A Very Bad Sign

     From the Federal Times:

The Social Security Administration on Monday offered early retirements to 9,000 employees, almost 14 percent of its workforce.

Anyone taking voluntary early retirement must retire by Sept. 30. The offers are effective immediately, SSA said in an e-mail to Federal Times. SSA is not offering buyouts.

To be eligible, employees must have completed 20 years of creditable service and be at least 50 years of age, or have at least 25 years of creditable service at any age. They must have been continuously on SSA’s payroll since Dec. 26, 2011. ...

SSA currently has more than 62,000 employees. The agency already is struggling with last year’s 6 percent reduction in staffing, which has forced it to rely on overtime or close field offices to the public a half-hour early.

SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue told the Senate Finance Committee on May 17 that further cuts in fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2013 would force the agency to cut its hours even further next year.

Staffing cuts also could hurt SSA’s ability to reduce its claims backlog, which has troubled the agency for years.

      This strongly suggests that the agency is trying to avoid or reduce furloughs once the new fiscal year begins on October 1.
     There's no question about who's responsible for this. It's Congressional Republicans.

Who Is This Guy?

    From an op ed piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

As a practicing psychiatrist in Pittsburgh, I have become all too aware of a disturbing and potentially dangerous way in which Social Security Disability is now being deployed for psychiatric patients.

In years past, a person who applied for SSI/Disability would have his or her psychiatric records requisitioned from a treating psychiatrist. The applicant would then also be evaluated by a second psychiatrist contracted to the Social Security Administration and not linked to the patient. In addition, the applicant was required to be seen by a contracted psychiatrist annually to ensure that he or she indeed remained disabled and qualified for the subsidy.

In recent years, however, I am finding patient after patient placed on disability, often after an initial evaluation with me, without any attempt made to check if that individual remains disabled, even years after the initial determination.

For instance, I queried a middle-aged patient I've treated for four years as to how he is now supporting himself. "Well, I am on Social Security Disability," he replied.

I asked him why he remains on disability. "I have depression." But you are no longer depressed, I countered. Indeed, he has been free of symptoms since a few months after beginning treatment three years ago. ...

Here is a typical scenario: A patient makes an appointment with me for what are often, though not always, legitimate psychiatric symptoms. Then, within a week or two of my evaluation, I receive a request from Social Security for a copy of my report (the patient has signed a release for this information).

The patient has often applied for disability prior to seeing me, and hardly ever volunteers that he or she has done so. The patient is awarded the disability before our next visit! By the third visit, often within two months of the initial evaluation, the patient has fully recovered from the initial "disabling" symptoms.

     Here are a few comments on this piece:

• Social Security already does continuing disability reviews. The agency would do more of them and do them more intensively if the agency had decent administrative funding. Take your complaint up with Republicans in the Congress.
• There was never a time where all persons disabled by psychiatric problems were automatically sent to a second psychiatrist when they applied for Social Security disability benefits nor was there ever a time where all individuals drawing Social Security disability benefits by reason of mental illness were automatically reviewed every year. I'll be kind and say this man's memory is playing tricks on him.
• I'm getting schizophrenics denied in North Carolina even though they've been in psychiatric treatment for years and have had involuntary commitments but one visit to a psychiatrist can get you on Social Security disability benefits in Pennsylvania?

Can You Spot A Theme?

     From the final report of Social Security's Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (OIDAP) (bolding in the original):

Central to OIDAP’s role as a Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) Panel, is transparency in its process. ...

To date, transparency in the process of developing occupational data for SSA’s disability programs has been achieved primarily through the OIDAP. SSA’s decision to discontinue the OIDAP beyond its 6 July 2012 charter, presents the additional challenge of maintaining transparency with this project in the future. ...

The OIDAP held its last public teleconference on 4 June 2012 and strongly advised SSA to maintain all development of occupational data for disability programs in a transparent and public arena, and to adhere to scientific standards and scrutiny. ...

At the OIDAP meeting on 4 June 2012, the Panel unanimously developed General Recommendation #9 about the transparency and scientific activities for future efforts ...

The OIDAP has not been consulted or involved in efforts for the future direction of occupational data development beyond the public meeting on 4 June 2012. ...

The OIDAP brought transparency to SSA’s occupational information development process that impacts the lives of millions of Americans. We believe SSA must continue this transparency as it develops any occupational information that will affect decision-making in the disability programs. ...

Failure to fully ensure the scientific veracity of the occupational taxonomy, data collection instrument, sampling strategy, and sources of data or data collection methods, will make SSA vulnerable to legitimate litigation. ...

Further, SSA should consider external oversight, including establishing an oversight body involving technical experts and users, as part of future efforts and initiatives for occupational information development.

     And I didn't think that OIDAP itself was anywhere near transparent enough itself! Anyone still think I'm paranoid about what Social Security is up to with its occupational information system project?
     By the way, OIDAP sent this report out as an e-mail attachment to those on its mailing list. I've uploaded it to Scribd. Will Social Security post this final report online?

TRAC Report On Federal Court Filings In Social Security Cases

     The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) is a project of some part of Syracuse University. TRAC compiles data on various government functions. TRAC has recently released a report on federal court filings in Social Security cases. These are appeals from final agency decisions denying benefits. Almost all of these are disability benefits cases. They have gone up:

Number Latest Month	860
Percent Change from previous month	3.9%
Percent Change from 1 year ago	19.4%
Percent Change from 5 years ago	62.6%

  
     Here is a chart from the report showing the gross numbers on new federal court filings in Social Security cases:

     TRAC also studied which federal court districts had the heaviest rate of federal court filings in Social Security cases (sorry about this table not lining up so well -- the problems are caused by limitations in the way that TRAC presents the data and limitations in Blogger):

     The increase in the number of federal court appeals should surprise no one familiar with the way the program operates. Administrative Law Judges are denying more claims. The Appeals Council is remanding fewer cases. More claims are being filed. If anything, Social Security should be happy that it's not seeing a bigger increase in these appeals.

     By the way, note that the areas with the heaviest filing rate tend to be in the South. A lot of this has to do with demographics. The South produces more disability claims because of lower educational levels and work skills in its population and poorer access to health care.

Waiting Period For Social Security Disability Leads To Bankruptcy For Mother Of Gold Medalist

     From the Associated Press:

Court records show that the mother of Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas [who won the gold medal for women's all around gymnastics] filed for bankruptcy earlier this year in Virginia. ...

Documents filed in January in the Eastern District of Virginia show Douglas' mother, Natalie Hawkins, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy ...

Hawkins is separated from her husband and lists about $2,500 in income a month, which comes from Social Security disability benefits and child support, according to the documents.

Natalie Hawkins went on long-term medical disability in 2009, and there were six months when the single mother of four had little to no income. In addition to mortgage payments for her home, there were expenses for Douglas' training and her other three children.

     Where would you be if you had no income for six months?

Read Whmorhere: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/08/05/2247264/gymnast-gabby-douglas-mom-filed.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/08/05/2247264/gymnast-gabby-douglas-mom-filed.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpyNatalie Hawkins went on long-term medical disability in 2009, and there were six months when the single mother of four had little to no income.

Reamore here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/08/05/2247264/gymnast-gabby-douglas-mom-filed.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

Readmore here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/08/05/2247264/gymnast-gabby-douglas-mom-filed.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/08/05/2247264/gymnast-gabby-douglas-mom-filed.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

Another Pointless Attack On Social Security

     From the Associated Press:

People retiring today are part of the first generation of workers who have paid more in Social Security taxes during their careers than they will receive in benefits after they retire. It's a historic shift that will only get worse for future retirees, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. ...

"For the early generations, it was an incredibly good deal," said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy Social Security commissioner who is now a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "The government gave you free money and getting free money is popular."

If you retired in 1960, you could expect to get back seven times more in benefits than you paid in Social Security taxes, and more if you were a low-income worker, as long you made it to age 78 for men and 81 for women. ...

A married couple retiring last year after both spouses earned average lifetime wages paid about $598,000 in Social Security taxes during their careers. They can expect to collect about $556,000 in benefits, if the man lives to 82 and the woman lives to 85, according to a 2011 study by the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank.

     This "study" is misleading since it ignores the value of Social Security disability, survivors and dependent benefits. A person who remains healthy to retirement age and has a spouse who has earned wages at about the same rate never uses any of these benefits but a person who buys homeowners insurance receives nothing tangible from the insurance until they suffer some calamity such as their home burning down. That does not mean that homeowners insurance is useless. The study stacks the deck against Social Security by assuming that the married couple had similar incomes. If one spouse had a significantly higher income there would be dependent benefits which would change the equation dramatically. The equation would also be changed dramatically if the couple had a child who became disabled before age 22 or if they had to adopt one of their grandchildren. By the way, I can't find this study at the Urban Institute website.

     The best answer to this attack is to point out that the public just isn't buying it. See this survey issued in July 2012 by the Hofstra University  Center for Suburban Studies:

     So continue the attacks on Social Security, Republicans.The attacks play well on Fox News, so they must be good politics, right?

Slowdown In Payment Of Benefits

     Social Security has posted updated numbers on payments of fees to attorneys and others for representing Social Security claimants. These fees come out of the back benefits of the claimants involved. If the money weren't going to the attorney, it would be going to the claimant. Since the attorneys are paid at the same time as the claimant, these numbers show how quickly or slowly Social Security was able to pay benefits after a decision approving benefits. There was a dramatic slowdown in July. This means that it was taking longer for a claimant to be paid after approval. Why? Lack of overtime? Other priorities?

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-12	29,926	89,749,312.99
Feb-12	43,946	134,207,416.10
Mar-12	47,376	139,571,577.57
Apr-12	38,239	113,225,483.07
May-12	37,648	112,446,283.39
June-12	43,816	128,559,225.66
July-12	33,342	97,458,955.82

Two Diverse Documents

     Over the years, hell, decades, I have accumulated a collection of documents pertaining to Social Security. From time to time I notice one that might be of interest to other people. Here are a couple of very different documents that I have uploaded to Scribd.

• An American Medical Association Ethics Opinion stating that it is unethical to withhold medical records for non-payment of medical bills. Note that this PDF starts out as if it just applies to North Carolina but keep going. It's national. This issue comes up from time to time in representing Social Security disability claimants.
• The Comptroller General's 1981 report that provided justification for throwing hundreds of thousands of people off Social Security disability benefits. I heard rumors at the time that some person or persons at Social Security angled to get the Comptroller General to write this report  Regardless, this document was a major factor leading to policies and practices that created the biggest crisis that Social Security has ever faced.