The Octopus At Work

     Iowa Watchdog, Kansas Watchdog, Colorado Watchdog and New Mexico Watchdog have each released state-specific pieces decrying the growing number of people receiving disability benefits in each of these states. I don't know how many state-specific "Watchdog" organizations there are. They are all supported by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity.  Exactly who is behind the Franklin Center is unclear but it's clearly a right wing political organization. There's an excellent chance that it's a Koch Brothers front organization.
     Standard Oil used to be pictured as an octopus. That would also be an excellent metaphor for the Koch brothers political operations, which include multifarious efforts against Social Security.

Hearing On Protecting Seniors From Online Fraud

     The Senate Special Committee on Aging has scheduled a hearing for June 19 on "Social Security Payments Go Paperless: Protecting Seniors from Fraud and Confusion."

     This hearing stands to be far more useful than the House Social Security Subcommittee's upcoming annual hearing on disability work incentives. It's clear. Work incentives just don't work. However, something has to be done and something will be done to protect Social Security benefits from online fraud.

Get Over It Guys!

     The National Review really wants to prove that fraud is rampant at Social Security. They offer as proof the bizarre case of Charles Fisher. After Fisher died of natural causes his mentally ill daughter decided to put him on ice, not a freezer but ice, so she could keep getting his Social Security checks. At some point she decided to cut off her deceased father's hands since it would make it harder to identify him once she disposed of his remains in a more permanent way. The ice didn't work too well. Fisher's body was decaying. The police eventually came around the house since friends and neighbors wondered what happened to Fisher.The fraud was revealed.

     This sad case demonstrates that people, particularly mentally ill people, can do some very weird things. I don't think it proves anything of consequence about Social Security. Of course, there's some degree of fraud at Social Security. Tens of millions of people receive benefits. How could there be no fraud involved? There's no proof of rampant fraud at Social Security.
     The right wing needs to get over its obsession with Social Security. They've used the same arguments against Social Security for more than 75 years and they've gotten nowhere.  The American people love Social Security. There's nothing the right wing can do to make it go away.

Big Decision Coming?

     From the Washington Post:

With the Supreme Court only days away from major rulings on same-sex marriage, President Obama faces the prospect of having to make his own difficult decisions about the definition of wedlock. ... 

Obama’s choices on federal benefits arise from the other case, in which the justices are expected to determine the constitutionality of a key provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that prohibited the federal government from making benefits available to same-sex couples. ... 

If the Supreme Court overturns the Defense of Marriage Act, full benefits would be available to same-sex couples who marry and live in the dozen states that legally recognize their relationships. But legally married gay couples that live in states that don’t recognize their marriages would be ineligible for a range of federal benefits.

Advocates say Obama could eliminate the discrepancy with an executive order or new regulations setting a couple’s “place of celebration” as the deciding factor in whether the U.S. government recognizes a marriage for the purposes of providing benefits. ... 

Only one section of the law is under challenge, and it might yet be upheld. Another section states that no state “shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding” of any other state “respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage.” ... 

“There will be tremendous pressure on the White House and on the president personally to move very quickly to implement the judgement and to implement it broadly,” said Richard Socarides, a longtime gay rights activist who was an adviser in the Bill Clinton White House. ...

“Thirty days is what he’s got,” Socarides added. “These are real people suffering real injury. If anybody tries to argue that they need six months or a year, there are going to be riots in the streets.”

$300,000 Fraud Alleged

     From KDKA in Pittsburgh:

Chauncey Clinton, 65, of Ross Township was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on charges he cashed his late mother’s social security checks for nearly four decades.

Clara Clinton died in May, 1973, and Clinton allegedly began cashing her checks the very next month. ...

Clinton allegedly received more than $300,000 he was not entitled to through the social security scam involving his late mother.

It Seems Like There's A Congressional Hearing On This Every Year

     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 a hearing on encouraging work through the Social Security Disability Insurance program.  The hearing will take place on Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in B-318 Rayburn House Office Building beginning at 10:00 a.m.

DSM-5 On Autism Spectrum Disorders

     I had earlier posted an excerpt on Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder from the newly issued Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), the so-called Bible of psychiatry. It's not at all clear what Social Security will do with that new diagnostic criteria which will greatly reduce the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents but it is not the only part of DSM-5 which may bring about changes in disability determinations at Social Security. The DSM-5 also does away with the diagnostic category of Asperger's Syndrome, opting instead for a solitary diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. I'm doubting that this change will make much difference but here is the language from DSM-5:

Autism Spectrum Disorder 299.00

A. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive; see text):
     1. Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, tor example, from abnormal social approach and tailure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.
     2. Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication; to abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures; to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.
     3. Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends; to absence of interest in peers.

     Specify current severity:
          Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior (see Table 2).

B. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities, as manifested by at least two of the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive; see text):

    1. Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple motor stereotypies, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases).
     2. Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior (e.g., extreme distress at small changes, difficulties with transitions, rigid thinking patterns, greeting rituals, need to take same route or eat same food every day).
     3. Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus (e.g., strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interests).
     4. Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment (e.g., apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement).

     Specify current severity:
          Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive
patterns of behavior (see Table 2).

C. Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities, or may be masked by learned strategies in later life).
D. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.

E. These disturbances are not better explained by Intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay. Intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder frequently co-occur; to make comorbjd diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, social communication should be below that expected for general developmental level.

Note: Individuals with a well-established DSM·IV diagnosis of autistic disorder. Asperger's disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified should be given the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Individuals who have marked deficits in social communication, but whose symptoms do not otherwise meet criteria for autism spectrum disorder, should be evaluated for social (pragmatic) communication disorder.

OMB Clears Proposed Regs On Objecting To Video Hearings

     After nearly five months of review, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has cleared proposed new regulations concerning objecting to video hearings. This proposal was submitted while Michael Astrue was still Commissioner. OMB is part of the White House. OMB has to clear any regulatory proposal made by any agency. Five months is a very long time for one of Social Security's proposals to stay under review at OMB. I would guess that OMB identified this proposal as significant and possibly controversial. OMB's website indicates that there was some change made in the proposed rule while it was under review. Here is Social Security's original summary of the proposal:

We propose to 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. 

     We should know soon how this proposal ended up, since it will probably be published in the Federal Register in the next week or two. Note that Social Security will not be publishing a final rule at this time. They will only be publishing a Notice of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRM). The public will get a chance to review the NPRM and comment on it. It will be many months at least before anything becomes final.
     My opinion is that under a rule such as described above many attorneys will advise their clients to refuse video hearings. The main reason that attorneys now advise their clients to accept video hearings is to avoid delay. It's not like we think that a video hearing is just as good as an in-person hearing. If the decision to refuse a video hearing can be made well before any hearing is scheduled, there should be no reason for additional delay associated with asking for an in person hearing. If this goes forward, things may not work out in the way that Social Security expects.
     Also, if a Social Security claimant moves from North Carolina to Minnesota while his or her request for hearing is pending, why does he or she abandon their right to an in person hearing?