Disability Cases Pending, Pending . . .

[Guest guest]

Disability Cases Pending, Pending . . .

What gets Social Security Commissioner Astrue exercised: The

average wait for a disability ruling is up to 499 days.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022803625.html

By Barr

Friday, February 29, 2008; Page D04

Over the next decade, the Social Security Administration's workload

will increase substantially. Retirement claims will jump by more than

40 percent and disability claims by nearly 10 percent.

The first wave of 80 million baby boomers has applied for Social

Security, and boomers are likely to seek disability benefits in

greater numbers than did previous generations.

At a House hearing yesterday, Social Security Commissioner J.

Astrue said the agency may have to reinvent itself -- making greater

use of technology and streamlined procedures -- to keep up with the

boomers as well as whittle down a disability case backlog.

" Productivity alone cannot fully offset the increase in our

workloads, " he testified.

Productivity, at least among the agency's administrative law judges,

emerged as an issue at the hearing, held by Rep. R. Obey (D-

Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and its labor,

health and human services, education and related agencies

subcommittee.

The testimony raised questions about whether Social Security's 140

offices that handle disability claims are appropriately staffed and

whether administrative law judges who rule in disability cases could

be more productive.

The hearing process is one of the keys to helping Social Security

strike a balance between assisting Americans who cannot work because

of illness and need financial help, and protecting taxpayers from

fraudulent claims.

But there are enormous challenges. The number of disability cases

waiting for a decision has swelled to more than 750,000, causing

applicants to wait, on average, 499 days. Despite efforts to control

the backlog, delays have increased rather than decreased.

Most Americans seeking disability benefits have been turned down once

or twice in their states and file federal appeals with Social

Security. The agency's administrative law judges, or ALJs, award

benefits in 62 percent of the cases that they hear.

The approval rate reflects the nature of the federal hearing process.

ALJs usually work from a more complete medical record and hear

directly from the claimants, who are often accompanied by lawyers.

Although the ALJs work for Social Security, Congress has awarded them

a large degree of independence in how they reach decisions.

Astrue said most ALJs do a good job, but he made it clear he has no

power to discipline bad apples in their ranks. He said he is

frustrated by his inability to deal with " gross misconduct " by

judges, especially those accused of fraud, domestic violence and

soliciting prostitution.

Disciplinary actions brought against ALJs end up before the Merit

Systems Protection Board, which hears federal employee appeals,

resulting in months of litigation and, in Astrue's view, a " paid

vacation " for the accused. " I'm offended by that, " he said.

Astrue also said that one ALJ has not completed a disability benefit

case in seven years, and another completed only 40 cases last year --

far below the 400 to 500 cases that the agency expects judges to

finish each year.

P. O'Carroll Jr., inspector general at Social Security, said

it is that kind of performance that is having " a negative effect " on

bringing down the disability backlog. In fiscal 2006, he said, the

cases handled by ALJs ranged from a low of 40 to a high of 1,805.

About 30 percent of the judges processed fewer than 400 cases per

year, he said.

But G. Bernoski, president of the Association of

Administrative Law Judges, said the hearing process does not begin

and end with ALJs -- it also involves the 6,500 employees in the

agency's office of disability adjudication and review. He said no

judge, no matter how talented, can write 40 to 50 decisions per month

without proper staff support, and he questioned whether Social

Security will hire more aides for the judges.

After the hearing, Bernoski called Astrue's remarks about ALJ

misconduct " premature, " noting that they involved allegations. He

also said the inspector general's data could be viewed like a bell

curve, with the large majority of ALJs in the middle ranges and

highly productive.

Astrue is hiring more ALJs, largely because Congress increased the

Social Security budget last year by $148 million more than the White

House recommended. Asked by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) if he has

enough ALJs, Astrue said, " We don't. " His goal is to staff up to

1,175 ALJs, but Astrue said the minimum needed is 1,250, which he

hopes to reach in fiscal 2009.