Correction

     Unlike most appointees, the Commissioner of Social Security can remain in office after his or her official term ends until a replacement is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Michael Astrue's predecessor did not stay in her job once her official term ended. There's been no announcement but Michael Astrue may do so. By the way, the Deputy Commissioner can also remain in office until a successor is confirmed if she chooses.

I Don't Understand

     The Associated Press has just put out a story saying that Social Security has expanded its compassionate allowance program to allow more disabled people to get on disability benefits with less delay. There's just one problem. As best I can tell, Social Security issued a press release to this effect in July but has done nothing since on compassionate allowances. Maybe, Social Security has done something recently and just told the AP but that seems unlikely. More likely the AP has gotten confused and thinks the July press release was just issued.

     Update: Social Security must have told the AP but forgot to issue the press release. It's hard to see Social Security intentionally giving the AP an "exclusive" on something like this. Social Security just issued the press release. Thirty-five conditions were added to the compassionate allowance list:


Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Adult Onset Huntington Disease

Allan-Herndon-Dudley Syndrome

Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma

Aplastic Anemia 

Beta Thalassemia Major

Bilateral Optic Atrophy- Infantile

Caudal Regression Syndrome - Types III and IV

Child T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma


DeSanctis Cacchione Syndrome

Dravet Syndrome

Congenital Lymphedema

Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma

Erdheim Chester Disease

Fryns Syndrome

Fulminant Giant Cell Myocarditis

Hepatopulmonary Syndrome

Hepatorenal Syndrome

Jervell and Lange-Nielsen Syndrome

Leiomyosarcoma

Malignant Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor

Malignant Germ Cell Tumor

MECP2 Duplication Syndrome

Menkes Disease - Classic or Infantile Onset Form

NFU-1 Mitochondrial Disease

Nonketotic Hyperglycinemia

Peritoneal Mucinous Carcinomatosis

Phelan-McDermid Syndrome

Retinopathy of Prematurity - Stage V

Severe Combined Immunodeficiency - Childhood

Sinonasal Cancer

Transplant Coronary Artery Vasculopathy

Usher Syndrome - Type I

Frustrated Employees

     From the Federal Times:

The latest governmentwide employee satisfaction survey indicates that budget cuts, a continuing pay freeze and relentless attacks on federal employees are sapping morale and hampering some agencies’ performance, federal managers and experts say.

At some agencies, the falloff in satisfaction was particularly severe. At the Social Security Administration, 66.5 percent of respondents this year had a positive view of their organization, down sharply from 72.3 percent the previous year.

The results “confirm that you are dedicated hard-working employees who understand how your daily contributions affect our agency’s mission,” Reginald Wells, the agency’s chief human capital officer, said in an email to the SSA workforce.

“However, your responses also show that recent challenges such as increasing workloads, pay and hiring freezes and budget cuts, have affected your satisfaction with your jobs,” Wells added.

The Social Security Administration is in the third year of a partial hiring freeze, during which time its workload has grown.

In fiscal 2012, the agency lost more than 1,600 employees, and more reductions are in store under current funding levels, according to a recent inspector general’s report. As a result, the agency expects customer service on its toll-free 800 number “will deteriorate significantly because it will not have a sufficient number of employees to answer calls,” the report said. To save money, SSA officials last month began closing field offices to the public 30 minutes earlier; and starting in January, the agency’s approximately 1,230 offices will shut down to the public at noon on Wednesdays.

Steve Clifton, president of the National Council of Social Security Management Associations, which represents managers in SSA field offices and teleservice centers, said his members are less frustrated by the 2½-year pay freeze than they are by their day-to-day challenge of tackling a growing workload with less staff and budget resources.

Still Waiting

     Today is a month since President Obama was re-elected. He has not yet nominated anyone to replace Michael Astrue as Commissioner of Social Security. Astrue's term as Commissioner ends on January 19. Astrue does not continue in office until a successor is confirmed. Once his term ends, he's gone. His replacement is an Acting Commissioner.

     Obama has been careful about his appointees. There have been remarkably few bad Obama appointees. However, the pace of Obama's appointments has been slow. At the moment, he's still deciding on his nominees for State and Defense for his next term. There's no telling when he'll announce a nominee for Commissioner of Social Security. After he announces a nomination, it will probably be a few months before the Senate takes action on the nomination -- and that's assuming the nomination is uncontroversial.

AARP Opposes COLA Cut

     From the Huffington Post:

On Wednesday, AARP volunteers and staff will visit Capitol Hill to deliver a strong message to Congress on the fiscal cliff: leave Social Security and Medicare off the table. ...

"Americans have spoken and they don’t want Congress or the President to make changes to Social Security or Medicare in any last minute deficit deal,” AARP’s volunteer president Rob Romasco said in a statement....

Specifically, AARP opposes changes to Social Security's cost of living adjustments, or COLAs. The fiscal deal proposal offered by Republicans on Monday suggests changing the way inflation is calculated, which would reduce COLAs by over $100 billion over the next decade according to the Congressional Budget Office.

"Reducing Social Security benefits by moving to a chained consumer price index (CCPI) –- estimated to take $112 billion dollars out of the pockets of current and future Social Security beneficiaries in the next 10 years alone – is inappropriate and unwarranted," AARP CEO A. Barry Rand wrote in a letter to lawmakers earlier this month.

A Sad Story

     There is a long article in the Tampa Bay Times that deals in part with Social Security disability. I will not try to pick out excerpts. Here are some pertinent facts from the article to give you some idea of what it is about:

• Gretchen Molannen files Social Security disability claim.
• Ms. Molannen's disability claim is denied. She appeals and has a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).
• The ALJ denies Ms. Molannen's disability claim.
• Less than three months after receiving the ALJ decision, Ms. Molannen commits suicide.
• Ms. Mollanen's alleged disabling impairment was persistent genital arousal disorder.

Couldn't They Afford A Freezer?

     From the Zachary Plainsman-News:

A woman who helped stuff a dead man into an ice chest in order to keep his Social Security checks coming will serve three years in prison.

Heidi Todd, 45, pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful disposal of human remains, mutilating or disinterring human remains and theft.

Police said about $34,000 collected by her and Debra Fisher, 58, in the two years after Debra’s father, Charles Fisher died of heart disease and their plot was discovered.

The roommates put Fisher, 83, into a 160-quart ice chest and kept it in the apartment they and the dead man shared.

Debra Fisher’s trial is scheduled Dec. 10.

Religious Leaders Speak Out In Support Of Social Security Disability Benefits

     From a press release:

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) and the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition gathered on Capitol Hill today to speak out in support of the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits program. The program, an important lifeline for Americans unable to work due to illness or injury, has been under attack from critics. The two groups will dispel myths about the program being widely abused and wasteful and push to ensure that SSDI is not a victim of fiscal cliff negotiations. 

 The briefing featured presentations from two former SSDI recipients who were able to return to full-time employment after suffering tragic accidents that rendered them unable to work. ...

 Kathy Ruffing, a Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, discussed her recent report: Social Security Disability Insurance is Vital to Workers With Severe Impairments. Additionally, Curtis Ramsey-Lucas, of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies, closed the event with an interfaith prayer. 

 "As a nation, we need to be committed to ensuring that when Americans become unable to work due to illness or accident, there is a safety net," said Rabbi Steve Gutow, President and CEO of JCPA. "SSDI is literally a lifeline for millions of Americans. People who collect disability insurance have paid into the system and therefore it is critical that the benefits they have earned are available in their time of need. Recent political attacks on SSDI are misguided at best. And now, as Congress and the President find ways to negotiate away from the fiscal cliff, we hope they will remember that SSDI is a critical program that must be protected."