Look What Happened After The GOP Took Over The House

     There's been no formal change in Social Security's rules for determining disability due to intellectual disability or mental illness in decadess. However, look at what's happened in recent years to the number of people approved for disability benefits for these reasons:

Number Of Disability Insurance Benefits Claims Approved For Intellectual Disability

2010 -- 18,867

2011 -- 14,145

2012 -- 12,009

2013 -- 10,141

2014 -- 9,738

Number Of Disability Insurance Benefits Claims Approved For Mental Illness (Including Intellectual Disability)

2010 -- 218,862

2011 -- 191,898

2012 -- 172,995

2013 -- 145,997

2014 -- 123,676

     What happened in 2010 that started this change? Could it be the fact that Republicans took control of the House of Representatives? Is that the same as a change in the statutes or regulations? What do Republicans have against the intellectually disabled? What do they have against those suffering from mental illness? And the biggest question -- why should a change in the control of Congress affect how Social Security determines disability?

Population Insured For Disability Has Risen Far Faster Than Total Population

Disability Causes Poverty

How Can You Function Like This?

     Earlier in the week I had posted an e-mail I had received about the serious problems attorneys have in getting the Social Security Administration to simply recognize that they are representing particular clients. The post attracted a number of comments from attorneys expressing the same frustration. I think this comment, obviously from a Social Security employee, posted anonymously, is worthy of greater attention since it helps explain why the problem exists and because it demonstrates one of many serious systems problems at Social Security:

This problem is not going away. It results from:

1)A terribly complicated process for adding/changing representatives.

I'll simplify it for those who aren't agency employees. Key in attorney info into the attorney database and link it to the claims. Go to the claims processing systems (one or Social Security Claims another for SSI claims) and pull the attorney information into the claims processing systems. Then you go to the the disability claims system (medical file that is sent to DDS and subsequently ODAR) and pull the attorney information into it. Then you have create the acknowledgment letters to mail to the attorneys and store copies of the actual documents in the electronic folder. If you don't complete all those steps then the attorney is not correctly added and one (or more) components (DDS, ODAR, AC, PC) may not be aware the attorney is involved. Or you may do all that and forget to send the acknowledgement letter, which means the attorney never receives confirmation. Here's the kicker, let's say you sign up to represent a claimant and their claim is already pending at ODAR. The FO is the only component that can take all the steps above. Needless to say, it's hard for FO employees to prioritize that work when the claim is pending at ODAR and may not get a hearing for another 6 months. Even FO employees who understand the need to process the attorney forms timely will still make numerous makes due to the number of steps involved in adding or changing representatives.

Add this to the mix, ODAR can (and does) add the attorney to their case processing system, which will make sure the representative gets the notices from ODAR. BUT, if the FO fails to do it's part, then the payment center or the FO processing the ALJ determination, may accidentally process the claim without the attorney information.

2)There is not enough staff in many offices to process these actions timely. As a result, These actions pile up. Attorneys follow-up and send duplicate packages, which makes the problem worse. Resentment builds up on the part of FO employees towards attorneys, which demotivates FO employees regarding this workload.

The problems may lessen if the Agency is properly staffed. However, even if it is properly staffed, there will always be a level of dysfunction in this area due to the complexity of the process/system for adding and changing representatives. They aren't going away and it's unrealistic to expect them to.

9:13 PM, December 02, 2015

Delayed SSI Payments

     From an Emergency Message that the Social Security Administration has released to its staff:

... On December 1, 2015, approximately 18,773 recipients did not receive their recurring monthly SSI payments. After researching the issue, the agency discovered a systems coding issue that prevented the release of the payments. The payments were correctly annotated on the Supplemental Security Income Master Record (SSR), but were not included in the payment files sent to Treasury for processing....

Inform recipients that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is aware of the issue and working to re-release the payments. Electronic payments should be deposited on 12/03/2015. Paper checks will take about 5 to 7 business days. Refer the recipient to his/her servicing field office for further assistance for dire need situations....

Proving Homelessness

     Given the ridiculous hearing backlog at Social Security now -- approaching two years in much of the country -- it's crucial that homeless claimants receive the expediting that Social Security allows them. But how are we supposed to prove homelessness? You might say, "That's easy. Just get the homeless shelter to write a letter on their behalf." That's easier said than done even when we're talking about homeless shelters and most homeless people don't stay in homeless shelters. There are few homeless shelters in rural areas. Homeless shelters can be dangerous places. Most homeless people avoid them when they can. They move around between relatives and friends, never staying anywhere long. Some live in tents or shacks in the woods. How are these claimants supposed to prove their homelessness?

     At the moment, I’m asking homeless clients either to write a letter that I can send to Social Security or get someone at a homeless shelter or a relative or friend to write a letter but this doesn’t work so well. Homeless people often lack the ability to write a letter and lack people in their lives who can or will write a letter on their behalf. 

     I keep thinking there’s got to be a better way. What are other people doing? Would a form that a claimant or someone in their life could complete work?

This Is Frustrating

     Here's a message I received recently on a listserver for North Carolina Social Security attorneys, edited to remove names and locations:

I can echo ____'s experience with the SSA FO [Field Office] in _____.  The letters of representation along with my 1696s, 1695s, and 827s [apart from the 827 these are forms that Social Security needs to establish that the claimant is being represented]  routinely that I mailed to the FO would disappear into some black hole.  Taking them down to the FO for personal delivery did not work either as the security guards are not permitted to handle materials pertaining to SS benefits nor was a receptacle into which I could put correspondence readily available.  Since delivery confirmation and certified mail are rather expensive, we started faxing in addition to mailing our LOR and initial forms to the SSA FO so that we would receive a fax confirmation sheet showing that we submitted our LOR and initial forms.  Even then, the SSA FO staff there would always react like it was our fault if we called to find out if our letters of rep and initial forms were received and they could not find any record of our represent ation of our client in their system.  The addition of a reminder or "tickle" to f/u with the FO sounds like a great idea for helping to deal with this situation. 

     Note that the field offices complain when these forms are submitted more than once, saying it makes extra work for them and causes confusion, but, at least where I am, the field offices are unreliable in entering an attorney's representation documents into their system. The documents disappear for weeks or months or disappear altogether. The field offices also complain about having to take calls asking whether they've entered attorney representation into their system. When the forms disappear, the field offices always blame the attorney.

The Choo Choo Is Running Late In Chattanooga

     Here's another story about the huge backlog of people awaiting hearings on their Social Security disability claims. This one concerns Chattanooga. The backlog there is officially 19 months but that number is misleading. Social Security always averages in cases that are quickly dismissed because the claimant was late in filing the request for hearing. The real wait there is probably more like two years.