NADE Newsletter

     The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), a voluntary organization of personnel who make initial and reconsideration determinations on disability claims for the Social Security Administration, has released its Spring 2022 newsletter. Almost all NADE members work for state governments who handle disability determination for Social Security at the first two levels of review. The states do the work under contract with Social Security. I won't bother explaining why states do this work but it goes back to the very beginning of disability determination for Social Security.

    There's a lot more in this newsletter that will be of interest beyond the NADE membership but here's a little nugget from a summary of a presentation by Grace Kim, Deputy Commissioner of Operations and some other SSA officials at NADE's mid-year meeting, "... to date in FY22, the [Disability Determination Service employee] attrition rate has increased in the examiner positions from 19.8% last fiscal year and is on track to hit 24.4% this fiscal year. ..." That is a staggeringly high turnover rate. I'm an employer. I don't know how you get complex work done with that high a turnover rate -- and yes, disability examiners do complex work. This is a big red flag telling us that something is very wrong and needs urgent attention.

Listings Extended

      Social Security has announced that it is extending its Listings for Special Senses and Speech, Hematological Disorders, and Congenital Disorders That Affect Multiple Body Systems without change.

ERE Down -- Again

     Social Security's ERE system that allows attorneys to access their clients' Social Security records online is down -- again. At least it can't be accessed in the normal way. This is happening more and more often.

    I hesitate to post them here for fear that it will cause them to crash but there are alternative URLs for ERE that seem to work. Maybe Social Security should post them if they won't cause the system to crash any more than it has already crashed.

Some Demographic Numbers For Disability Recipients

     Social Security has published a "Research and Statistics Note" with the catchy title: Characteristics of Noninstitutionalized DI, SSI, and OASI Program Participants, 2016 Update. Here are a few items from the report concerning Disability Insurance Benefits recipients that that catch my eye:

• Male 49.8%
• Female 50.2%
• Black 20.6%
• Hispanic 11.3%
• Less that H.S. diploma 16.4%
• H.S. diploma or equivalent 41.9%
• Some college 29.9%
• Bachelor's degree or higher 11.7%

    For comparison, women are 50.5% of the population so there's little proof of the "weaker vessel" theory in these numbers. Of course, workforce participation is lower among women than men.

    Blacks are about 14% of the population. The excessive number of disabled people who are black is easily explained. Educational attainments for blacks in America on average are significantly lower than for whites. Low educational attainment is strongly associated with disability claims because those with low educational attainments generally work in more physically demanding jobs, which are harder to perform after a person starts experiencing serious health problems. Those with low educational attainments also are less adaptable to jobs with lower exertional demands than those with high educational attainments. In general, my experience is that there is a high degree of exaggeration of educational attainment. Blacks and whites alike fib a lot when it comes to their educational background. They get used to exaggerating in order to get jobs and avoid embarrassment and keep doing it when they apply for disability benefits. Thus,  take all self-reported numbers on educational attainment with a grain of salt.

    Hispanics are 18% of the U.S. workforce, so the percent who are on disability benefits seems low. I hypothesize that the U.S. Hispanic workforce is, on average, significantly younger than the U.S. workforce in general. Disability claims are far more common among among older people. Many Hispanic workers just haven't aged into their prime years for disability claims.

    In general, note that, at most, about 12% of the population has a bachelor's degree. If you have a bachelor's degree, much less anything beyond that, realize that what you might be able to do despite physical impairments isn't necessarily what the average American can do, much less what someone who lacks a high school diploma can do. You can work in an office if you've got a bad  knee. You won't be able to do that as a maintenance mechanic or landscaper and you'll have a tough time finding something else you can do with a bad knee if you have little education. Also, remember that educational attainments are somewhat associated with native intelligence. If you have a low educational attainment, you may be not so bright. That also limits adaptability. To give a dated reference (to a no longer respectable source), this is not Lake Woebegone. All the children are not above average. In fact, a significant percentage of children and adults are significantly below average, a fact that limits them in many ways.

No Remedy For Unconstitutional Commissioner

     From the Court's summary of the 9th Circuit's decision in Kaufmann v. Kijakazi, decided on April 27, 2022:

... Claimant challenged the constitutionality of the statute that governed the President’s removal authority over the Commissioner, and the district court’s grant of the Commissioner’s Rule 59(e) motion. ...

The panel ... held that the President possessed the authority to remove the Commissioner of Social Security at will.

The final question was the appropriate remedy for claimant, whose appeal to the Appeals Council was denied while Commissioner Saul served under an unconstitutional removal provision. ...

... Because claimant did not show that the removal provision caused her any actual harm, the panel upheld the Commissioner’s decision denying her application for benefits. ...

Sentencing In Fraud Case Involving Thousands Of Phony Claims

      From a press release:

Ivie Shevon Sajere has been sentenced for her role in a conspiracy that defrauded the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) out of nearly $1,000,000.  The conspiracy involved the false filing of thousands of online applications for SSA retirement benefits and FEMA disaster benefits using stolen personal information.  …

“This sentence holds Sajere accountable for her role in this complex conspiracy to defraud the Social Security Administration, alone, of nearly seven hundred thousand dollars. She stole personal information of innocent people and used it to defraud the SSA by abusing its online services,” said Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General, for the Social Security Administration.  …

Social Security Underpaying Many Children

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

... Children may receive benefits if they are younger than age 18 and their parent is entitled to Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance benefits. They may also qualify for benefits if they are 18 and older when they are a student at an elementary or secondary school. 

To be entitled to student benefits, beneficiaries must attend an educational institution full-time (at least 20 hours per week) and be age 19 and 2 months or younger. Student benefits cease either the month after the student stops attending school full-time or when the student attains age 19 and 2 months, whichever is sooner. 

We identified 16,632 beneficiaries who were entitled as children and placed in terminated payment status when they reached age 18; however, SSA recorded they remained full-time students past the termination month on the benefit record. 

SSA did not have adequate controls to ensure children who reached age 18 and still attended school received benefits. SSA did not properly continue benefits for 87 of the 100 students in our sample once they reached age 18, which resulted in $357,872 in underpayments. Based on our sample results, we estimate SSA underpaid 14,470 beneficiaries approximately $59.5 million.

We concluded SSA employees incorrectly input student information on beneficiaries’ records while using the Post Entitlement Online System and Modernized Claims System. This resulted in the termination of benefits for students aged 18 despite evidence of their continuing student enrollment. Further, SSA’s Title II Redesign System generally did not create alerts instructing SSA employees to determine whether students were still due benefits past age 18. ...

    I understand that this report may be attracting media attention. It should. This is poor performance.

    Update: I said this was attracting media attention. Turns out it's started even sooner than I thought. Joe Davidson at the Washington Post has a piece out on the problem.

SSA Employees Not So Happy

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2022 1:15 PM
Subject: Government-wide “Employee Voice” Pulse 3 Survey Results

A Message to All SSA Employees

Subject:  Government-wide “Employee Voice” Pulse 3 Survey Results

A few weeks ago, you received the third Government-wide “Employee Voice” pulse survey as part of a pilot series.  I’m writing to you to share the results and to thank you for taking the time to participate.  Overall, 35 percent of our employees responded, which is higher than the 17 percent Government-wide response rate and suggests that you are invested in improving our agency. 

The President’s Management Council —of which I am a member and is the primary Government-wide body that advises the President and the Office of Management and Budget on management issues across agencies—is using the data from your responses to understand how we can best support you.

You can review our results at the following dashboard: https://d2d.gsa.gov/report/government-wide-pulse-survey-pilot.

Although I am encouraged to see a slight improvement in the opinion that your workload is reasonable, I remain concerned about the level of exhaustion and lack of engagement you report feeling at work.  Please know that I am working with the Administration to make clear the very real effects of the budget we received, which drives hard choices.  I am hopeful that Congress will join me in supporting you as we work to improve service.

I am also concerned that many of you do not feel supported regarding issues of equity, work-life balance, and career advancement.  When I assumed the position of Acting Commissioner, one of my stated goals was to support all employees in pursuing their chosen career path.  We are working to make this a reality.

In the coming weeks, we will be in touch with more details about actions we are taking as we learn from you.

Kilolo Kijakazi, Ph.D., M.S.W.

Acting Commissioner

 

Note: I have had difficulty accessing the dashboard. It's confusing. While I was trying to figure it out, it locked up on me. Now, I  get an error message when I try to go back to it. 

Good luck.

CTH