Childrens' Benefits Draw Scrutiny

From the Boston Globe:

Key members of Congress are demanding an investigation into whether a fast-growing, $10 billion federal disability program designed to serve poor disabled children is flawed in multiple ways, including the possibility that it creates incentives for families to put those children on psychiatric drugs.

A top member of the US House Ways and Means Committee, along with Representative Richard Neal and Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, issued a letter asking the Government Accountability Office to investigate the striking rise in the number of children receiving Supplemental Security Income benefits, or SSI, for behavioral and mental issues such as attention deficit disorders and depression, and whether low-income families are tempted to put their youngsters on psychiatric drugs “to improve their chances’’ of qualifying. It also asked investigators to examine whether the Social Security Administration, which runs the program, can effectively screen new recipients and adequately determine when children’s conditions have improved to the point that they are no longer eligible for benefits.

9% Increase In Social Security Civil Actions

The number of civil actions brought in the federal courts to obtain review of decisions made by the Social Security Administration went up from 12,820 in 2009 to 13,958 in 2010, an increase of 9%.

The Waiting Room Videos

I had a hearing recently that was scheduled at a Social Security field office. The field office had recently moved to a new building. Hearings at field offices had been rare in the past but that may be changing.

I sat in the waiting room for about ten minutes before it was time for my client's hearing. I had a chance to see and hear the video that was playing. The video was intended to educate those waiting. The concept of the video was to mix the education with a travelogue. What I saw started out in Charleston, SC. There was an interviewer and an interviewee. I think the interviewer was a Social Security public affairs employee and the interviewee was the Charleston District Office manager, who appeared to have ankylosing spondylitis (which has a rather distinctive appearance). Mostly, they were taking a carriage ride around the elegant city of Charleston describing some sights and spouting some Social Security information. The next segment was in Bowling Green, KY. I saw little of it before I was called to my client's hearing. What I saw of both segments was a bit clunky. That did not bother me. I see no reason why Social Security should go all out for slickness. Conceptually, doing it as a travelogue seemed like a great idea to me. The subject matter is inherently boring. You have to do something to spice it up.

The videos I saw were of two cities in Social Security's Atlanta Region. Is this video just being shown in the Atlanta Region? What is being shown in other regions?

Nobody Could Have Predicted It

From Paul Krugman's blog at the New York Times:

[I]n discussions of Social Security it’s often argued that in the program’s early years, nobody could have imagined the increases in life expectancy that have actually occurred, so nobody could have imagined that we’d have as many beneficiaries relative to the number of people of working age. ...

Well, it turns out that Table 9 in the 1945 report (pdf) [of the Board of Trustees of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund] shows high and low estimates of the population distribution looking forward as far as 2000, which we can compare with the actual population distribution in 2000.

What you can see right away is that the SSA [Social Security Administration] expected a much smaller population than we actually ended up with — the baby boom and immigration weren’t anticipated. But they also expected a somewhat older population than we actually got: their “low” estimate put the ratio of seniors to adults under 65 at 20.8%, almost the same as the actual 21.1%, while the “high” estimate put the ratio at 29.1%. That is, in 1945 the Trustees thought that America would probably be a grayer, older country by 2000 than it actually ended up being.

AFGE Wins Arbitration On Leave

From a press release issued by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE):

The American Federation of Government Employees recently won a Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) decision to overturn an agency guideline that severely limited when SSA Teleservice representatives would be allowed to be on leave on any given day. Teleservice representatives answer SSA’s nationwide toll-free number. ...

The guideline in question limited leave approvals to “up to 10%” on peak call days at the teleservice center and “up to 15%” on no-peak call days. ...

It (sic) his ruling, the arbitrator found that the agency violated the parties’ agreement by implementing a policy that restricted when certain employees could use annual leave.

A Question

We heard back in September that Social Security was planning to start going from hearing office to hearing office registering attorneys and others who represent Social Security claimants for online access to their clients files. Has this been happening? What is the status of this plan?

eCAT Working

From a recent study by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

eCAT is a Web-based application designed to document the analysis made by a disability adjudicator and ensure all relevant Agency policies are considered during the disability adjudication process. eCAT produces a Disability Determination Explanation (DDE) that documents the detailed analysis and rationale for either allowing or denying a claim. ...

As of September 30, 2010, SSA had implemented eCAT in 37 sites. The Agency continues eCAT’s gradual rollout and expects completion in May 2011. ...

Our review found that SSA’s eCAT application is a useful tool in documenting the analysis of initial disability claims. ...

During our site visits, eCAT users commented that the application

• was a valuable training tool for newly hired examiners;
• produced comprehensive disability determinations and decision rationales;
• provided consistent uniform documentation for the disability determination;
• reinforced the disability determination process;
• streamlined the disability evaluation; and
• made it difficult to miss a step in the disability adjudication process. ...

We will continue following eCAT’s rollout to all levels of adjudication—field office, DDS, and ODAR.

A 10% Cut In Federal Employees -- What Harm Could That Cause?

From the Washington Post:

A Texas Republican congressman wants to cut the federal workforce by 10 percent in the next decade, impose a three-year pay freeze across federal agencies and Capitol Hill, and trim government printing and vehicle costs.

Rep. Kevin Brady's bill, the Cut Unsustainable and Top-heavy Spending (CUTS) Act, is the first detailed series of spending proposals introduced in the GOP-controlled House that targets government operations and the federal workforce. Democrats and federal employee unions have long expected the GOP to target domestic spending programs and the workforce in an effort to trim the federal deficit.

Brady chairs the Joint Economic Committee and is a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee - perches likely to put him at the center of Congress's forthcoming debate on government spending and deficits.