It Started With A Spider Bite

From WSPA-TV in Greenville, SC:

David Voss said a bite from a brown recluse spider in 2001 led to a series of health problems so severe he eventually became an amputee.

"When they started amputating my toe, and then my next toe, and then my leg I'm done," Voss said.

Voss said he can't work.

"I can't do what I used to do," Voss said. "I couldn't drive my truck. I couldn't sell equipment like I was. I've been living in my truck for six months because I couldn't find a job."

Voss said in March he got a spot at a home for homeless veterans in Greenville but he can only stay for four months and then he's back out on the street. He said he's applied several times for assistance through the Supplemental Security Income program with the Social Security Administration. The program pays benefits to the disabled who have limited income. But Voss said SSA kept turning him down saying his condition is not expected to remain severe enough for 12 months in a row to keep him from working.

"How they figure it ain't gonna last more than 12 months," asked Voss. "I've been measuring my leg and it still ain't growed none and I ain't found two toes popped out either."

Two days after 7 On Your Side asked the SSA about Voss's case he was approved. When we asked SSA spokesperson Patti Patterson if there was something specific they received recently that helped SSA to change it's mind about his case Patterson replied, "No. He filed his application on March 1st. We were able to make that decision on April 30th based on all the medical records that we had."

Regulatory Proposal On Partially Favorable Prehearing Reviews

There are many steps in the process by which a federal agency adopts new regulations. One crucial step is obtaining the approval of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is part of the White House. Social Security just requested OMB approval of the following:

We propose to revise the procedures for how claimants who request hearings before administrative law judges (ALJs) may appeal their fully favorable revised determinations based on prehearing case reviews or fully favorable attorney advisor decisions. We also propose to notify claimants who receive partially favorable determinations based on prehearing case reviews that we will still hold the requested ALJ hearing unless all parties to the hearing tell us in writing that we should dismiss the hearing requests. We expect that these changes will lessen the confusion claimants may experience in these processes and free scarce administrative resources that we can better use to reduce the hearings level case backlog.

Social Security's Online Services Rate Highly

A press release from Social Security:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that the agency’s online services continue to be the best in government and exceed the top private sector sites in customer satisfaction. In the latest results from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Social Security’s online Retirement Estimator and benefit application remain in the top spots, each with a score of 90, and the Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs application placed third with a score of 87.

“Online services are vital to good public service and I am pleased that Social Security continues to provide the best in both government and the private sector,” Commissioner Astrue said. “The Internet provides the public with the ability to conduct business at their convenience and at their own pace, without the need to take leave from work, travel to a field office, and wait to meet with an agency representative. It also reduces the time spent by our employees processing claims and frees them up to spend more time handling complex cases.”

Social Security’s three top-rated online services also meet or exceed the private sector’s highest score, Netflix, with a score of 87. The ACSI notes that this shows “that government sites can satisfy visitors just as well as, or even better than, private-sector sites.”

The ACSI is the only uniform, national, cross-industry measure of satisfaction with the quality of goods and services available in the U.S. According to ACSI, “Any website, whether in the private or public sector, that scores an average of 80 or higher can be considered superior in meeting site visitors’ needs and expectations.” Social Security’s Business Services Online, with a score of 82, also meets this superior threshold.

To view all of Social Security’s online services, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/onlineservices.

You Really Ought To Study This And File Comments

From today's Federal Register:

We are requesting comments on the recommendations submitted to us by the Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (Panel) in its report entitled ``Content Model and Classification Recommendations for the Social Security Administration Occupational Information System, September 2009.'' The complete Panel report (including appendices) is available online at: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/oidap/Documents/FinalReportRecommendations.pdf.

DATES: To ensure that we receive your feedback in a timely manner for consideration as the project develops, please submit your comments no later than June 30, 2010. ...

We strongly recommend that you submit your comments via the Internet. Please visit the Federal eRulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Use the Search function of the Web page to find docket number SSA-2010-0018.

I keep telling everyone that this is of immense importance. Mostly, the response is a yawn. That scares me.

The Sky Is Falling?

Social Security's Chief Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) recently sent out a memo to the agency's ALJs that included a link to a Congressional Research Service piece on ALJs. Apparently, some ALJs are concerned that this means that Social Security is considering replacing ALJs with some other type of adjudicators -- and yes, I have seen more evidence that a fair number of ALJs are concerned about this than a few entries on a webboard.

You can read the piece and judge for yourself. It looks basic and harmless to me. Perhaps what this reveals more than anything is a lack of trust between Social Security and its ALJs.

Remand Policy

From a recent Bulletin issued by Social Security's Chief Administrative Law Judge:

Remands of service area realignment cases in which the hearing office servicing the claimant’s address has changed since the initial hearing will remain at the servicing hearing office and will not be transferred to the hearing office of the ALJ who heard the case. ...

Remanded cases returning to the hearing office servicing the claimant’s current residence address which were heard in another hearing office as a result of a permanent case transfer, will be heard by an ALJ in the servicing hearing office.

I was under the impression that this was always the policy. It is good to see it in writing, however.

NOSSCR Bad Luck For New Orleans Area?

In the Fall of 2005 the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) was scheduled to have a national conference in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area in late August of that year. The conference was abruptly shifted to Orlando. Once again, NOSSCR has a national conference set for New Orleans. It will begin on May 12. Another disaster is just starting for the New Orleans area as a massive oil spill is coming ashore, threatening to do enormous damage to Louisiana's fragile estuaries.

Will New Orleans ever allow NOSSCR to return?

There's A Lot Of This

From the Petaluma Press-Democrat:

You'll have to forgive Morgan Hayes if she's a bit skeptical of the latest letter she received from the Social Security Administration saying she does not need to repay a $15,300 overpayment.

Hayes, a Petaluma senior citizen, was threatened in March with having to repay that sum after a seven-month Social Security payment snafu.

Late last week, she was notified that she isn't responsible for fixing the government's error.

Hayes' saga began in September, when Hayes was credited with $13,733 and was told her monthly payment would increase by $260. Repeated letters said the lump sum was to rectify years of underpayments to her.

After multiple assurances from Social Security that the money was hers to spend, Hayes used it to pay down debt and get a newer used car.

But then in March, the government reversed itself and said the credit and monthly increase were mistakes and it wanted the money back, $15,329 in total. Worse, she was told she had 30 days to send in the full amount or her benefits would be completely cut off until it was repaid.

Yes, there are ways to take care of this sort of thing. Thank goodness Ms. Hayes eventually got help. The problem is that most people have no idea what to do. Since these cases cannot be done on a contingent fee basis most people are unable to hire someone like me to help them.

Update: The overpayment has now been waived.