NCSSMA Proposals On Comp Offset

     The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, has been kind enough to send me a copy of their draft position paper on simplifying the workers compensation offset which is applied when a claimant receives both Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits and workers compensation at the same time. I've posted their position paper on the Social Security Perspectives blog (which I rarely use).

     I think everyone who has to deal with the workers compensation offset wishes it could be made simpler but, so far, there's been no consensus on how to do that. NCSSMA recommends either simplifying the offset by applying a uniform offset amount regardless of the amount of workers compensation benefits paid or somehow forcing reverse offsets on the states. 

     Applying a uniform offset amount would simplify matters some but it still leaves plenty of complexity. In some cases, Disability Insurance Benefits will be reduced by considerably more than the claimant is receiving in workers compensation. Probably the biggest problem is how to apply a uniform offset when a claimant receives a lump sum settlement of workers compensation benefits. Current law allows lump sum payments to be considered as spread over the claimant's remaining life expectancy. This has been a bit controversial but if the lump sum payment is for the claimant's disability over the claimant's remaining life expectancy what's wrong with spreading the lump sum amount over the remaining life expectancy? However, applying a flat rate reduction for the rest of a claimant's entire life would clearly be unfair. 

     Some states now reduce workers compensation benefits as a result of the receipt of Disability Insurance Benefits. Social Security does not apply an offset when the state has applied an offset. Current law limits the reverse offset to 15 states who had a reverse offset before a certain date in the past. This limitation could be removed but there is no way to force states to implement reverse offsets. Also, the NCSSMA plan would require a reverse offset for public disability benefits. That's applied to foreign social security benefits under contributory plans so you'd need to get every country in the world with a contributory social security scheme to adopt a reverse offset to eliminate thatt offset. Nationwide reverse offsets would cost the Disability Insurance Trust Fund a fair amount of money. International reverse offset would cost a little more. I'm pretty sure the reverse offset idea is going nowhere.

"Rude Shocks" For Widows

     The New York Times reports on the "rude shocks" that Social Security can provide for widows.

SSA Seeks Comments On Vocational Factors In Disability Determination

     The Social Security Administration is publishing an "advanced notice of proposed rulemaking" in the Federal Register on Monday asking for public input on how the agency should consider the vocational factors of age, education and work experience in determining disability. There's no proposal now. They're just asking for comments. Here's the agency's explanation of the comments it is seeking:

Specifically, given today’s work environment and advances in technology and medicine, we are seeking public input, research, and data about the following: 

1. Is the factor of age predictive in determining an individual’s ability to work or to adjust to other work? If it is predictive, what are the vocationally significant age milestones we should consider? If it is not predictive, what data support that assertion? 

2. When determining if age affects an individual’s ability to work or to adjust to other work, what other factor s or combination of factors should we consider? 

3. Does an individual’s education al level affect an individual’s ability to do work or to adjust to other work? If so, how? What data support the conclusion that an individual’s educational level does or does not affect an individual’s ability to do work or to adjust to other work? How does literacy affect an individual’s ability to do work or adjust to other work? 

4. Does the skill level of an individual’s past work affect his or her ability to adjust to other work? If so, how ? What data support the conclusion that the skill level of an individual’s past work does or does not affect an individual’s ability to do work or to adjust to other work? How does the skill level of an individual’s past work considered along with an indiv idual’s educational level affect this adjustment? 

5. Are there other vocational factors or combinations of vocational factors that we should consider when determining an individual’s ability to do work or to adjust to other work?

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.