New Hearing On Enhancing Social Security

     From a press release:

House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B. Larson (D-CT) announced today that the Subcommittee is holding the third hearing in its series on “Protecting and Improving Social Security.” The hearing, “Comprehensive Legislative Proposals to Enhance Social Security,”  will take place on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, at 9:00 a.m., in room 2020 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

SSA Employee Alleged To Have Created Fictitious Identities So He Could File False Claims

     From a press release:

A federal grand jury has indicted Cheikh Ahmet Tidiane Cisse, age 43, of Baltimore, Maryland, on federal charges in connection with a scheme in which Cisse allegedly filed fraudulent claims for Social Security benefits using fictitious identities and the identities of actual individuals, and attempted to collected over $236,000.  The indictment was returned on April 3, 2019. ...

Cisse was employed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) as a Claims Specialist.  The 14-count indictment alleges that between July 2018 and March 2019, Cisse used his position at SSA to create fictitious identities within the SSA’s social security number database in order to file fictitious claims for benefits.  The indictment alleges that Cisse used both fictitious identities and the identities of actual individuals to file the fraudulent claims and stole or attempted to steal over $236,000 from SSA.

The indictment alleges that Cisse would input false information into SSA systems indicating that he had witnessed original documents, such as birth certificates, and marriage and divorce decrees, when in fact he had not.  In one instance, when SSA withheld payment due to suspected fraud, the indictment alleges that Cisse contacted SSA’s payment center and falsely relayed that the purported beneficiary had called inquiring about the whereabouts of the payment, which caused the payment center to release the funds.  Cisse allegedly directed payments on the fraudulent claims into accounts he controlled, then spent the funds through cash withdrawals and retail purchases. ...

     I've said it before. Social Security spent a lot of money getting sophisticated software intended to catch sophisticated schemes by attorneys representing Social Security claimants. It looks like what they've found instead has been some not so sophisticated Social Security employee schemes. Anybody at the operational level could have told you, Eric Conn was a bizarre one off.

Websites Back Up

     I had posted earlier this week that Social Security’s websites showing the number and total amount of attorney fees that Social Security has paid each month and contact information for its payment centers had disappeared. They’re back up now. I have no idea what happened.

More Disability Recipients Returning To Work?

     Scott Horsley at National Public Radio is looking for stories of people who have gone back to work after being on Social Security disability benefits. He thinks that an increasing number are going back to work. I don't think that's accurate.

Nuggets From NADE Newsletter

     The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), an organization for personnel who make initial and reconsideration determinations for Social Security, has posted its Spring 2019 newsletter. Here's a nugget from a summary of a meeting with Jim Julian, Social Security's Deputy Associate Commissioner for the Office of Disability Policy:

... Disability Modernization: This is an initiative to update our vocational regulations to reflect changes in medical and vocational practice, technology, and the work force.

SSA [Social Security Administration] is in the early stages of studying cases to learn the impact of potential Vocational Rules Modernization (VRM) policy updates.

The agency will use this information to develop and publish a notice of proposed rulemaking.  ...

     And here's a nugget from a write-up of a  meeting with Grace Kim, Acting Deputy Commissioner of Operations and John Owen, Associate Commissioner for the Office of Disability Determinations: 

A tool being developed for disability adjudicators in the DDS [Disability Determination Services] and currently being piloted in the Iowa DDS is the IMAGEN (Intelligent Medical-Language Analysis GENeration) tool. IMAGINE is a tool to visualize, alert, summarize, search and more easily identify relevant clinical content in medical records. IMAGEN provides decisional guidance and enables disability adjudicators to leverage various machine learning technologies and predictive analytics to support data driven decisions.This program will eventually incorporate other Artificial Intelligence (AI) functions and have the ability to learn new information, adapt and evolve.

FY 2018 Waterfall Chart

     Here's the fiscal year 2018 "waterfall chart" showing the outcomes of Social Security disability claims:

Click on image to view full size

     Note all the Administrative Law Judge dismissals. I expect most of this is related to how difficult it is to win. Attorneys who represent Social Security disability claimants don't take the case of everyone who seeks their help. We only work with those we deem to have a reasonable chance. If you're a claimant and you call several attorneys seeking representation and they all turn you away, what are you going to do? Probably you won't show up for your hearing and your case will get dismissed. Attorneys are, to some extent, gatekeepers. It's a role I'm uncomfortable with but there's no other way to make a living representing Social Security disability claimants in such a harsh environment.

Accidental Or Intentional?

     I check in each month to see the number and total amount of fees that Social Security paid the prior month. Social Security has been posting that data for many years. Now, that website is gone with no explanation. It's not just that. Social Security had posted contact information for its payment centers. That website is gone as well.

     This could be the result of some reorganization in Social Security's web presence but it would have to be a clumsy reorganization. There should be links to new URLs. There's no sign that I can find that these have been moved to new locations. They've just disappeared.

     Have other useful parts of Social Security's web presence disappeared? Does anyone know what's going on? If these have been removed intentionally, I'd have to call it a rather petty act.

Acting Commissioner's Budget

     The President has submitted to Congress his proposed budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 but since the Social Security Administration became an independent agency the Social Security Commissioner has been required to submit his or her own proposed budget for the agency. I'm almost surprised that the Acting Commissioner could work up the gumption to request anything beyond what the President has proposed but she has. Buried at the very end of the President's budget is the Acting Commissioner's proposed budget. She proposes $13.48 billion, about half a billion more than the President requested.

     Of course, by the time there is any serious consideration of Social Security's operating budget, there may be a confirmed  Commissioner whose opinions might be of some modest consequence.