Investigation Ordered Of Inspector General

      From the Washington Post:

An independent watchdog this week opened a broad investigation into Social Security Inspector General Gail Ennis and her office following a Washington Post report that revealed how an anti-fraud program has imposed massive penalties on disabled and elderly people.
 

The inquiry by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), a group that investigates misconduct allegations against inspectors general, comes as Ennis has been directed by the acting Social Security commissioner to suspend the program amid mounting political pressure.
In a letter, a senior White House official urged a quick response from the chairwoman of the inspectors general council, Allison Lerner, who took the unusual step of notifying Congress and the White House that she had opened the probe. On Thursday, congressional staffers will question Ennis’s deputies about the program. …

30 Million Americans With Undiagnosed Disorders

    From Duke University School of Medicine:

...  Some 30 million Americans ... experience significant health problems that defy diagnosis. Their symptoms range from mysterious heart attacks in teenagers to spine abnormalities, intellectual disabilities, low muscle mass, digestive troubles, and countless others. Their ailments don’t follow well-known disease patterns. 

In many such cases, doctors order batteries of tests: DNA sequencing tests to gather information about genetic changes that may cause disease, exome sequencing tests to examine the protein coding regions of the genes, and imaging scans like MRIs, PET scans and CAT scans to get a detailed look inside the body. 

But even then, diagnoses elude these patients. At a loss, they seek answers on the internet or in medical books. ...

[T]he Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) ... works to help patients get diagnoses and advance our understanding of health and disease. ...

The UDN provides an avenue of hope. Difficult-to-diagnose patients typically reach the UDN through referrals from their primary care physicians. Patients or their parents complete a short online application that is reviewed by the UDN Coordinating Center at Harvard University. The Coordinating Center determines which patients to accept and which site to send them to. To date, the UDN has received 5,700 applications and accepted 2,246. “For those who are not accepted, we still try to provide a specific recommendation to help them” ...

    Why do I post this? It's  because a fair number of Social Security disability claimants have undiagnosed disorders. Social Security usually deals with these cases by denying them at the initial and reconsideration levels. Administrative Law Judges often deny them. If there's no label, the problem has to be imaginary, right?

Staffing Losses Have Varied Greatly From State To State

 

https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/social-security-administration-cuts-hurt-every-state

 

Memorial Day 2022

 

Not That Many Claimants Asking For Congressional Help

     From a Social Security newsletter:

... Our Congressional Constituent Relations Staff (CCRS) expedites critical casework

and special handling requests and inquiries from district, State, and Capitol Hill offices. ...  

In FY 2021, CCRS assisted with over 6,600 congressional staff inquiries. This includes the

work of our Congressional Liaison office, which took over 330 claims and post-entitlement

actions, responded to almost 1,700 congressional and public inquiries, and handled over

100 direct contacts with current and former Members of Congress. ...

    Only 6,600 Congressional staff inquiries in a year for 535 Senators and Representatives? Considering the number of people having problems with Social Security that sounds quite low to me. Sounds like our members of Congress need to hear more from their constituents about the sorry state of service at Social Security.

Death And The Disability Insurance Benficiary

    From “How Does Mortality Among Disability-Program Beneficiaries Compare with That of the General Population? A Summary of Actuarial Estimates":

The mortality of DI [Disability Insurance] beneficiaries at any given age is highest during the first few years of benefit receipt and declines with the number of years on the DI rolls

In recent decades, mortality of DI beneficiaries during the first year of benefit receipt has declined at a faster rate, compared with the general population and DI beneficiaries at 10+ years of benefit receipt

Despite longevity gains, the mortality of DI beneficiaries in any time period, at any age, and at any benefit duration is substantially higher, relative to the general population.

What's It's All About

     From the just issued Spring 2022 Semiannual Report to Congress by Social Security's Inspector General: 

... Section 1129 of the Social Security Act, as amended, authorizes a [Civil Monetary Penalty] ... against anyone who: (1) makes a false or misleading statement to SSA to obtain or retain benefits or payments; (2) receives benefits or payments while withholding disclosure of a material fact; or (3) wrongfully converts a beneficiary’s payments while acting as a representative payee. We are authorized to impose penalties of up to $8,708 for each false or misleading statement, material omission, or conversion. Violators may also be subject to an assessment, in lieu of damages, of up to twice the amount of any resulting overpayment or conversion.  

During this reporting period, we resolved 55 Section 1129 cases and imposed $2,860,957 in penalties and assessments resulting from Section 1129 violations. ...

    If you've wondered why the Inspector General might have over penalized Social Security claimants who may have been less than truthful with Social Security, here's what it was all about. Pumping up this number to impress Congress. Doesn't seem worth it, does it?

What Do You Think?

     From Bloomberg Opinion:

... Even if private-sector employers see benefits in allowing workers to maintain hybrid work arrangements, the standard for public servants is different. Remote work hobbles the ability of government officials to collaborate, respond nimbly to crises, and forge consensus on policy goals. Because taxpayer funds will be spent maintaining federal buildings regardless, it also wastes money and worsens voters’ cynicism about government. ...