NADE Newsletter

     The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), an organization of the personnel who make initial and reconsideration determinations on Social Security disability claims, has issued a Special Edition of its newsletter.

Happy New Year

Social Security Employee Pleads Guilty

     From the Times of San Diego:

A Social Security Administration employee who accepted payments and had the authority to waive money owed to the government by overpaid beneficiaries pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing money orders and depositing them into his own checking account.

Josue Edgardo Castro, of San Ysidro, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced April 3 in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

Castro admitted that on at least 21 occasions, he accepted money orders meant for the Social Security Administration, smuggled them out of the office, and deposited them in his personal bank account.

In addition, Castro admitted that on at least nine separate occasions, he waived outstanding balances that were due to Social Security from overpaid beneficiaries in order to conceal that he had stolen their attempted repayments.
In all, Castro admitted stealing more than $5,700 in money orders and costing the Social Security Administration more than $9,000 due to the overpayment waivers he entered to hide his crimes. ...

Man Arrested For Bringing Pistol Into Social Security Office

     A man was arrested yesterday after bringing a pistol into the Social Security field office in Mobile, AL.

Are ALJs Unconstitutional?

     A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has held in Bandimere v. SEC that Administrative Law Judges are unconstitutional because they are not appointed by the President. The Social Security Administration employs most federal ALJs. This decision may receive en banc review, that is by the entire 10th Circuit instead of just a three judge panel. If en banc review is denied or if there is the same result after en banc review, the case is certainly headed to Supreme Court review.

Why Medicare And Not Social Security?

     From 42 U.S.C. § 1395ff(d)(1)(A), having to do with Medicare appeals:

Except as provided in subparagraph (B), an administrative law judge shall conduct and conclude a hearing on a decision of a qualified independent contractor under subsection (c) of this section and render a decision on such hearing by not later than the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date a request for hearing has been timely filed.

     You might ask why there is a time limit on Medicare appeals and no time limit on Social Security appeals, most of which linger for well over a year. The answer is simple. The Medicare appeals are filed by medical providers. They have political clout. Social Security claimants don't. In fairness, the medical providers have had trouble enforcing the section of statute I've quoted above but they're just gotten a decision indicating that the courts may be willing to enforce the time limit language.

The Human Costs

Donna Dye, a former client of Eric Conn

     The Associated Press is reporting on the human costs of Social Security's big effort to cut off the disability benefits of Eric Conn's former clients. All along it's seemed that the hundreds of people involved were no more than ciphers to those who were so eager to label them as frauds, cut off their benefits and stack the deck against them. The question I've had all along has been why is Social Security going to such lengths to hurt these people when the agency admits they did nothing wrong. It's perfectly obvious at ground level that these folks are sick and most would have won without any of Eric Conn's alleged shenanigans.

"Take A Number, Please"

     From an editorial in the Des Moines Register:

It’s the stuff of nightmares: Permanently injured in an auto accident, you lose your ability to work and must apply for disability benefits.

Faced with mounting medical bills, as well as the usual expenses for groceries and rent, you go to your local Social Security Administration office to secure desperately needed federal disability benefits.

You approach the counter, see a sign advising you to “Take a number, please,” and you comply. The receptionist calls out, “Number six?” You look at the slip of paper in your hand and realize you are number 1,136,849.

You ask the receptionist how long you’ll have to wait. She smiles broadly and cheerfully responds, “Thanks for stopping by! Your disability claim is important to us! The average wait time is currently 19 months and 22 days!” ...

Unfortunately, this nightmare scenario is based on a stark reality now faced by many disabled Americans. ...

When it was revealed that 200 veterans may have died in 2015 while waiting for care at an Arizona Veterans’ Administration hospital, Congress wasted no time scheduling hearings and proposing legislative fixes to address that problem. The SSA’s case backlog has grown for years and affects a much broader segment of the population, yet the outrage, if it exists at all, is muted. ...