Veterans Day 2011

Thirty Years Of Back Benefits!

A Providence, Rhode Island law firm has put out a press release about an opinion it received from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in a Social Security case. The opinion came out over a year ago. I don't know why they waited so long but I think the firm has a right to crow. They got 30 years of back Social Security disability benefits for their client as a result of the unpublished opinion. Unpublished opinions aren't secret. It's just that the Court decides that the opinion isn't of sufficient importance to have it published in the official reporter. Most opinions are unpublished. I think maybe this one should have been published.

Quiz Answer

Question: When does Michael Astrue's term as Commissioner of Social Security end?

Possible answers:

• December 31, 2012
• January 19, 2013
• December 31, 2013
• No specific end date. The Commissioner of Social Security serves at the pleasure of the President

Correct answer: January 19, 2013

Oregon Office To Close

Because of lack of funding, Social Security is closing its field office in Klamath Falls, Oregon, with almost no advance notice.

Quiz

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

Backlogs Up But Processing Times Down; Disability Claims Soar While Unemployment Goes Down

Pending Hearing Cases At Social Security

     The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University has posted its September report on Social Security's hearing backlogs. The number of pending cases is increasing significantly even though the average processing time is decreasing. TRAC's explanation of this is that the increase in pending cases is so recent that it has not yet significantly affected the average processing time. Above is one of TRAC's charts.

     Interestingly, Social Security's receipts of new disability claims appears to be continuing to rise even though the unemployment rate has been going down slightly over the past two years. How do you square these facts with the theory that unemployment is what is causing the bulge in disability claims? Wouldn't the rate of new disability claims have leveled off or gone down if unemployment is what is causing all these disability claims?

An Attack On Social Security ALJs

     Richard Pierce of the George Washington University Law School has a "fair and balanced" piece in Regulation, a Cato Institute periodical. A few highlights:

The 1,400 administrative law judges (ALJs) who work for the Social Security Administration are making a significant contribution to the economic problems the United States is now experiencing. ...

If we are to believe ALJ decisions, the incidence of permanent disability in the U.S. population has more than doubled since 1970. That belief is beyond implausible. ...

The decision to allow an applicant to appeal two negative decisions made by two examiner/medical adviser teams to an ALJ and to allow an ALJ’s decision to grant an application for benefits that has been rejected twice by the bureaucracy to become final must be based on the belief that ALJ decisions are more likely to be accurate than decisions made by two independent examiner/ medical adviser teams. There is no basis for that belief, however, and many reasons for the contrary belief. ...

The executive branch of government is powerless to address the growing problem of ALJs’ unwarranted commitment of billions of dollars to undeserving applicants for disability benefits....

Most of the dubious grants of benefits by ALJs are attributable to findings that an applicant suffers from nonexertional restrictions, such as mental illness or pain, that are so severe that he cannot perform the functions of any job available in the U.S. economy. It follows that we could eliminate the problem simply by amending the statute to eliminate nonexertional restrictions as a potential qualifying impairment. ..

We could save scores of billions by removing all of the ALJs who now decide appeals from SSA decisions that deny disability benefits....

[T]he present method of SSA disability decisionmaking is clearly unconstitutional.

Death Master File Altered -- You Just Can't Win

     Social Security's Death Master File (DMF), a public record of the names and Social Security numbers of individuals whom Social Security believes to have died, has come under criticism lately. There have been many names on the DMF of individuals who are very much alive. These individuals have lost Social Security and other government benefits until the problem is resolved, a process that can take months. They have also suffered problems as non-governmental entities such as banks treat them as deceased. There is also the threat of identity theft.

     Social Security has responded to the criticism by altering the DMF. Social Security will no longer accept state death records as proof of death. 

     Unfortunately, this will inevitably lead to an increased problem of Social Security checks and direct deposits continuing to be sent to deceased individuals. Most of the families of those involved will return the money but not all. I can easily predict a round of investigations and Congressional hearings on this fraud at some point in the future.

     By the way, the first people to notice the change in the DMF were genealogists. They make extensive use of the DMF.