Service Limitations Shock Senator

     Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii says he is "shocked" by the limited service that the Social Security Administration is offering in West Hawaii, which receives a visit from two Social Security employees once a month. On their last visit 80 people were lined up outside the door before the satellite office opened. Only 20 were allowed in at a time.

Is Social Security Privatization Unconstitutional?

     I cannot find a link but the April issue of The New Yorker includes an interesting letter to the editor from Bruce Brown, former law clerk to Chief Justice Warren Burger. He was writing in response to a Jeffrey Toobin piece in the New Yorker on the oral argument of the health care case at the Supreme Court. Brown wrote that there is an argument out there that if the individual mandate requiring purchase of health care insurance is unconstitutional that any plan to "reform" Social Security which contains a mandatory contribution to an investment owned by the contributor may also be unconstitutional. A mandatory contribution seems to be an integral part of all the Social Security "reform" plans proposed by the right.

     Update: One right wing proponent of privatization, Andrew Biggs, seems to concede that if the health care mandate is unconstitutional that Social Security privatization would be even more unconstitutional since Social Security privatization could not be justified under the Constitution's commerce clause. What Biggs openly wants, however, is for the courts to find all of Social Security unconstitutional. Right wing schemes to "reform" Social Security are all aimed at undermining and ultimately destroying Social Security.

The Attacks On Social Security Never Let Up

     Sylvester Schieber, who was George W. Bush's appointee as Chairman of the Social Security Advisory Board, has a new book out, The Predictable Surprise: The Unraveling of the U.S. Retirement System. Predictably, the book is hostile to Social Security. Here are some excerpts from Robert J. Samuelson's review in the Washington Post:

[Social Security] has become what was then [the 1930s] called “the dole” and is now known as “welfare.” This forgotten history clarifies why America’s budget problems are so intractable. ...

What we have is a vast welfare program grafted onto the rhetoric and psychology of a contributory pension. The result is entitlement. ...

By all rights, we should ask: Who among the elderly need benefits? How much? At what age? If Social Security and Medicare were considered “welfare” — something the nation does for its collective good — these questions would be easier. We would tailor programs to meet national needs. But entitlements are viewed as a higher-order moral claim, owed individuals based on past performance. So a huge part of government spending moves off-limits to intelligent discussion.

      We once had a broad consensus on Social Security. People like Schieber have been paid to disrupt that consensus. Those who support the continued existence of Social Security need to understand that there is a group of well-paid "experts" based in Washington whose job is to undermine Social Security. They are funded by right-wing enemies of Social Security. Schieber is one of this group. They produce books, blog posts, op ed pieces and studies. They are always available to speak on television and at conferences. They get appointed by Republicans to be on prestigious commissions and boards. They pose as scholars but they are just polemicists.
     Samuelson's fawning review has already drawn a response from Jared Bernstein.

Happy Easter

A Warm, Fuzzy Easter Story

From the Battle Creek Enquirer:

The pastor of a Foxborough, Mass., church has been charged with attempting to scam four elderly people out of their Social Security checks by telling them they were lottery winners.

One of the victims is Margaret Swartz, 84, of Athens.

“He called me in March and told me I had won a bunch of money,” she said today, while in the midst of coloring Easter eggs.

She told him she only deserved money she earned.

“He said the government gives out money to people with a very good work record and I fell for it.”

The pastor told Swartz he needed her Social Security number. ...

Ranulfo Luther Raposo of the Seventh-day Adventist Church pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges including attempted larceny and identity fraud. He was granted $5,000 bail.Police say all the alleged victims are in their 70s and 80s, live in Michigan, New Mexico and Arkansas, and are unconnected with the church.

Is He Getting The Right Explanation? Sounds To Me Like He's A Fraud Victim.

From WCAX:

There are almost 144,000 people in Vermont who receive Social Security benefits. And that system is going paperless by March 1, 2012. The administration says it will save the country's taxpayers about $44 million. But the change is coming with some headaches.

Harold Nadeau contracted polio when he was 4.

"From then on I've been paraplegic," he said.

Once Nadeau couldn't work anymore he applied for disability Social Security benefits. He's been getting that money directly deposited in his account for over 10 years now. But recently he noticed something was off.

"I went online to make my monthly payments and when I opened my account it was empty," Nadeau said.

His monthly payment never arrived. So he called the Social Security office in Montpelier.

"They were baffled," he said. "They had no idea what happened or why."

But Nadeau finally got his answer from the Vermont Social Security office. Turns out his money was sent to him in the mail on a Direct Express Card. It's part of Social Security's effort to go paperless. The card works and looks like a debit card and your monthly payment gets refilled. But Nadeau never was told he'd be receiving the card. And it wasn't clear when he did that it was from Social Security. ...

"If you don't respond to this letter then you'll be enrolled automatically into this debit card system," Sarah Launderville said.

Launderville works for the Vermont Center for Independent Living or VCIL. The nonprofit got several calls recently from people who also did not receive their monthly payments, like Nadeau.

Will This Work?

     The Commissioner has sent out a letter warning medical providers that Social Security is switching to electronic signatures for claims filed online. Will medical providers accept electronic signatures?

OIG Report On NHCs -- And Read To The End For News On Remands And Possibility Of NHC ALJs Traveling

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) on the agency's National Hearing Centers (NHCs):

During FYs [Fiscal Years] 2010 and 2011, ODAR’s [Office of Disability Adjudication and Review] 5 NHCs processed more than 56,000 hearings to assist backlogged hearing offices with older cases. The Chicago Region transferred the highest number of cases during this period, about 50 percent of all cases the NHCs received. These transfers allowed the Chicago Region to address case backlogs while new hearing offices were being constructed to permanently address workload needs. We found the ALJs [Administrative Law Judges] working in the NHCs had a higher than average disposition rate that may have related to such factors as (1) a higher decision writer-to-ALJ ratio, (2) how attorneys are supervised, (3) the lack of travel to remote sites, (4) useful pre-hearing briefs, and (5) the processing of NHC remands at the hearing office level. However, the NHCs identified a number of challenges that may limit the effectiveness of the NHC model, including (1) availability of video capacity, (2) difficulties scheduling experts, and (3) claimants declining video hearings. The assisted hearing offices we contacted stated case transfers to the NHCs led to fewer pending cases and improved processing times. The hearing offices also had a few concerns, including their processing of NHC remands as well as the extra work related to declined video hearings.

     The OIG report does not try to evaluate the NHCs versus their alternative, which would have been adding ALJs to traditional hearing offices where office space was available and using the excess capacity to help out backlogged offices.

     Also of interest is a statement that Social Security is considering having NHC ALJs travel to hearing sites to hold hearings for claimants who decline video hearings. I suppose that Social Security may be re-evaluating this since they are no longer advising claimants of which ALJ will hold the hearing. There is also a statement that since January 3, 2012 remands from a NHC ALJ decision will be sent back to the NHC ALJ rather than being assigned to an ALJ at the ODAR office with jurisdiction over the area.

     By the way, Social Security doesn't even know how many claimants are declining video hearings with NHC ALJs. From what I hear from other attorneys, I think that number has gone up dramatically since Social Security started withholding the identity of the ALJ until the day of the hearing.