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Abandon All Hope

     If you have some residual hope that a last minute deal will prevent a government shutdown at midnight, take a look at the National Review's tweettracker.

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Acting Commissioner's Broadcast E-Mail To Agency Employees

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013
12:20 PMSubject: COMMISSIONER'S
BROADCAST--09/30/13

 

 A Message
To All SSA and DDS Employees

 

Subject:  Possible Shutdown -
Update

 

With less
than 24 hours remaining to avert a government shutdown, I join you in hoping
that Congress will pass a resolution so we may continue delivering the full
scope of our services

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Social Security Plan For Government Shutdown

     I'm bumping this one up. It was originally posted Friday afternoon.

     Social Security has posted its plan for dealing with a government shutdown. Overall, the agency will furlough 18,006 of its 62,343 employees, most of them employees of the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR), with many of the rest being in Budget, Finance and Management, General Counsel, Operations

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Disability Trust Fund Doing Better Than Forecast

     The Office of Chief Actuary has released data on Disability Trust Fund operations through August 2013. As of the end of August, the Disability Trust Fund had a balance of $103.6 billion. This is down by $19.1 billion since December 2012. For the first eight months of 2012, the Disability Trust Fund went down by a $18.5 billion.
     The report sounds bad but you have to contrast the actual

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How Does The GOP Win If There's A Government Shutdown?

     David Frum's analysis of the Republican government shutdown dilemma seems about right to me. If you think the GOP is on the right track, can you explain why Frum is wrong? How can the Republicans win this one?

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Spending We Could Do Without

     From a press release:


The U.S. Department of Education and the Social Security Administration
today announced the award of $466,603 to four Minority-Serving
Institutions to conduct research in the areas of retirement security,
financial literacy, and financial decision-making within minority and
low-income communities. ...

"Social Security recognizes the importance of retirement

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Maybe They Didn't Have Any Other Income

     A recent study reveals four reasons why people start taking Social Security retirement benefits early, passing up the higher monthly benefits they could receive by waiting:

Fear of loss. People who have a stronger aversion to
financial loss also tended to say they would claim earlier.  To them,
the researchers said, a delay in receiving their benefit checks “looks
like a potential loss.

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Can't Trust Social Security's Website?

     Larry Kotlikoff, who appears on PBS's Newshour program, says that you can't trust the online advice you get from Social Security. Since the online advice he's referring to is nearly incomprehensible to the average person and what Kotlikoff thinks should be added to the online advice would make it even more incomprehensible, I don't know that this is going to matter much. What it does point

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Budget Impasse Continues

     The Speaker of the House of Representatives says he doesn't expect a government shutdown next week but also says he will pursue a plan that would make a shutdown almost inevitable. At best, nothing will be settled until Monday. In the meantime, based upon past behavior, expect the Commissioner of Social Security to be sending out a broadcast e-mail to employees either today -- Thursday --

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CR Charged With Extortion

     From the Associated Press with a Memphis dateline:


Federal prosecutors say a Social Security Administration claims
representative has been charged with illegally charging beneficiaries a
fee to process payment claims.The U.S. attorney's office said
Wednesday that 42-year-old Montrell Levelle Arnold has been charged with
two counts of bribery and two counts of extortion.

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Social Security Paying For Ads On Buses

     From the Meriden, CT Record Journal:


Ads along the side of city buses this past summer
were intended to get Baby Boomers reaching retirement age to sign up for
their Social Security benefits online.

Internet sign-ups are cheaper for the Social
Security Administration than mailed forms. The local ads are part of a
nationwide campaign to move people to electronic sign-ups and

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Health Care Exchange Widget Added To Blog

     I have added a Health Exchange widget on the right side of the page. This allows readers to get information from the Department of Health and Human Services on the Health Care Exchanges set to begin operation on October 1, 2013. There is massive confusion across the country about the Health Care Exchanges. Most of this is due to the fact that it's all new. Some of it is due to deliberate

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Man Found Guilty In Field Office Bombing

     Abdullatif Ali Aldosary has been found guilty of setting off an incendiary device outside a Social Security field office in Arizona. Aldosary is also facing an unrelated charge of first degree murder.

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Eric Conn Pleads Guilty

     Eric Conn, the flamboyant Kentucky Social Security attorney who has been featured in Wall Street Journal articles suggesting wrongdoing, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempting to give money to another person to give to a political candidate. Apparently, this was an effort to avoid limits on campaign finance contributions.

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Chained CPI As Price For Debt Ceiling Extension.?

     A Businessweek article says that Republicans want cuts in Social Security's Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA),the chained CPI proposal, as their price for extending the debt ceiling.

     I'd love to see Republican members of Congress go on record as favoring chained CPI but my opinion is that virtually none of them would vote for it. Republican members of Congress love to talk in the

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Symptom Validity Tests -- Senator Coburn And OIG Want Them

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


In a January 30, 2013, letter to the Inspector General, Senator Tom Coburn, M.D., requested we
review SSA's policy that stated it would no longer allow DDSs or ALJs to purchase SVTs [Symptom Validity Tests]. SVTs are used to determine whether an individual is exhibiting signs of malingering. ...

The Agency began

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Us Refusing Social Security Agreement With India

     From the Hindustan Times:


The US has refused to enter into a social security agreement with India, something that New Delhi has been pursuing for over a decade, which would have benefited lakhs [hundreds of thousands] of Indian workers who have worked or working there on short-tem visas.


The US said they cannot agree for such a pact as the social security
regimes in two countries are

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Social Security Agreement With Slovak Republic

     The President has conveyed to Congress a new Social Security Agreement between the United States and the Slovak Republic.

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Washington Post Article On Growing Number Of People Drawing Social Security Disability Benefits

     The Washington Post has a story today about how the number of people drawing Social Security disability benefits is soaring and it's because of the economy and because it's too easy to get disability benefits for mental illness and musculoskeletal impairments. Everybody knows that mental illness and musculoskeletal impairments aren't, you know, really real. The usual suspects, who have been

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What Happend In The Past At Social Security When There Were Previous Government Shutdowns Or Threats Of Shutdowns?

     From a February 17, 2011 e-mail sent out by head of the union that represents most Social Security Administration (SSA) employees to union members: 


I have heard that SSA is having a high level management conference call today regarding the Agency’s furlough preparations. ... In some past furloughs the Agency has closed all field offices. In other furloughs SSA has declared maintenance of

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Today's Social Security Subcommittee Hearing

     I watched the House Social Security Subcommittee hearing today on the alleged Social Security disability fraud ring in Puerto Rico. It wasn't a news packed event. Subcommittee members expressed outrage at the allegations, of course. Many Subcommittee members seemed interested in preventing this sort of thing from happening in the first place rather than dealing with it after it has happened

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Getting In Is Easier If You Make An Appointment

     From WRAL:


Police arrested a Chapel Hill [NC] man early Thursday after they said he
tried to break into a Social Security Administration office in Durham [NC]
through the building's roof.
Brendan Phillip Cannell, 25, was
being treated at a hospital Thursday for an arm injury he suffered when
he jumped from the roof trying to flee police. Authorities said he would
face several charges

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If It Doesn't Fit, You Must ...

     From KXTV:


Genevieve Catlyn Williamson Heidenreich, wants her entire married name to go on her Social Security card.

But Social Security is saying no. ...

"He said to me, 'it doesn't fit.' And I said, 'what do you mean?' And he said, 'it doesn't fit, the computer won't let me move on,'" Heidenreich explained about her visit to the Sacramento Social Security office. ...

A Social

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Acting Commissioner's Broadcast E-Mail

A Message To All SSA
And DDS Employees

Subject: Budget
Update

 

As many of you are
aware, annual funding for the Federal Government expires on September 30.  The Administration strongly believes that a
lapse in funding should not occur.  There
is enough time for Congress to prevent a lapse in appropriations, and the
Administration is willing to work with Congress to enact a short-term

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Republicans Embrace Ted Cruz's Fight -- Democrats Gleeful

     A government shutdown on October 1 looks more and more likely. From today's New York Times:


House Republican leaders — bowing to the demands of their conservative
wing — will put to a vote on Friday a stopgap spending measure that
would strip all funding from President Obama’s signature health care
law, increasing the likelihood that the government will shut down in two
weeks....

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Fewer And Fewer Employees To Get The Work Done

The Office of Personnel Management
(OPM) has posted updated figures
for the number of employees at the Social Security Administration.

June 2013 62,877
March 2013 63,777
December 2012 64,538
September 2012 65,113
September 2011 67,136
December 2010 70,270
December 2009 67,486
September 2009 67,632
December 2008 63,733
September 2008 63,990
September 2007 62,407
September

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Government Shutdown: The Only Way To Resolve The Question Of Presidential Legitimacy?

    I have hesitated to post anything about the current budget impasse in Washington. I know that one of the traditional benefits of federal employment has been job security. That's a big reason many federal employees took their jobs. Any threat to job security worries federal employees even more than private sector employees. In the end these budget impasses are almost always resolved without a

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Social Security Cases In The Federal Courts

     The federal courts have published their annual statistical report for the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2012. A total of 17,645 Social Security civil actions were filed that year. The busiest district was the Central District of California with 1,134 Social Security civil actions. However, I'd guess that relative to population the Western District of Missouri with 743 civil

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What Do You Think?

     Here is a question for readers:


Mr. Smith is found to have lung cancer. He has part of a lung removed and has radiation and chemotherapy. Soon after the cancer was discovered, Mr. Smith applies for Social Security disability benefits. The claim is approved. By seven months after he stopped work, Mr. Smith is over the surgery and the chemotherapy and radiation therapy, Mr. Smith is feeling

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Depends Upon How You Want To Look At It

     From the Chattanooga Times Free Press:


A congressional panel that earlier this year criticized judges for
lavishly awarding Social Security disability benefits might have been
talking about Tennessee.


It depends how you crunch the numbers.


Nearly two-thirds of administrative law judges in Tennessee grant
benefits to more than half the sick and injured workers who come before
them

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Here's An Alternative If You Don't Like Having The Trust Funds Invested In Government Bonds

     From Slate:



A lot of coverage of the sale of Neiman Marcus by the private equity
companies than own it to new private equity companies seems to me to be
missing what's interesting here. David Gelles at Dealbook, for example, said the buyers are "a group led by Ares Management and a Canadian pension plan."





But it's not just a Canadian pension plan. It's the Canada Pension Plan.

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Pittsburg Office Closing

     The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the Pittsburg, Kansas Social Security field office is closing.

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Hearing On Puerto Rico Fraud Allegations

     The House Social Security Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for 2:30 on September 19 concerning the recent allegations of a number of fraudulent Social Security disability claims in Puerto Rico. The hearing notice says that employees involved in adjudicating disability claims noticed that they were receiving nearly identical medical reports on different claimants. The allegation is that

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GAO Report Looms -- Actually, Now It's Here And It's Got Problems

     NBC is saying that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will release a study on Sunday (GAO releasing a report on Sunday?) saying that $1.29 billion in Social Security disability benefits were paid to 36,000 people who had too much income from employment to qualify for benefits.

     To those who deal with Social Security disability every day there is nothing surprising about this.

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Big Theft Of Social Security Checks

     Tampa police discovered about 175 stolen Social Security benefit checks, totaling $165,926, at the scene of an attempted murder. The attempted murder appears to have been drug related. Local police report that a total of about 300 checks had been stolen. How they were stolen, what the thief or thieves intended to do with the checks and what happened to the other 125 or so checks is

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Astrue's Role In Fighting Obamacare -- Also, Astrue's Own Federal Records Got Hacked

     You may have vaguely noticed that one aspect of the all out press by Republicans to prevent the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, from coming into effect is to insist that the data infrastructure for the health care exchanges is inadequate to protect our privacy. Former Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue appears to have had a role in this fight -- a role that began

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Clay Shaw 1939-2013

     Clay Shaw, a former Chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee, has passed away following a long battle with lung cancer.

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A Sad Anniversary

     Today is the 12th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Soon after that sad day, Social Security put out a special issue of its staff magazine OASIS (OASI=Old Age and Survivors Insurance), now available online. It's all worth reading. Below is one page to give readers an idea (click on it to view full size) and note that the last story on the page continues on the next page not

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When A Social Security Administrator Was A Candidate For President

"Two presidential possibilities arrive at Capital on same train.
Washington, D.C., Dec. 8. Thomas E. Dewey, who recently announced his
candidacy for the Republican nomination, and Paul V. McNutt, Social
Security Administrator, both came to town tonight on the same train.
Dewey came to attend tomorrow night's Gridiron dinner, and McNutt
returned to resume his official duties"
Library of

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No One In Congress Championing Cuts To Social Security Disability

     From the Washington Free Beacon:


Though nearly 11 million Americans are collecting disability benefits
from the Social Security Administration (SSA), and its trust fund is
expected to be exhausted by 2016, there is little desire to reform the
programs on Capitol Hill.

“I haven’t heard of any member on the Hill sort of championing
disability insurance reform,” said Chris Edwards,

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Early Days At Social Security

Punch card operators entering data from form SC-5 in 1937

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Updated Fee Payment Stats

     Social Security has issued updated numbers on payments of fees
to attorneys and some others for representing Social Security
claimants. These fees are withheld and paid by Social Security but come
out of the back benefits of the claimants involved. The attorneys and
others who have their fees withheld pay a user fee for this privilege. Since these fees are usually
paid at the same time

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Two Listings Expiration Dates Extended

     Social Security has extended the expiration dates of the Genitourinary Impairments and Hematological Disorders Listings until 2015. There is no other change.

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More On Hearing Loss

     A friend of mine, Gilbert Laden, a Social Security attorney who practices in the Mobile-Pensacola area, sent me these comments on my post about Social Security's advance notice that it is reviewing its hearing listings:


As a faithful reader of your blog and as one with a lifelong hearing loss, I
read with interest your item about the advance notice on SSA's [Social Security

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Vietnamese Immigrants Bring Class Action In San Diego Over Attorney Suspension

     From the Courthouse News Service:


Hundreds of disabled Vietnamese refugees claim in a federal class action
that the Social Security Commissioner wrongfully suspended the only
fluent Vietnamese-speaking attorney in San Diego, to retaliate for a
previous class action that claimed a Social Security judge was biased.

Lead
plaintiff Truyen Gia Phan sued Acting Social Security Commissioner

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No Peeking At The Internet While Adjudicating Disability Claims

     From HALLEX I-1-3-16 updated on August 30, 2013:


Generally, when adjudicating a claim, staff and adjudicators may not rely
on information from the Internet that has not been corroborated by a
Cooperative Disability Investigations Unit (CDIU). Further, entering an
individual's personally identifiable information (PII) in an Internet
search engine or social media network may compromise

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Happy Labor Day!

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Christian Science Monitor On Disability Trust Fund

     The Christian Science Monitor is running a rather generic article quoting a couple of right wing sources who argue that the Disability Insurance Trust fund is running out of money and that something must be done soon.

     The Christian Science Monitor certainly has a distinguished history but does it still have any influence? Who reads it other than the obvious, Christian Scientist, a

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COLA To Be 1.5%?

     The Congressional Budget Office is estimating that Social Security's Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) for this year will be 1.5%.

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