Happy 4th Of July!

Maybe We've Gotten Carried Away By The Whole Idea Of Rehabilitation

     The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has put out a report with the title Employment For People With Disabilities: Little Is Known about the Effectiveness of Fragmented and Overlapping Programs. Here is an excerpt:

GAO identified 45 programs that supported employment for people with disabilities in fiscal year 2010, reflecting a fragmented system of services. The programs were administered by nine federal agencies and overseen by even more congressional committees. All programs overlapped with at least one other program in that they provided one or more similar employment service to a similar population—people with disabilities. ...[A]mong six selected programs that only serve people with disabilities—including the Department of Education’s Vocational Rehabilitation program and the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work program—officials cited more consistent coordination. Most (32) of the 45 programs surveyed tracked at least one employment-related outcome measure for people with disabilities, but overall little is known about the effectiveness of these programs.

      I wonder if Congressional fascination with rehabilitation is in a sense a defense mechanism. We want to believe that even if we get sick that we can find a way to make life go on as before. We are too eager to believe that there is no health obstacle too big to overcome. We desperately want to believe that illness or injury won't take away from us things that we hold dear and for many people that includes work.

New 1695 Problem

     The form 1695 is the form that an attorney submits to Social Security that allows for direct payment of fees. The form includes the attorney's Social Security number. Social Security's current policy is to include this form in the claimant's file but to obscure the attorney's Social Security number. I have two problems with this. First, some disability files are still paper. Non-disability files are always paper. I don't think that marking through the attorney's Social Security number will completely obscure the attorney's Social Security number if one has access to the paper form. Second, and more important, many attorneys who represent Social Security claimants work for law firms. An attorney who works for a law firm must include the firm's Employer Identification Number (EIN) on the 1695. The EIN looks exactly like a Social Security number and functions much like a Social Security number. It is personally identifiable information -- so long as we accept that a corporation is a person. It is certainly corporately identifiable information and could be used for criminal purposes. It might be possible for Social Security employees to use the EIN to access data in Social Security's records on payments of fees to law firms.

     We need a better process. These EINs should not be left exposed and the attorney Social Security numbers in paper files need to be better protected.

AFGE Members Ratify Contract With SSA

     The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union that represents most Social Security employees, has announced that its members have ratified the new contract that its leaders negotiated with the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Social Security Saved IBM

     Wired Enterprise has a fascinating piece on Social Security's crucial role in IBM's history. In short, the story is that IBM management thought that the Great Depression would be a short term event. They kept expanding staff and building inventory. This mistake might have caused IBM to go under but for the creation of Social Security. The new agency needed data processing machinery -- at that time card reading collators -- in a big way to keep track of F.I.C.A. contributions. IBM was the only company ready to do the job. The Social Security contract saved IBM. The 80 column punch cards developed by IBM for Social Security became an industry standard for 45 years. Those collators that were essential for Social Security and which allowed IBM to survive and eventually thrive were first shipped 75 years ago this month.

Philippines Ahead Of U.S. In Internet Access To Social Security Records

    The Republic of the Philippines appears to be ahead of the U.S. Social Security Administration in allowing internet access to Social Security records. Sign-on is easy. Security may not be up to U.S. standards but their system allows anyone with an account access to information about their contributions, work history and claim status.

A Minor Question

     I know that there is a ticker running across the top or bottom of the screens of computers on the Social Security newwork giving in-house information -- usually something like news that some data functionality is down or some field office is temporarily closed due to a water main break. Did news of today's Supreme Court action on Obamacare run across this ticker?

Obamacare Constitutional

     Those who predicted that the Supreme Court would hold the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare) constitutional have been proved correct. This dramatic expansion of health care coverage -- most of it coming in about two years -- will be of dramatic benefit to Social Security disability claimants.

     Update: Because of Chief Justice Roberts' opinion, it may be possible for states to opt out of providing the additional Medicaid coverage to millions of people provided for in the Affordable Care Act. Would they? My guess is that after sober reflection Republican governors and legislators will decide not to opt out since opting out would cause states to lose billions of dollars of health care funding. I think that doctors and hospitals will lobby hard for states to accept the additional Medicaid coverage. We'll see.
     Better medical care cuts both ways for the Social Security disability programs. People who receive adequate medical care are less likely to become disabled. Those who are disabled despite adequate medical care will have better proof of their disability.