Hearing Office Attorney Advisor Ability To Issue Favorable Decisions Diminished

     From a Bulletin issued by Social Security's Chief Administrative Law Judge:

In November 2013 we began a pilot: the National Screening Unit (NSU). The NSU Core Team will review and select cases eligible for the program and will distribute those cases to hearing office (HO) management for assignment to AAs.

AAs [Attorney Advisors] may review and sign fully favorable decisions only in cases selected by the NSU. AAs may screen other cases (i.e., those not selected by the NSU) at the direction of HO management, but they may only do so for the purposes of identifying potential Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) OTR [On The Record] decisions or assisting an ALJ with a hearing. ...

AAs can only issue a fully favorable decision when the case is referred by the NSU and the evidence supports the following:

• A claimant’s condition meets a listing at Step 3;
• A claimant’s condition medically equals a listing at Step 3, based on medical expert (ME) evidence;
• Applying the “special” medical-vocational profiles showing an inability to make an adjustment to other work (see 20 CFR 404.1562 and 416.962; Social Security Ruling 82-63); or
• Directly applying a grid rule in Appendix 2 to Subpart P of Part 404 (Medical-Vocational Guidelines) to find a claimant disabled at Step 5.

      This was issued to dramatically cut down on AAs issuing decisions approving disability claims. This also has the effect of reducing Social Security's ability to deal with the growing backlogs of claimants seeking a hearing before an ALJ. However, these AA decisions came to a complete where I am even before this directive.

Getting Worse By The Month

     Some statistics from Social Security's Caseload Analysis Report and National Ranking Report, courtesy of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR):

Average hearing office processing time:

FY 2012: 353 days
FY 2013: 382 days

Cases pending hearing office disposition over 270 days:
FY 2012: 271,557
FY 2013: 288,622

Cases pending hearing office disposition over 365 days:
FY 2012: 130,617
FY 2013: 149,288

Attorney Adjudicator dispositions of requests for hearing:
FY 2012: 37,423
FY 2013: 18,625

Hiltzik Reports On The Demographic Factors Affecting Social Security Disability

     Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times reports on the recent study by two Social Security economists showing that the 94% of the recent growth in the number of Social Security disability claims can be attributed to demographic factors. I had posted about this study on November 20.

A New Right Wing Group Attacks Social Security Disability

     There's a Social Security disability hit piece in today's issue of The Hill, written by MacMillin Slobodien, the executive director of Our Generation which has recently launched Reform SSDI Now. This is almost certainly a Koch Brothers front organization.

Congressional Leaders Reported To Be Close To Budget Deal

     Politico reports that Congressional leaders are close to a budget deal that would avoid another shutdown. The deal would include additional revenue from fee increases and would replace about $80 billion in sequester cuts over the next two years. Changes in federal retirement benefits may be part of the deal. The reductions in the sequester cuts would be evenly divided between defense and domestic spending. It's too early to say whether there would be any additional or increased Social Security fees or whether the Social Security Administration would get some sequestration relief.

Does This Look Like The Social Security Disability Program Is Out Of Control?

Final Outcome Of Disability Claims

Former Social Security Employee Sentenced

     From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

A former Social Security Administration employee, who charged a fee to elderly and disabled people seeking income assistance to speed their claims, was sent to prison Monday.

Cordell Fleming, a former claims representative in Morrow, was sentenced to one day and one year in prison, after pleading guilty to extortion in August. The sentence also requires three years of supervised release, 120 hours of community service and full restitution of the illegally obtained funds.

It is not clear exactly how much money Fleming got, but an investigation found that from October 2012 to April 2013, he extorted and attempted to extort money from at least nine Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients or their representatives. The amounts ranged from $500 to $1,800.

Soaring Number Of People Approved For Disability Benefits?

     Below are the total number of persons newly approved for Disability Insurance Benefits by the Social Security Administration over the last three years. The meme being promoted on the right is that the number of people going to Social Security disability is soaring and the program is completely out of control. That meme lacks a basis in reality.

2010		1,026,988
2011		998,979
2012		960,206