You Can't Always Get What You Want

     From Federal News Network:

The Social Security Administration wants to hire 4,000 new frontline workers to address a growing backlog of cases.

But with many employees citing unreasonable workloads and one of every eight SSA workers leaving the agency, the process of increasing staff is a steep hill to climb.

The fiscal 2023 budget request includes funding for workers in both disability determination services and frontline operations, not only to improve customer service, but also to ease the burdensome and mounting work that current SSA employees face. ...

    Note that this says Social Security WANTS to hire 4,000 new employees. That would only happen in the NEXT fiscal year IF Social Security gets the entire appropriation requested by the Administration which is unlikely. In the CURRENT fiscal year Social Security's workforce is actually DECLINING.

Trustees Report Released

From the just released annual report of the Social Security trustees:

...  Considered separately, the OASI [Old Age and Survivors Insurance] Trust Fund reserves become depleted in 2034, and, for the first time since the 1983 Trustees Report, the DI [Disability Insurance] Trust Fund reserves do not become depleted within the 75-year long-range projection period. ...

[T]he projected hypothetical combined OASI and DI Trust Fund asset reserves become depleted and unable to pay scheduled benefits in full on a timely basis in 2035. ...

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.