New Social Security Ruling On Genetic Testing

     Social Security Ruling 16-4p will appear in the Federal Register tomorrow. It concerns the use of genetic tests in determining disability. The bottom line on the Ruling seems to be that, yes, Social Security will consider genetic testing results but that, no, they won't pay for it. Their reason for not paying for it is that they say genetic testing isn't necessary to establish a finding of disability even though the Ruling itself admits that at least in the case of non-mosaic Down syndrome or Edward's syndrome or cystic fibrosis or chronic myelogenous leukemia such testing may be necessary. Maybe they ought to be more honest and say they don't want to spend the money and they really don't care if a few claims are unjustly denied.

Grim Report On Rep Payees

     The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) has a contract with the Social Security Administration to review representative payees. Rep payees are appointed to help beneficiaries who are incapable of handling their own money. NDRN recently completed a report on a six month extension to their contract with Social Security which shows that things are bad and getting worse.

Backlogs Growing

     Rick Warshinskey, the President of the National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, has written a blog piece on Social Security's budget situation. Here's an excerpt detailing some of the reasons the agency desperately needs more operating funds:

The PSCs [Program Service Centers, which compute and authorize payment of Social Security benefits] have nearly 3 million cases pending, of which nearly 50% are over 90 days old. Many of the visitors coming into SSA’s [Social Security Administration's] field offices are asking about cases pending in the PSCs. This is one reason why we have already had 1.34 million more visitors this fiscal year to date, compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, in the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) the number of pending cases has gone up 36 months in succession and is now at a record 1.14 million cases. An average hearing is now taking a record setting 535 days for a decision.

SSA is also expected to increase the number of medical Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs) by 250,000 (pushing the agency up to 1.1 million) next fiscal year and increase the number of SSI Redeterminations the agency completes by 300,000....

Another Expensive Report Destined To Gather Dust

     Several researchers at Mathematica has done a study for Social Security on Employment Experiences of Young Adults and High Earners Who Receive Social Security Disability Benefits: Findings from Semistructed Interviews. The report is 131 pages. It certainly cost Social Security tens of thousands of dollars, maybe hundreds of thousands. There's nothing wrong with the report. I'm sure the researchers did a competent job. It's just that it's worthless. It repeats what everyone who's looked at the situation already knew. In the end, they recommend that Social Security offer case managers or community liaisons to assist claimants who want to return to work and, of course, they recommend more research. I think that new employees of Beltway Bandits like Mathematica must learn on their first day at work that every report they produce must include a self-serving recommendation for more research.
     Social Security doesn't have the money for case managers. The agency does have enough money to waste on this sort of pointless research, however. Even though it's worthless, the research is relatively inexpensive compared to what it would cost to actually do something worthwhile.  Paying Mathematica for a useless report allows Social Security to pretend that it's doing something about returning disability recipients to work. 

     I don't want to be too critical of Social Security. Nothing they would do if they had the money would make that much difference anyway but they don't have the money to do anything other than pay Beltway Bandits for useless reports.

Whistleblowers Allege Lack Of Accountability

     From WSAZ:

A decade after first sounding the alarm about an alleged scheme to defraud the Social Security Administration over disability claims, Jennifer Griffith and Sarah Carver are now speaking out. 

In 2011, Griffith and Carver filed a whistleblower lawsuit against attorney Eric Conn, former Social Security Administrative Judge David Daugherty and Psychologist Dr. Alfred Adkins ...

Despite the arrests, both Griffith and Carver say the current indictments aren't enough. ...

"I do think there should be more people because there were more people within the agency that were allowed to either retire early or were promoted," Sarah Carver said. "Several of the managers that were in management throughout this time that this was all going on, several were still there or have received major promotions. It's the lack of accountability that I feel is an issue." 

After exposing this scheme, Griffith and Carver say they were harassed while still working at the Huntington Social Security office by their superiors and even their own fellow co-workers....

Carver says during the investigation, she was forced to work in a room by herself at the Social Security office eight hours a day for 10 months. She says during that time, Eric Conn and others hired a private investigator to follow her around, in hopes of getting her fired from her job....

How Does SSA Still Get Away With Using Phony Vocational Evidence?

     The Indiana Lawyer has a nice article on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals' refusal to accept the highly dubious vocational evidence that Social Security uses in deciding on disability claims. It makes you wonder why other circuits aren't following the 7th Circuit's lead.

Why Can't I Download Files?

     When an attorney needs a copy of his or her client's file, the attorney can go online and ask for a copy of the entire electronic file. It's not immediately available. Usually, though, it's available within an hour or two. That system isn't working now and hasn't been working since April 4. In fact, the system seems to have completely or near completely shut down. No files are available for pickup. I am sure that Social Security knows there's a problem but there's been no notification about the problem or when it might get fixed. It would be nice if we could hear something.

Newsflash: There's No Free Lunch

     Social Security's Office of Chief Actuary recently completed a set of estimates on the effects of a wide range of proposals concerning Social Security disability benefits. Here are some estimates that may surprise you:

• Implementing any type of benefit offset scheme would cost money, not save money;
• Changes to the grid regulations would have only a minor effect;
• Changes to evidence submission rules would have a negligible effect;
• Eliminating reconsideration would cost money although not that much
• A change to suspend benefits or offset benefits due to the receipt of unemployment insurance benefits would have a negligible effect;
• Any changes in program integrity would have almost no effect.

     If you want to have a significant effect on the Disability Insurance Trust Fund, you either have to make it much more difficult to get on benefits or reduce benefit payments or raise taxes. You're not going to accomplish much without making a lot of people mad.