Disability Claims Decline

From the Wall Street Journal:

Tone-Deafness

     From Paul Krugman, writing for the New York Times:

If you want to understand the trouble Republicans are in, one good place to start is with the obsession the right has lately developed with the rising disability rolls. The growing number of Americans receiving disability payments has, for many on the right, become a symbol of our economic and moral decay; we’re becoming a nation of malingerers. ...

What strikes me, however, isn’t just the way the right is trying to turn a reasonable development [the increase in disability rolls] into some kind of outrage; it’s the political tone-deafness.

I mean, when Reagan ranted about welfare queens driving Cadillacs, he was inventing a fake problem — but his rant resonated with angry white voters, who understood perfectly well who Reagan was targeting. But Americans on disability as moochers? That isn’t, as far as I can tell, an especially nonwhite group — and it’s a group that is surely as likely to elicit sympathy as disdain. There’s just no way it can serve the kind of political purpose the old welfare-kicking rhetoric used to perform.

Medical Expert Witness Handbook

     Social Security's handbook for medical expert witnesses at hearings before Administrative Law Judges is now available online. It was posted as part of a solicitation for medical expert witnesses.

First Report On Youth Transition Demonstration: A Complete Waste Of Money

     From a report by Mathematica Policy Research, a Social Security contractor (emphasis added):

The Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) is a large-scale demonstration and evaluation sponsored by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to improve understanding of how to help youth with disabilities reach their full economic potential. In particular, SSA is interested in testing promising approaches for helping young people with disabilities become more self-sufficient and less reliant on disability benefits. The YTD conceptual framework, which was based on best practices in facilitating youth transition, specified that the six projects that participated in the evaluation provide employment services (emphasizing paid competitive employment), benefits counseling, links to services available in the community, and other assistance to youth with disabilities and their families. Additionally, the youth who received those services were eligible for SSA waivers of certain benefit program rules, which allowed them to retain more of their disability benefits and health insurance while they worked for pay. ...

In this report, we present first-year evaluation findings for the Career Transition Program (CTP), which served high school juniors and seniors, and youth who had recently exited school, in Montgomery County, Maryland. ...

CTP was well implemented, conformed to the YTD conceptual framework, and provided youth with services to help them graduate from high school, obtain employment, and matriculate into postsecondary education programs. The process analysis showed that CTP enrolled 89 percent of eligible youth in the program and provided services to virtually all of the enrollees. On average, enrollees received 28 hours of services, 36 percent of which were directly related to employment, such as job development. Another 42 percent of service hours were for case management to resolve barriers to employment and education. The impact analysis showed that youth who had been given the opportunity to participate in CTP were more likely to have used employment-promoting services than youth in a randomly selected control group. Nevertheless, we found no impacts of the program on employment during the year following the entry of youth into the evaluation. Neither did we find impacts on income, expectations, or a composite measure of school enrollment or high school completion. We conclude that CTP was no more or less effective than the programs and services available to control group members at improving these outcomes during the follow-up year.

"The Precise Timing Of His Return To Massachusetts"

     From the Federal Times:

For anyone who’s wondering, Social Security Administration Commissioner Michael Astrue remains on the job, even though his six-year term officially ran out last Saturday.

In an email today, SSA spokeswoman Kia Anderson cited the federal law that allows Astrue to stay until the Senate confirms his successor. Given that President Obama has yet to even nominate a possible replacement, Astrue could continue to lead the agency for some time to come. Also remaining in place is Deputy Commissioner Carolyn Colvin.

Astrue, a Massachusetts lawyer and published poet (how many top-level feds can claim that kind of resume?), was named Social Security commissioner by former President George W. Bush and has held the job since early 2007. In the email, Anderson noted that Astrue has said repeatedly that he would not seek reappointment to another term.

Because Astrue has not spoken with Obama “about the precise timing of his return to Massachusetts . . . ,” Anderson added, “it would be inappropriate to speculate about that subject.”

Astrue Still On The Job -- Who Replaces Him?

        Michael Astrue is still Commissioner of Social Security. His term ran out on January 19 but the Social Security Act says he can stay in his job until a successor is confirmed. He hasn't resigned so he's still Commissioner. The same is true for Deputy Commissioner Carolyn Colvin. The rumor had been that Astrue did not intend to stay on after his term ended.  So far, he's proving that rumor wrong. Astrue does seem to be clearing items off his desk. Take a look at what he just sent over to the Office of Management and Budget. I wonder if he's planning to send over his version of new mental impairment listings before leaving.
     As to what the President may do, there was a flurry of articles a couple of weeks ago about candidates who might be nominated for the position of Social Security Commissioner. There has been nothing publicly available on the subject since. What does the delay mean? It may be that the background checks on those seeking the nomination are incomplete. It could be the President has had more pressing business before him and has not yet made up his mind. However, the President has not been too busy to come up with nominations for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

     One possibility that comes to mind is that there will never be an announcement of an Obama nominee for Commissioner of Social Security. Astrue will leave the job in the near future and Carolyn Colvin will become the Acting Commissioner for the rest of Obama's term as President. Colvin as Acting Commissioner, unlike Astrue and unlike a nominated and confirmed Commissioner of Social Security, would be serving at the President's will. If Colvin displeased the President, she could be removed from the job by Obama nominating and the Senate confirming a Commissioner. I think it is more than possible that the President has had his fill of an independent Social Security Commissioner and wants someone who is truly on his team. I have no inside information. This is just my speculation. Of course, this can't happen if Astrue keeps hanging around.

Horrible Scheme Alleged

     From WFJA:

A Philadelphia woman and four others face a first-of-its-kind hate crimes prosecution for allegedly imprisoning mentally handicapped adults in a basement while stealing their benefit checks.

The 196 count federal grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday claims that Linda Ann Weston, 52, and her alleged accomplices preyed on people with mental disabilities from 2001 to 2011. Four adults were found confined in her Philadelphia basement.

“Shocking does not begin to describe the criminal allegations in this case where the victims were tied-up and confined like zoo animals and treated like property akin to slaves,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Zane Memeger said in a statement.

The case will be the first to utilize a 2009 statute that enhanced punishments for criminals who target the mentally disabled. Weston is accused of targeting mentally disabled people in order to steal their Social Security disability payments.

Investigators in Philadelphia said in 2011 that Weston and her accomplices were carrying out a “widespread fraud scheme,” and that they trafficked the victims from Texas to Florida to Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, they held their alleged victims in Weston’s daughter’s apartment building.

The victims are believed to have been in the 6 by 10 foot boiler room for about 10 days. They were found in October 2011 reeking of excrement from the bucket they were forced to use, police said.

The Lame Duck Quacks

     Even as a lame duck, Michael Astrue keeps sending over proposed new regulations to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is part of the White House. OMB must approve proposed regulations before they may be published in the Federal Register. Astrue has now sent over a set of final regulations on the scheduling of hearings. This proposal is based upon proposed regulations published on November 10, 2008, while George W. Bush was still President. That proposal would have specified that the agency could schedule hearings for Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) whether they liked it or not. This proposal never went anywhere, presumably because of opposition from the Obama Administraton. However it was never withdrawn. Apparently, the proposal has since mutated. The proposal just sent over to OMB would:

... revise our rules to protect the integrity of our programs and to address public concerns regarding the removal of an administrative law judge's name from the Notice of Hearing and other prehearing notices. To accomplish both objectives, these proposed rules state that we will provide an individual with notice that his or her hearing may be held by video teleconferencing and that he or she has an opportunity to object to appearing by video teleconferencing within 30 days of the notice. We have also made changes that allow us to determine that claimant will appear via video teleconferencing if a claimant changes residences while his or her request for hearing is pending. We anticipate these changes will increase the integrity of our programs with minimal impact on the public and result in more efficient administration of our program. 

     What this means is unclear to me. One strong possibility is that a claimant would be notified shortly after filing a request for hearing -- long before any hearing is scheduled -- of the possibility that a video hearing would be scheduled. Unless the claimant objected within 30 days of that notice, he or she would be considered to have waived their right to an in-person hearing. Also, claimants who move after requesting a hearing would be required to have a video hearing whether they want it or not. However, that's just a guess. The summary above was not written to be understood. In any case, this proposal isn't going anywhere until there's a new Commissioner. The new Commissioner will be able to withdraw or revise it. Even if the new Commissioner likes it, OMB may veto it. Even if it went through, it could be challenged since the final regulations would be completely different from the proposal. The public is supposed to be able to comment on proposed regulations. An agency can't publish one set of proposed regulations, take comments on that and then substitute something completely different as final regulations. That would be contrary to the Administrative Procedure Act.  OMB itself is supposed to, and does, prevent this sort of thing. The Courts can also prevent it.
     I get the impression that Astrue assumed that President Obama would not be re-elected. Astrue kept working on this and other regulatory proposals that he meant to have adopted once a Republican President was elected. He's not letting the election results stop him from making the gesture. I don't see the point.