Astrue Visits Florida Office

From the Bradenton Herald:

Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue today joined U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan [R-FL] in visiting the local Social Security office to discuss how best to make the program more efficient at a time of diminishing budgets.

Astrue praised Buchanan, R-Sarasota, for taking the time to learn how Social Security works, as a member of House Ways and Means Committee, which is charged with writing tax legislation and bills affecting Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement programs.

“It’s an enormous advantage,” The Social Security chief said, when members of House committees take the time to learn the process....

“And Washington gets very stuck in its ways, so having members come out and say, ‘Look, we can change, we can be more efficient and serve the public better by doing these things’ if you understand what we’re trying to do, and why, it’s enormously helpful to us, and I wish that we could get even more members come out visiting their home offices,” Astrue said.

Electronic Informal Remand Special Project 2012

     Social Security has sent out instructions for something called the Electronic Informal Remand Special Project 2012. This is an effort to select particularly strong disability cases in which a request for hearing has been filed and divert them to a special review by someone other than an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to see if it is possible to pay them quickly. It sounds a lot like informal remand projects of the past. and present. It is not clear to me whether there is anything really new about this. This may be old wine in new bottles.

     The major problems with this sort of thing has been lack of personnel to do the reviews and, recently, a reluctance to approve anything other than the most gold-plated cases. We will see how this new process works.

Slowdown In Payment Of Back Benefits In January

     Social Security has posted updated numbers on payments of fees to attorneys and others who represent Social Security claimants. These numbers are important not just for those who represent Social Security claimants. We get paid at about the same time as our client gets paid. If you see a slowdown in payments to those who represent Social Security claimants you are seeing a slowdown in payments to claimants and the growth of a backlog.

     Social Security always has a problem in paying newly approved claimants in January because of the other workload pressure which go up dramatically at the beginning of each year. I had concerns about what would happen this year if no overtime was available. It turns out that some overtime was available but there was still a problem. Backlogs increased dramatically in October 2011 and January 2012. I hope someone at Social Security can tell me that overtime will be available in coming months to keep this backlog from growing but I don't expect that.

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-11	34,467	$113,459,847.04
Feb-11	33,305	$107,796,771.38
Mar-11	34,885	$112,463,768.46
Apr-11	48,033	$153,893,755.37
May-11	36,479	$115,159012.77
June-11	33,568	$104,782,743.07
July-11	40,451	$123,981,011.36
Aug-11	35,575	$109,778,785.74
Sept-11	36,159	$109,990,042.36
Oct-11	27,269	$79,526,149.33
Nov-11	32,677	$100,272,851.46
Dec-11	38,447	$116,455,779.95

Jan-12

29,926

$89,749,312.99

     That's a 23% decline between December and January. Here are some January numbers for a couple of earlier years for comparison:

Jan-10     32,226     $111,440,046.23
Jan-09     28,423     $101,128,880.69

NADE Newsletter On Down Syndrome And ALJ Investigations

     The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), an organization of personnel who make initial and reconsideration determinations on Social Security disability claims, has posted its Winter 2012 newsletter.

     The newsletter contains a copy of a letter that NADE sent to Social Security on the agency's recent proposal to change its listings on Down Syndrome. As I read the letter, it looks like Social Security is setting a trap, I hope unintentionally, for those with Down Syndrome. Unless they have genetic testing for Down Syndrome and unless that testing meets certain criteria which may be of dubious relevance, Social Security may simply ignore the Down Syndrome regardless of any other evidence. If my understanding of the letter is correct and if NADE has it right, this is something that must be addressed. I really do not want to have to start representing a lot of people with Down Syndrome. That would be ridiculous.

     Another article describes a presentation by Social Security's Inspector General (IG) at a NADE event. The IG talked, at least briefly, about ongoing investigations of Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) in Puerto Rico and West Virginia.

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Life Insurance Companies Luck Out

     MSN Money is reporting that the changes that Social Security has recently made in its Death Master File will be a bonanza for life insurers.

White House Conferences On Disability

From the UCP Washington Wire:

 White House to Hold Series of Disability Conferences
The White House will be holding a series of regional, multi-agency disability conferences between March and July. The final list of cities and dates include:

• Columbus, OH  - March 14

• Austin, TX - March 28

• Los Angeles, CA - April 12

• Denver, CO - April 25

• Atlanta, GA  - May 11

• Boston, MA - May 23

• Minneapolis, MN - June 6

• Orlando, FL - June 15

• Kansas City, MO - July 11

Social Security will certainly be involved to some extent. I hope that people begin to realize that while wheelchair access to buildings is important, it is only a minor aspect of the entire spectrum. of disability issues. Adjudicating claims for disability benefits on a timely basis is crucial.

New 1695 Procedure

     I don't know that it will make a significant difference but Social Security is changing its procedures for processing the form 1695 which it receives from attorneys and others who represent Social Security claimants. The form 1695 includes the Social Security number of the person representing the claimant. What is supposed to happen in the future is that the form will end up in the claimant's file but the Social Security number will be blacked out. Previously, the form was supposed to be shredded after the information was entered in Social Security's database.

     Claimants are not supposed to see their attorney's Social Security number. Only those Social Security employees who need to see the attorney's Social Security number are supposed to see it.

     I know that it is strictly prohibited but what are the odds that no Social Security employee has gotten my Social Security number off a 1695 and looked up my earnings record just to satisfy their own curiosity? Can it really be prevented?