GAO Critical Of Social Security On Child's SSI

     From a report of the Government Accountability Office:

The number of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) child applicants and recipients with mental impairments has increased substantially for more than a decade, even though the Social Security Administration (SSA) denied, on average, 54 percent of such claims from fiscal years 2000 to 2011. ...

[Disability] Examiners also do not routinely receive information from SSA [Social Security Administration] field offices on multiple children who receive benefits in the same household, which SSA’s fraud investigations unit has noted as an indicator of possible fraud or abuse. Without such information, examiners may be limited in their ability to identify threats to program integrity. ...

SSA has conducted fewer continuing disability reviews (CDR) for children since 2000, even though it is generally required by law to review the medical eligibility of certain children at least every 3 years. ... SSA acknowledged the importance of conducting such reviews, but said that due to resource constraints and other workloads, such as initial claims, most childhood CDRs are a lower priority.

The National Committee To Preserve Social Security and Medicare Goes Over The Top With Its Hype

     The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) is putting out press releases about the White House Senior Community Leaders Summit today. The press releases have gotten into a number of newspapers. However, the White House isn't involved in this "summit" unless you want to count a tour of the White House as involvement. I think a lot of groups visiting Washington for a conference manage to wangle a White House tour. I don't think that many of them try to imply that this makes their Washington conference an official White House event.

     I have written before about the NCPSSM's somewhat checkered past. If they wanted to be taken seriously, you'd think they'd avoid anything as questionable as this.

     Update: I am told that this NCPSSM event included a meeting with White House officials at the White House. In my opinion, it is misleading for NCPSSM to label this as a White House "summit." NCPSSM implied that this was a major event set up by the White House. It wasn't. The White House website makes no mention of this event.
     The truly major national organization formed to lobby for Social Security is Strengthen Social Security. NCPSSM is one of dozens of members of Strengthen Social Security.

Social Security Enters Into Agreement With Kaiser Permanente

     From a Social Security press release:

The Social Security Administration announced today that Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s largest healthcare providers, will electronically transmit complete medical records for its patients to the agency with the appropriate consent.  Social Security requests about 70,000 patient files from Kaiser Permanente each year so this seamless new system will save time and money for both partners as well as allow Social Security to make faster and more accurate decisions.

Over the last few years, Social Security had entered into similar agreements with several smaller providers to exchange medical records electronically over the Nationwide Health Information Network.  Today’s agreement marks the agency’s first move into using health information technology on a large-scale basis.

Don't Have Much Choice But To Use Webinars

     From an e-mail I received from Social Security:

Social Security’s National Work Incentives Seminar Event (WISE) Webinar is this Wednesday, June 27, 2012, 3:00 p.m., EDT
Register online or call 1-866-968-7842 (V) or 1-866-833-2967 (TTY/TDD).
You will receive a registration confirmation letter with instructions on how to log in to the webinar. Please be sure to check your spam folder. Registration information will also be available online the day of the webinar.

If you plan to attend Wednesday’s national WISE webinar at 3:00 p.m., EDT, you can download the presentation in an accessible PDF via the link below:

Link to Presentation Materials: http://cl.ly/3u2U3g0l2W2a0M183C3z 

     Social Security recently sent out Emergency Message EM-12029 to its staff reminding them that "Current funding for the Work Incentive Planning and Assistance (WIPA) program grantees, provided from SSA’s FY [Fiscal Year] 2011 appropriation, is coming to a close." Apart from telling its employees that they may refer callers to Ticket to Work, which would be useless for most of them, Social Security management has no help to offer its beleaguered field offices who are now saddled with an increased workload for which they are ill-prepared. 

     The work incentives in the Social Security Act are byzantine in their complexity. Few Social Security employees understand them. No webinar is going to be enough help for the average disability recipient contemplating a return to work. Ticket to Work is virtually worthless.

Republicans Don't Want To Cut Social Security To Balance The Budget -- Actually, They're Not Interested In Doing Anything To Balance The Budget

     From a YouGov poll taken in late April and early May:

     Note that only 13.5% of Republicans are willing to accept major cuts in Social Security to reduce the budget deficit. Twice as many Republicans are willing to accept increases in taxes on higher-income Americans. Note also that 53.3% of Republicans are unwilling to accept either tax increases or major cuts in spending in order to balance the budget.

Evidence Of Early Problems With Misidentification Of Social Security Numberholders

 "Baltimore, MD. Strange as it may seem, many persons misspell or change the spelling of their names, from time to time. To forestall the difficulties which would ensue when Baer subsequently spelled his name Bear, the Social Security Board Records Office has set up several varieties of indexes for reference and to insure accuracy. One of these is the alphabetic code index. This is printed on flexible strips, each just wide enough for one line of type. They are printed automatically from the employee master card. The strips are in partially perforated rolls when they first are printed, as shown in the above photograph taken in the Records Office. The perforations allow strips to be separated at any point so that, for example, Abraham Abel's name may be inserted in proper alphabetic sequence between Aaron Abel and Adam Abel"

Do You Blame Him?

     From the Los Angeles Times:

Ron Paul, a staunch opponent of federal welfare programs, acknowledged Wednesday that he receives Social Security checks, shortly after advocating that younger generations opt out of the program. ...

“Just as I use the post office, I use government highways, I use the banks, I use the federal reserve system, but that doesn’t mean you can’t work to remove this in the same way on Social Security,” the Texas congressman said. “In the same way with Social Security, I am trying to make a transition.

Congressional Hearing Scheduled

     From a press release:

U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson (R-TX), Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security today announced the fourth hearing in the series entitled, “Securing the Future of the Disability Insurance Program.”  This hearing will focus on the disability appeals process. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in room B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 2:00 p.m. ...

Applications for disability benefits have reached historic levels resulting from more women in the workforce, the recession and slow recovery, and baby boomers reaching their disability-prone years.  The 2012 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees projects that the Disability Insurance (DI) program will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2016. ...

In announcing the hearing, Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX) said, “Those sidelined from working because of a disability must be able to count on a fair and timely hearing by a Social Security judge.  Americans need to know that the same rules apply to everyone.  This hearing will tell us whether the appeals process we have today works and if not, what changes ought to be made.”