Not A Good Sign

From TPM:

At a House GOP caucus meeting Monday evening, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told members to expect to receive guidance on Tuesday outlining protocol in the event of a government shutdown.

Budget Status

From Politico:

Budget talks took a turn for the worse Monday amid a flurry of accusatory press statements by House Republican leaders who have called for a party caucus now on the eve of a White House meeting requested by President Barack Obama for Tuesday morning.

Republicans Plan To Privatize Medicare

Republicans are not currently proposing to privatize Social Security but it appears that they are set to propose what amounts to privatizing Medicare, converting it to a program where those eligible for Medicare would receive a voucher which they could use to buy private medical insurance -- if such insurance is available and if they can afford it

Attorney Advisor Decision Program Extended

From today's Federal Register:

We are extending for 2 years our rule authorizing attorney advisors to conduct certain prehearing procedures and to issue fully favorable decisions. The current rule will expire on August 10, 2011. In this final rule, we are extending the sunset date to August 9, 2013. We are making no other substantive changes.

By the way, I have not been seeing attorney advisor decisions lately. Is this merely a local phenomenon or are their fewer attorney advisor decisions nationally?

What Ever Happened To Gordon Sherman?

I had recently posted a link to a news article about Social Security's new Regional Commissioner for the Atlanta region. That made me wonder what happened to one of his predecessors, Gordon Sherman. Sherman served as Atlanta Regional Commissioner for 23 years before retiring in 1999.

Sherman is now on the board of directors of One Georgia Bank. Their website indicates that he:

... is a principal of Lamon & Sherman Consulting, LLC, an investment and income replacement consulting firm and a director of Government Benefits and Information Services, Inc. Other capacities in which he presently serves include director of Lenbrook Foundation, Inc., a continuing care retirement community in Atlanta; director of the Auburn University Foundation; and a fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration.

Social Security Goes To Those Who Need It

NCSSMA Newsletter

The National Council Of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, has released its March 2011 newsletter. To put it mildly NCSSMA is concerned about Social Security's appropriations.

Proposed Psychiatric Listings Changes Remain Controversial

From UBM Medica Psychiatric Times (emphasis added):

Mental health groups are fighting the Social Security Administration (SSA) over the agency’s proposed changes to disability requirements for mental disorders. The requirements for adults and children, which can vary, were last modified in 1986 and 1990, respectively, and they are respectively based on the now outdated DSM-III and DSM-III-R [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III Edition, Revised].

There have been differences of opinion, too, with the Mental Health Liaison Group (MHLG), which is composed of advocacy groups and professionals—physicians and non-physicians—who treat people with psychiatric disorders. The MHLG could not agree on a common response to the changes the SSA announced last August in a proposed rule. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) argued against use of the Psychiatric Review Technique by adjudicators to determine functional shortcomings because of mental problems. Some members of the MHLG supported use of that. ...

Much of the controversy stemming from the August proposed rule deals with paragraph B, which contains 4 mental abilities. Under the proposed rule, an individual could show a marked limitation of 2 abilities or an extreme limitation of 1 ability to qualify as mentally disabled. These are the abilities to understand, remember, and apply information; interact with others; concentrate, persist, and maintain pace; and manage oneself.

In what was considered a major policy change, the proposed rule stated that SSA adjudicators could use standardized tests to determine paragraph B limitations for adults. Tests were already approved for use in child determinations. However, the SSA did not specify what tests it had in mind, and mental health groups uniformly complained that no such tests existed. Mark Lassiter, press officer at the SSA, asked for detailed e-mailed questions on the testing issue, but he did not respond to them. ...

The APA, a longtime member of the MHLG, assailed continued use of the Psychiatric Review Technique. “The APA finds this scale to be unanchored, allowing wide latitude for subjective interpretation of what qualifies as a ‘marked’ or ‘extreme’ level of functional impairment,” said James Scully, MD, who is CEO and medical director of the APA. “Without more specific guidance for assigning functional limitations on this scale, which is not currently contained in the proposed rule, we believe use of the five-point scale could bring a false level of precision to determining functional impairment.”