Poll Shows Americans Support Social Security Disability Benefits

     From a press release:

A new poll, conducted by Lincoln Park Strategies, finds the vast majority of likely voters support Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits and believe that Congress should target other areas of the government when proposing cuts to balance the federal budget.

After months of combating unfounded media and political attacks against the SSDI benefits program, the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives (NOSSCR) commissioned a survey to ask Americans if they believe SSDI should receive budget cuts, or remain intact for hard-working citizens who never expected to experience a disability. ...

Among the key findings of the poll:
83% of voters  - including 75% of Republicans – agree it would be unfair to cut SSDI benefits to working Americans who have paid into SSDI 80% of survey respondents support the SSDI benefits program Only 8% of voters polled believe SSDI should be cut 77% of those polled agree that Congress should focus on programs other than SSDI to make budget cuts 73% support SSDI program after hearing allegations that the program is another government handout program

Who's Responsible?

     Cutsbacks in Social Security field office hours, some Social Security field offices closing, poorer telephone service, longer waits for determinations on Social Security disability claims, no more mailings of annual Social Security statements. What's going on? Michael Hiltzik at the Chicago Tribune has an explanation:

Who's responsible for this steady erosion of service? Conservatives in Congress, who have been merrily hacking away at the program's administrative budget. Make no mistake -- this is their stealth attack on the program itself. They haven't been able to cut benefits, so they're doing the next best thing: making it hard for you to know what you're due, and harder to get it when it comes due. The bottom line is that Social Security starts to look less relevant to Americans' lives, even as it really becomes more important.

Autism Spectrum Disorders To Be Affected By DSM-V

     The fifth edition of the bible of psychiatry, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), is due out in May 2013. It may have a significant impact upon Social Security's disability determination. It is anticipated that there will be particularly significant changes in diagnosis for children. 

     Autism spectrum disorders such as Asperger's syndrome have been a particular concern. There is now a new study showing that 91% of those currently diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder will still qualify for this diagnosis under DSM-V. 

     Of greater concern are those diagnosed with childhood bipolar disorder. I have not seen any studies on how DSM-V will affect diagnosis for these children.

Stupid

     From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

A lawyer who worked for the Social Security Administration here pleaded guilty Tuesday to two felony counts of theft of government property and admitted defrauding the agency.

Robert Brauker, 37, of St. Louis, had been receiving disability benefits since 1993 due to “significant visual impairments,” prosecutors said.

He was supposed to report any income that he earned, but failed to do so in 2003, they said. After his graduation from Michigan State University's law school in 2008, he also worked but failed to report the income. When he applied for work as a attorney-adviser with the Social Security Administration, his resume said that he worked as a sole practitioner for roughly 20 hours a week after graduation, prosecutors said.

Brauker was indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis May 2.

Union Objects To Cutbacks In Field Office Hours

     The union that represents most Social Security employees is objecting to the cutback in the number of hours that Social Security field offices are open. Those hours are being cut back because of budget cuts. The union objects that Social Security has not bargained with the union over this issue and that there will be no overtime to get the work done.

4.1% Error Rate In Numident

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG)(footnotes omitted):

Since 1936, SSA has assigned over 471 million Social Security numbers (SSN) for the primary purpose of accurately reporting and recording the earnings of people who work in jobs covered by Social Security. When SSA assigns an SSN to an individual, it creates a master record of relevant information about the numberholder in its Numident. The Numident includes such information as the numberholder’s name, date of birth, place of birth, parents’ names, citizenship status, and date of death (if applicable). It also contains the office where the SSN application was processed.

It is essential that the Numident be as accurate and complete as possible because SSA provides a number of verification services that allow matching of names and SSNs with SSA’s records. E-Verify (formerly Basic Pilot) is a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employment eligibility verification program supported by SSA. The purpose of E-Verify is to assist employers in verifying the employment eligibility of newly hired employees....

In 2006, we reviewed SSA’s Numident and determined that the information it contained was generally accurate. However, we estimated that discrepancies in approximately 4.1 percent of the Numident records could have resulted in incorrect feedback when submitted through E-Verify. For example, our review showed that the Numident records contained discrepancies in numberholders’ names, dates of birth, citizenship status, and/or death indications. Because our tests included SSNs that SSA had assigned since 1936, we recognized that some numberholders would no longer be working and would not attempt to correct their SSA and/or immigration records. We also recognized that some inaccuracies were due to numberholders who did not update their records with SSA.

      Those who are ineligible to hold down employment in the U.S. due to their immigration status should be prevented from working. Non-citizens should be prevented from voting in the U.S. However, using numident to achieve these goals is unreasonable because numident contains such a high error rate. We can't exclude 4.1% of eligible workers and voters because of simple record-keeping errors. That's an unacceptably high level of errors for such crucial matters. Don't blame Social Security too much. Numident was created for the agency's internal use. It was never anticipated that it would be used for crucial non-agency purposes.

Way Off Topic

From the Associated Press:

A contestant in a roach-eating contest who downed dozens of live bugs and worms collapsed and died shortly after winning the contest in South Florida, authorities say.

About 30 contestants ingested the insects during Friday night's contest at Ben Siegel Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach about 40 miles north of Miami. The grand prize was a python. ...

Authorities were awaiting results of an autopsy to determine a cause of death.

No End Of Controversies With Death Master File

     From the New York Times:

A shift last year by the Social Security Administration to limit access to its death records amid concerns about identity theft is beginning to hamper a broad swath of research, including federal government assessments of hospital safety and financial industry efforts to spot consumer fraud. 

For example, a research group that produces reports on organ-transplant survival rates is facing delays because of the extra work it must do to determine whether patients are still alive.  ...

For a decade, the Social Security master file routinely included records provided by the states. But last year, after reports that the widespread availability of death records was facilitating identity theft, the Social Security Administration determined it had been improperly releasing the state records as part of the public master file....

Mark Hinkle, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration, said researchers simply would have to collect the data from the states.

“I don’t want to sound offensive,” Mr. Hinkle said. “But our job is to administer the Social Security program, and administering a death list really isn’t in our core set of workloads. The bottom line is that we have to follow the laws and administer the programs we’re supposed to administer.”