The Social Security system is so overwhelmed by applications for disability benefits that many people are waiting more than two years for their first payment. In Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota and other states, the wait can be even longer.

The Social Security commissioner, Michael J. Astrue, says the delays are unacceptable, particularly for people who have paid payroll taxes for years to support the system and now are unable to work because of debilitating medical problems. Astrue has had some success in reducing a case backlog that has plagued the system for years. But a spike in new applications, linked to the economic recession, threatens to swamp the system again.

Claims typically increase in a bad economy because many people who worked despite their disabilities get laid off and apply for benefits.

About 3.3 million people are expected to apply for benefits this year. That’s 300,000 more than last year and 700,000 more than in 2008.”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5guw84_hAq02tLZCuigFPyIZg_rKwD9FJDQQG1 See story here:

“Commissioner Astrue has testified that iClaims are more accurate than claims taken by SSA employees. What he is not telling Congress is that ALL iClaims are reviewed and corrected by SSA employees before payment can be authorized. In addition, the most common error, incorrect month of election, is not considered an error under Commissioner Astrue’s financial literacy concept. Under this philosophy the client is responsible for determining the best time to begin their benefits and the SSA employee shouldn’t interfere in that decision even if the claimant’s choice appears clearly disadvantageous. This philosophy as led to many claimants making uninformed decisions which will result in thousands of dollars in lost benefits. However, since claimants can’t make errors regarding the month they elect benefits, SSA’s Internet statistics look good.

“SSA does not and will not perform audits on the Internet claims at the point they are submitted by the applicant. Instead, the claim is reviewed after an SSA employee makes the necessary corrections. This creates the illusion that the public completed the claims correctly. …

“The Commissioner announced last year that SSA’s iClaims process would allow claimants to file Internet claims without SSA employee review starting this year. SSA employees and AFGE were shocked and appalled that such changes would proceed, due to the vast number of claims that require correction before decisions about entitlement or payment amount are effectuated. The Commissioner has delayed implementation of a non‐reviewed iclaims filing process. This delay should be permanent. …

“While resources are limited and field/TSC [Teleservice Centers] staffing levels have not increased in relation to additional workloads, SSA management continues to engage in unethical behavior in processing work and measuring the amount of work completed. SSA management engages in a variety of questionable practices which are designed to enhance individual office statistical performance. Such practices include processing claims for individuals who are clearly ineligible for benefits, and padding statistics by taking unnecessary actions such as reissuing Medicare cards to every client in the office whether or not they request such cards. Systems tricks are employed by some managers to reflect inaccurate processing times in order to claim better statistical performance.”

Witold Skwierczynski, President, National Council of SSA Field Operations Locals, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) , AFL-CIO

Disabled adult children may include biological and adopted children, and sometimes even a stepchild, grandchild or step-grandchild. To qualify for disabled adult child benefits, the child must be unmarried, at least 18 years old and must have a disability that began before reaching age 22. As long as the adult child was disabled before age 22, continues to be disabled and did not work, the child may be eligible. See full story here:

1. Internet:       www.regulations.gov.  Search for docket number SSA-2009-0081.
2. Fax:             410-966-2830
3. Mail:             Office of Regulations
Social Security Administration
137 Altmeyer Building
6401 Security Boulevard
Baltimore, Maryland  21235-6401
 
(If comments are mailed, note that they must be “received” no later than March 30, 2010.)

The list previously had 50 conditions — 25 rare diseases and 25 cancers. The change adding 38 conditions is effective March 1

Here is the story:

SO now: from a Request for Comments to be published in the Federal Register tomorrow:

We are requesting your comments about our operating procedures for determining disability for persons whose drug addiction or alcoholism (DAA) may be a contributing factor material to our determination of disability. …

To provide guidance on how we interpret the DAA provisions of the Act, we issued instructions to our employees in an Emergency Message on August 30, 1996.

We are asking for your comments on the procedures we follow when evaluating DAA. In particular, we would like your opinion about what, if any, changes you think we should make to our instructions. For example, do you have any suggestions about:

What evidence we should consider to be medical evidence of DAA?
How we should evalua te claims of people who have a combination of DAA and at least one other physical impairment?
How we should evaluate the claims of people who have a combination of DAA and at least one other mental impairment?
Whether we should include using cigarettes and other tobacco products in our instructions?
How long a period of abstinence or nonuse we should consider to determine whether DAA is material to our determination of disability?
Whether there is any special guidance we can provide for people with DAA who are homeless?
Social Security’s position has been that if it is impossible to separate the effects of DAA from the effects of other psychiatric illness that the combined effect of both may be considered disabling. This situation is frequently present in individuals suffering from bipolar disorder, a psychiatric illness which has a high degree of association with DAA. A change in this policy would be of considerable importance.

Here are the links: Drug Addiction and Alcoholism; Request for Comments ,
4900 [2010-1834]
[TEXT]
[PDF]

Charles says: The talk of whether a period of abstinence should be required before a person could be found disabled is worrisome. The statute does not forbid disability payments to alcoholics and drug addicts. It merely prohibits consideration of alcoholism and drug addiction in determining disability. A person may have a raging substance abuse disorder but be found disabled due to other health problems. This has always bothered some people. They find drug abuse and alcoholism so loathsome that they believe that no one alcoholics or drug addicts should be on Social Security disability benefits even though the statute says otherwise. One interpretation of this notice is that Social Security has a desire to move towards forbidding benefits to anyone with a substance abuse problem.

Our experience is the same as that of Charles. The main thing we look for is whether, absent addiction, the person would still be disabled. In other words, getting clean and sober doesn’t cure AIDS. But it might go a long way toward aleviating depression.

There is a comment period on the proposed rules that is open until February 12. The changes are based on the presumption that advances in medical care have made diabetes a manageable condition, not one that is disabling. The current regulations allow a finding of disability in advanced cases of diabetes, where conditions such as peripheral neuropathy or loss of a limb can be attributed to the unconrtolled disease, and prevent work.

The Listings were last revised in 1985 and also cover other endocrine disorders such as pituatary disorders and disorders of the adrenal cortex. The link to the proposed regulatory changes and comment section can be found here:

Here are a few examples of the valuable Social Security datasets available today:

* Researchers can find out about the work-related experiences of our beneficiaries receiving Social Security disability benefits and give us policy guidance for our disability programs.
* The public can see information about hearings workloads and a breakdown of the types of decisions made by Administrative Law Judges.
* Researchers can study the effects of current and proposed legislative and program provisions.
* People who have requested a hearing on their disability claim can estimate the amount of time they may have to wait for the hearing to be held and for a decision.
* The public can see general information requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
To read the President’s Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, click here:

The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) system worked well for decades, but it is creaking under the weight of a growing population of people with disabilities, increasing demands on the Social Security Administration and a wave of government retirements. Social Security employees work as hard as they can to help people who deserve care, but their best efforts are only slowly winnowing down a hearing backlog of nearly 723,000 disabled Americans—including 66,000 Californians—waiting months or years to receive their rightful benefits.

The recession is making things even worse. From 2004 through 2007, application levels were stable, with the SSA processing between 2.1 million and 2.2 million SSDI applications each year. Last year, more than 2.7 million people filed SSDI applications. See article here: