Two New ALJs To Fargo

North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan has announced that two new Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) are being assigned to Social Security's Fargo hearing office. Dorgan had earlier called for more staffing to reduce the backlog in North Dakota.

Poor Servive In Rhode Island

From the Providence, RI Journal:

At around 11 a.m. on Monday, Doreen Haworth arrived at the local Social Security office to help her brother regarding a claim for benefits.

She did not emerge for two hours. “It’s packed in there,” she said as she left the one-story building on Pleasant Street. “You’re lucky to get a seat.” It is the same whenever she visits the office: “Long waits,” said Haworth, of East Providence.

At many Social Security offices across the country, people are encountering an increase in wait times, busy signals and delays, according to a report last week by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the audit arm of Congress.

This undermines trust in Social Security and undermines trust in the government's ability to do anything right.

Seven Months For Fake Anthrax Scare

From the Cullman, Alabama Times:

A federal judge has sentenced a Haleyville man to seven months in prison after authorities say he mailed a letter containing white powder and photos of the 9/11 attacks to the Social Security Administration in Cullman.

U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre also sentenced 41-year-old Patrick Bryant Wilson to three years of supervised release, including seven months of home confinement.

Pomeroy Not Wasting Time

Early Pomeroy, the new Chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee is not wasting time. He has scheduled a joint hearing for April 27 at 2:00 with the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, which has jurisdiction over Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which is administered by the Social Security Administration. Here is an excerpt from the press release on the hearing:

... [A] new backlog in unprocessed initial disability applications has now emerged, and has already reached unprecedented levels. SSA estimates that by the end of FY 2010, more than one million Americans will be awaiting an initial decision on their application for disability benefits, up from about 567,000 at the end of FY 2008. SSA projects the initial claims backlog will remain at essentially this level through FY 2011.

In addition to causing longer waiting times, the increase in claims also affects SSA’s capacity to process reconsideration appeals – the first appeals step, which occurs prior to a request for a hearing before an ALJ – and to conduct continuing disability reviews, which are important to program integrity. The increase in initial claims also will result in more appeals to the hearing level, which may strain the capacity of SSA’s hearing offices in coming years.

Under the President’s budget for FY 2011, SSA states it will be able to stay on track to eliminate the hearings backlog by the end of FY 2013. However, this funding will not allow SSA to make significant progress in reducing the initial claims backlog. In addition, service delivery in other parts of the agency will continue to be challenged.

Why Do You Want To Open This Can Of Worms?

From a notice posted by Social Security on FedBizOpps:

The Social Security Administration is performing market research to identify potential sources for providing assistance with a study testing the usability and reliability of a prototype person-side instrument with items addressing an individual's ability to perform specific physical and mental work-related activities. This study is part of a larger project to develop a new occupational information system tailored specifically for the agency's disability programs and adjudicative needs. Specific tasks to be conducted include assisting in the development of the study design, developing three electronic data collection instruments (DCIs) and databases, developing one non-electronic DCI for focus groups, developing the protocol for each of the DCIs, facilitating and leading focus groups in 10 cities across the country, developing training, assisting with the pre-test(s) of the study design, monitoring the databases, analyzing study results, and preparing a report on the study findings.

Public Not So Happy With Social Security

I had posted earlier about a Pew Research Center survey on the American people's trust in their federal government. I should have looked at the report more closely. They surveyed on individual agencies as well. Social Security's favorable rating went down from 62% to 49% between 1997/1998 and 2010, a decline of 13%, one of the largest declines of any federal agency. Only two agencies, the Department of Education and the Internal Revenue Service, were rated lower than Social Security.

Poor service at Social Security has something to do with this. The relentless drumbeat of attacks on Social Security from the right also has a lot to do with this. Many, many Americans have been frightened into believing that it is inevitable that Social Security will fail. This has become an article of faith in many right wing circles even though it is nonsense. Social Security's funding problem can be easily solved with even the slightest bit of bipartisanship at any time in the next thirty years or so.

What Does This Mean?

Social Security has had a Future Systems Technology Advisory Panel holding meetings since the Fall of 2008. Take a look at this extract from the minutes of the Panel's meeting in November 2009(click on it to see it at its full size). What does this mean?

It sounds like one person would be in charge of all decisions of a Social Security disability claim regardless of the level, perhaps a person called a case manager, who might have the right to veto any decision that he or she disagreed with. Of course, I may be reading too much into this blurb and anything this Panel may recommend would have to go through an extensive process before coming into effect nationally. Still, it is hard to avoid the impression that this technical panel is considering making a recommendation that would have a substantive impact. That does not seem right to me.

Things Get Better In Texas

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

North Texans applying for disability benefits are facing shorter waits for appeal hearings, as Social Security officials continue to shave away at a massive backlog of cases.

In Fort Worth, applicants appealing claims got hearings and rulings two months faster than they did one year ago, according to the National Organization of Social Security Claimants [Representatives] , which tracks wait times.

Similar progress was reported at Dallas offices.

Even so, it still takes about 10 months for hearings to occur, an official noted.

"That is still too long," said Ethel Zelenske, with the claimants group's government affairs office. "But delays in general have trended down lately, and that is a good thing for everyone who is waiting for assistance."