Big Time Fraud Alleged

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

A North Oaks couple who moved here in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina have wrongfully collected more than $430,000 in medical and disability benefits for their children since 2006, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.

James and Cynthia Hood have claimed those benefits -- meant for people with limited financial resources -- despite having a combined retirement portfolio of more than $1 million, more than a dozen bank accounts with a total of nearly $1 million in cash and two homes worth more than $1 million combined. Special Agent Jane Lewis, an investigator for the Social Security Administration, said in an affidavit that the Hoods' extensive assets would have made them ineligible for such aid.

OIDAP Meeting

Social Security's Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (OIDAP) is holding a meeting today and tomorrow. On the schedule today and tomorrow are several speakers from the Department of Labor and the U.S. Census who will be describing how they have gone about collecting occupational information. The first day will end with this presentation:

Occupational/Medical/Vocational—Initial Claims Review Final Results
Deborah Harkin, Social Insurance Specialist
Office of Vocational Resources Development

Mark Trapani, Social Science Research Analyst
Office of Vocational Resources Development

I wonder what that is.

You can read the entire "public" agenda below.

OIDAP Public Agenda--May 2011

Fact Sheet On Possible COLA Changes

The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) has prepared a useful fact sheet on possible changes to Social Security's cost of living adjustment (COLA). This is a boring topic to be sure but a change in Social Security's COLA may be the most likely "reform" of Social Security because it would be a sneaky, confusing way to cut future Social Security benefits.

But I Thought You Wanted A Smaller Government

The Citrus County Commissioners have voted unanimously to protest the closing of Social Security's satellite office in Citrus, Florida.

By the way, Citrus County gave 57% of its votes in the last Presidential election to John McCain.

And None Too Soon

Today's Federal Register contains a notice that the Decision Review Board, the last element of former Commissioner Barnhart's failed plan to restructure disability determination at Social Security, is being officially dismantled effective June 13.

Commissioner's Message On Bin Laden Death

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 11:41 AM
Cc: Torosky, Jamie
Subject: COMMISSIONER’S BROADCAST--05/02/11

A Message To All SSA And DDS Employees

Subject: The Death of Osama bin Laden

Our unified Nation has taken a major step toward peace with the death of Osama bin Laden. To those of you who serve and have served America not only through your work here but also with military service, I extend my thanks for your dedication to our country.

To those of you who lost family and loved ones on September 11, 2001, as I did, I hope last night’s news brings you some measure of comfort and closure.

Michael J. Astrue

Commissioner

A Time To Remember: Social Security In The Aftermath Of The 9/11 Attacks

From the testimony of Larry Massinari, then Commissioner of Social Security before the House Social Security Subcommittee on November 1, 2001:

In the aftermath of the attacks, SSA [Social Security Administration] took immediate steps to ensure that we stayed open for business, for routine business as well as for those who lost family members or were injured that day. All Social Security offices in New York City and the Washington D.C. area were immediately closed on September 11 to protect both the public and our employees, while SSA assessed the severity of the situation and the need for increased security.

The next day, all Social Security offices and the national 800 number were open, with the exception of field offices in New York City, the Northeastern Program Service Center in Jamaica, and the hearing office and the Disability Determination Services (DDS) office in lower Manhattan. The New York Regional Office also remained closed, but we opened a command center in the Grand Central field office. All of our offices-except for those in lower Manhattan-reopened on September 13. We redeployed employees from the closed offices to offices that were open.

We immediately worked with the Treasury Department and the Postal Service to make sure that, where normal processes remained in place, benefit checks and electronic funds transfer payments continued to be sent. Where service was disrupted, we tried to find ways to mitigate delays. ...

By September 24, all of our offices were open, with the exception of the Manhattan DDS, which had been located near the World Trade Center. Some of the DDS staff is being temporarily housed in the Northeastern Program Service Center in Jamaica. Others have been sent to work in other offices.

All 15,000 claims that had been pending in the DDS were removed from the building and sent to a contractor for cleaning and decontamination. All cases have been cleaned and sent back to the DDS. The DDS personnel are in the process of recontacting claimants to update the medical evidence and explain the delay in processing.

I would add that Social Security never stopped opening its mail despite a serious threat of a mail-borne anthrax attack. I know that the Department of Justice and many other agencies did stop opening their mail for a considerable time. I have always thought that those Social Security employees involved in opening and distributing the mail never got the recognition they deserved.

Update: The photo that I had posted earlier that appeared to be the dead body of Bin Laden turned out to have been a hoax.

Video Hearing Usage Varies Widely

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

The number of hearings increased by 260 percent over a 4-year period, from 23,418 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 to 84,121 in FY 2009. Approximately 18 percent of all hearings was conducted by video in FY 2009. Video usage varied from 34.8 percent of all hearings in the Boston Region to 9 percent in the New York Region. Moreover, the Atlanta Region held approximately 26 percent of all video hearings held nationwide in FY 2009, double the next highest Region, Dallas, at 13 percent.

Hearing office video usage varied widely, with approximately 22 percent of the hearing offices using video equipment for less than 1 percent of their hearings. We also found that 19 percent of ALJs did not use the equipment at all in FY 2009. In our discussions with ALJs, we learned that low video use related to factors such as workloads, preferred work styles, equipment problems, and lack of training.

The link to the full report is not working.

One thing to keep in mind is that video hearings are more likely in less urban areas where a hearing office covers a territory that extends out for a hundred miles or more. This sort of hearing office is likely to have remote video sites and lots of video hearings while a hearing office in New York City will be conducting virtually no video hearings since the claimants it serves will all live within a few miles of the hearing office.