "

All we need is for Democrats and Republicans to agree on benefit cuts and tax increases. What could be difficult about that?

Representative Suite Of Services Delayed?

Below is an excerpt from a memo that Social Security sent out last October. I don't think this happened, at least not in the sort of numbers that Social Security was talking about at the time. What happened?

Between December 2009 and mid-March 2010, SSA will mail invitations to 3,100 representatives, inviting them to register online and use our appointed representative services. A list of representatives selected to receive invitations for Phase I can be found on the Front Line Resource Kit at: http://eis.ba.ssa.gov/oesweb/frontline/resource_kits/Disability%20Direct_Resource_Kit.html

Pomeroy A Yes On Health Care Reform

Earl Pomeroy, the new Chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee, had earlier voted for the health care reform bill. It has been unclear how he would vote this time around. CNN is now reporting that Pomeroy plans to vote for the bill. Pomeroy may have a tight race for re-election. He may be looking to make as much as possible out of his new role as a Ways and Means Subcommittee chairman.

AARP Supports Administration Social Security Budget Proposal

From a press release issued by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP):

“AARP’s top priorities in this legislation include adequate funding to address the Social Security Administration’s growing disability claims backlog ..."

“For FY 2011, we urge that the Committee provide at least $12.5 billion to operate the programs under Title II and Title XVI of the Social Security Act, including Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI). Without this significant increase, the SSA will be unable to maintain quality service to the public, the disability backlog will worsen and program integrity will be undermined.”

Negotiations On Sick Leave

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is in contract negotiations with Social Security. Recent posts by AFGE indicate that the current stumbling block is sick leave.

A Little History

Dana Milbank, writing in the Washington Post:

"This is the largest tax bill in history," the Republican leader fumed. The reform "is unjust, unworkable, stupidly drafted and wastefully financed."

And that wasn't all. This "cruel hoax," he said, this "folly" of "bungling and waste," compared poorly to the "much less expensive" and "practical measures" favored by the Republicans.

"We must repeal," the GOP leader argued. "The Republican Party is pledged to do this."

That was Republican presidential nominee Alf Landon in a September 1936 campaign speech. He based his bid for the White House on repealing Social Security.

Bad call, Alf. Republicans lost that presidential election in a landslide. By the time they finally regained the White House -- 16 years later -- their nominee, Dwight Eisenhower, had abandoned the party's repeal platform.

Trying To Do Too Much With Too Little

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, has issued its March 2010 newsletter. The newsletter features a long article on service delivery problems at large Social Security field offices. Here is how the article begins:

Where can you meet 300-500 new people every day? You can find them in the waiting rooms of Social Security’s busiest offices. Nationwide, Social Security is experiencing growth in the number of people visiting offices. As of early March 2010, the agency has already had five weeks in which it greeted over one million customers. In comparison, the agency had over a million customers only two weeks out of the entire last calendar year.

Social Security employees in many offices, both large and small, are feeling the effects of this customer growth. But, many of the largest offices are experiencing higher customer growth rates than the national average. Consequently, while the agency's overall waiting times have remained steady at approximately 21 minutes for the past several years, the busiest offices are experiencing waiting times exceeding 30 minutes. This is because there is often an average of one Service Representative (SR) for every 45-60 customers visiting per day in these offices. Because some interviews can be lengthy due to their complexity, this number of customers is more than one employee can adequately assist in the six hours usually spent at the reception counter each day.