Study On Child SSI For Mental Illness

     The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has released a 394 page report on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for children with mental disorders. The study was commissioned by the Social Security Administration. Here are some findings from the report that stuck out to me:

• The percentage of poor children drawing SSI decreased from 2004 to 2013. 
• The total number of children drawing SSI increased from 2004 to 2013. The increase in the number of children receiving SSI due to mental illness closely matched the increase in the number of children receiving SSI due to physical conditions.
• Roughly 60% of children who are likely eligible for SSI due to intellectual disability receive SSI. The percentage is decreasing. At the same time there has been a significant increase in the number of children qualifying for benefits due to autism spectrum disorder. These two trends may be related. Children who once would have been diagnosed with intellectual disability are now diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
• Only about 3% of children who are potentially eligible for SSI benefits due to a mood disorder (usually bipolar disorder) are receiving SSI benefits.
• Approximately half of all children receiving SSI were found disabled due to a mental disorder.
• There is considerable variation from state to state in the rate at which SSI claims are filed for children based up on mental illness and the rate at which these claims are approved. The number of claims approved per 100,000 poor children ranges from 107 in Nevada to 744 in Pennsylvania. There's a pronounced geographic tilt. A far greater number of children apply for and qualify for benefits in the Eastern half of the United States than the West. I really wish that I could display the chart and map here but the report in a format that makes this impossible, at least for me. They're on pages 76 and 77 of the report. If you go to the report, do not miss these pages!
• Between 2004 and 2013 the average rate of child SSI determinations decreased by 2%. However, the rate increased by 48% in Rhode Island but decreased by one-third or more in Minnesota, North Dakota, Kansas and Nevada. 
• Diagnosis of mental illness was significantly more common in white children than in African American or Hispanic children. The rate was lowest for Asian-American children.

     Update: A reader was kind enough to help in getting pages 76 and 77 into a format I can post here. Click on each to view full size.

Guilty Plea In Philadelphia

     There has been a guilty plea in the Philadelphia case of a woman accused of holding disabled adults in captivity so that she could, among other things, steal their Social Security disability benefits.

Number Drawing Disability Benefits Continues To Decline

     The number of people drawing Social Security disability benefits declined in August. This number has declined in ten of the last eleven months.

Setting The Table?

     Dylan Scott, writes in the National Journal that the Social Security disability "reform" under consideration as the Republican "price" for extending the life of the Disability Trust Fund is some change in work incentives. The problem is that such a change probably won't save money and may end up costing money. Maybe more important, changes under consideration could work as a disincentive to return to work. Still, if work incentives are the only thing on the table, agreement should be possible. Are work incentives the only thing that Republicans intend to put on the table or merely the first thing? Will the controversial changes be revealed only after the 2016 election?

ALJ Removed For Low Productivity

     Mark Shapiro was hired by the Social Security Administration as an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in 1997. Throughout his career as an ALJ Shapiro failed to meet agency productivity standards. He averaged about 10-12 decisions a month while the agency was expecting around 50 a month. Shapiro was given additional training and many warnings but his productivity remained low. Finally, the agency asked the federal Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to remove Shapiro from his position as an ALJ. The MSPB agreed to remove Shapiro from his job. Shapiro appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. That Court has affirmed the MSRP decision.

     My view is that the agency standard of 50 or more decisions a month is somewhat too high. However, 10-12 decisions a month is way too low. I don't know what Shapiro's problem was but he had no business being an ALJ. My advice for any ALJ struggling to get out, let's say, 35 decisions a month, is to find something else to do. ALJ positions aren't some calling from God. They're jobs. It's not a job for everybody. Life is too short to spend years working at a job you aren't cut out for.

Off Topic: Spooky

     I got a call from a telemarketer yesterday. Nothing unusual about that other than it was Sunday, but, still, that's not all that unusual these days. The "do not call" registry is a joke. The unusual thing was that the caller asked for my mother, by name. My mother doesn't live with me. She died in 1979.

Happy Labor Day

Patent Applied For

     From United States Patent Application 20150242818:

A computerized system and method for determining eligibility for social security disability insurance benefits (SSDI) through a computer network. The network provides access to State databases containing information relating to persons receiving treatment for developmental disabilities and/or mental illness from a State licensed care facility and Federal Social Security records containing information relating to person's status of SSDI benefits and parental/marital information relating to person's eligibility of SSDI benefits. The system and method is programmed to automatically determine who is potentially eligible for SSDI benefits and determine those who are eligible for SSDI benefits based on the information identified within the State and Federal databases. Moreover, the computerized system and method may also automatically identify lump sum payments paid out on behalf of at least one person who is/are receiving treatment for disabilities and/or mental illness from a State licensed care facility.