Might Be Some Problems With This Nomination

     AllGov has put together a biographical piece on Andrew Saul, President Trump's nominee to become Commissioner of Social Security. Here are some excerpts:

Saul was born in New York on November 6, 1946. He did his undergraduate work at the Wharton School at Penn, earning a B.S. in 1968, just as Trump did.

After graduation, Saul took a job with Brooks Fashion Stores, a mid-range women’s clothing chain. He became vice president for store operations, executive vice president and in 1980, president of the company. Saul’s tenure as president was marked by millions of dollars in losses for Brooks. ...

Saul joined the board of New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) in 1997 and in 2006 was appointed its vice chairman. He has been an MTA board member ever since. In 2003, he was chairman of the MTA audit committee when state and city comptrollers accused MTA of keeping two sets of books. While on the MTA 15-person voting board in 2005, Saul’s was one of only two votes against a holiday fare reduction for transit riders.

Saul was a top fundraiser for George W. Bush, and was rewarded in 2002 with an appointment as chairman of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which supervises 401-k-style retirement programs for federal employees, including the military. Saul tightened loan requirements for Thrift members and grew the fund while maintaining strict financial controls. He remained on the board until 2011.

In 2007, Saul entered the race for Congress from his home district in New York, and his deep pockets made the candidacy popular with the GOP. However, Saul dropped out of the race in November 2007 days after The New York Times reported that two of his campaign donors were bidding to build on MTA property. Saul also drew criticism for proposing transit fare increases. ...

Saul’s personal life took a couple odd turns. As his daughter, Jennifer Saul Yaffa, was going through a divorce in 2009, Saul began eviction proceedings against the family, which was living in a Fifth Avenue co-op owned by a family trust. A court ruled against Saul. In 2012, he tried to get out of a trespassing charge by claiming he was a police commissioner. Saul was trying to ride a bicycle on a dam when told by a police officer that he was trespassing. Saul ignored the officer, who had to pull Saul off his bike. Saul produced a “courtesy card” he’d received through the MTA police. Despite all that, Saul wasn’t ticketed. ...

Hearing Scheduled On Future Of Social Security Number

     From a press release:

House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX) announced today that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled “Securing Americans’ Identities: The Future of the Social Security Number.” The hearing will focus on the dangers of the use of the Social Security number (SSN) as both an identifier and authenticator and examine policy considerations and possible solutions to mitigate the consequences of SSN loss or theft. The hearing will take place on Thursday, May 17, 2018 in 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 AM. ...

I Keep Telling You He's A Doofus

     As a result of absconding, Eric Conn is facing additional charges that carry sentences of up to 255 years in prison. His plea deal had carried only a 12 year sentence. Since he already pleaded guilty to those charges, that sentence is already locked in.

Is This Reasonable?

     Should a medical provider charge a $350 fee for completing paperwork to help a Social Security disability claimant? Remember, Medicare or Medicaid benefits go along with Social Security disability benefits. A patient who loses their Social Security disability appeal may lose medical coverage or be forced onto Medicaid which reimburses providers at a lower rate. Is the $350 fee reasonable? What about filing health care reimbursement forms? Should providers charge separately for doing that? It's not medical care either.

     If you think that attorneys who represent Social Security disability claimants are so wealthy that they should easily be able to absorb fees like this, maybe you ought to ponder this question. Why is it that virtually no one leaves the employment of the Social Security Administration to represent claimants before the agency? If it's lucrative, wouldn't you expect there to be a steady stream of people doing this?

Most Popular Baby Names

     Here's Social Security's list of the most popular baby names for 2017:

Boys	Girls
1. Liam	1. Emma
2. Noah	2. Olivia
3. William	3. Ava
4. James	4. Isabella
5. Logan	5. Sophia
6. Benjamin	6. Mia
7. Mason	7. Charlotte
8. Elijah	8. Amelia
9. Oliver	9. Evelyn
10. Jacob	10. Abigail

     Whatever happened to "Charles" as a baby name? Or "John" or "Mary" or "Joseph" or "Elizabeth" or "Michael" or "Catherine"?

Can You Help?

     Can anyone help me interpret this report from the Social Security Bulletin on variation in Social Security disability participation? I know I'm in trouble when I'm trying to interpret something that starts out with this sort of thing:

The variance relationship is given in equation (7):

Var[ln(part)]=Var[ln(disprev)]+Var[ln(partdis)]+2Cov[ln(disprev),ln(partdis)]

     If I had been interested in this sort of thing maybe I would have gone to grad school in my undergraduate major, political science (which, at least at the graduate level, is a lot sciencier than you might think). There are reasons people go to law school and some of them have to do with figuring out what you don't want to do.
     I think this report shows that persons of Hispanic origin and those who live in households where English isn't spoken at home are less likely to be on Social Security disability (take that, Donald Trump!) but there's a lot more in this report that I'm struggling to interpret.

Headcount Holds Steady

      The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has posted updated figures for the number of employees at the Social Security Administration:

• December 2017 62,777
• September 2017 62,297
• June 2017 61,592
• March 2017 62,183
• December 2016 63,364
• December 2015 65,518
• December 2014 65,430
• December 2013 61,957
• December 2012 64,538
• September 2011 67,136
• December 2010 70,270
• December 2009 67,486
• December 2008 63,733
• September 2008 63,990

Looks Like The Biggest Problem Is A Lack Of Warm Bodies To Get The Work Done

     From Workload Review of the Office of Hearings Operations’ Atlanta and New York Regions, a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General:

The hearing offices in both regions with high average processing times (APT) had below average staffing levels, low morale, and issues with telework, claimant representatives, and the quality of the support staff’s work. Other factors, such as administrative law judge performance issues, difficulty scheduling expert witnesses, and a large number of supplemental hearings/postponements also contributed to high APT. In the New York Region, local office management issues and State filing requirements were also negative factors. In the Atlanta Region, an insufficient number of decision writers and information technology problems were negative factors.

In the New York Region, several interviewees cited their Regional Office as a negative factor that contributed to higher APT and lower productivity. The issues that interviewees cited included Regional Office micromanagement, excessive time and oversight devoted to minor issues, goals not agreeing with real capabilities, negative messaging/tone, and frequent changes implemented with little notice or input. The New York Regional Office generally agreed with our findings but explained that a few offices require closer regional level oversight for a variety of reasons, including inexperienced or under- performing managers, failure to follow established policy and procedures, and employee conduct or performance matters. Some interviewees in the Atlanta Region cited similar issues with their Regional Office, though the feedback was more mixed. ...