JFActivist

SSA Announces Improvements to Ticket to Work Program, Conference Calls Scheduled

From the Social Security Administration:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is pleased to announce exciting improvements to the Ticket to Work Program. These changes were published in the Federal Register on May 20, 2008 and will go in to effect on July 21, 2008.  Check out the new regulations online.

The revised regulations incorporate SSA’s vision of the future direction of the Ticket to Work Program. SSA issued proposed changes to the Ticket Program in 2005 and 2007 based on lessons learned and issues arising from SSA’s experience in implementing the prior rules. Changes to the Ticket to Work Program demonstrate that SSA is listening, learning and responding to both lessons learned and critically important feedback from a variety of stakeholders, including beneficiaries, employers, disability organizations, advocates and service providers.

At-a-Glance Ticket Changes:

• All disability beneficiaries ages 18 through 64 are now eligible to receive Tickets.  Under the previous regulations, any beneficiary categorized as “medical improvement expected” was not eligible to receive a Ticket until a medical Continuing Disability Review (CDR) was conducted and
  his/her continuing eligibility for disability benefits was determined.
• Employment Networks (ENs) can now earn Milestone payments earlier, more often and at higher rates.
• For the first time, SSA can pay Milestone payments to ENs when beneficiaries have earnings consistent with part-time work;
• Milestone payments will be based on gross earnings, encouraging the use of various beneficiary Work Incentives.
• Total payments available on behalf of beneficiaries under the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs are now almost equal.         
• Payments to ENs and State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies can now be paid for providing sequential services for the same beneficiary.

SSA would like to thank all of its stakeholders for their valuable insights, which helped inform these important changes. In support of the rapid and seamless implementation of these changes, SSA will be offering training to those who have a role, or are interested in having a role in implementing the program. This training will cover these and other changes in greater depth.

Teleconferences:
The first of these training opportunities will be offered via teleconference on Thursday, May 22, 2008, 2:30 to 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.   This teleconference will provide a detailed overview of the new regulations and information on changes to related administrative processes such as the
procedures for submitting for Employment Network payments.  With the teleconference being set up to accommodate 500 people, there will not be an opportunity for questions and answers. Instead, participants will be asked to submit questions to SSA via e-mail to TicketProgram@ssa.gov.

The second teleconference will be Thursday, May 29, 2:30 to 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time:  This teleconference will provide a quick overview of the new Ticket regulations, go into greater detail on some of the more complex policy areas, and respond to questions submitted in follow-up to the first
teleconference.

The dial-in numbers for both calls are the same:

TOLL FREE 1-888-790-3292
Participant Pass Code: 6584093

Agendas for the teleconferences, a side-by-side table comparing selected provisions in the New Ticket rules with the old and other resources will be posted by Thursday morning on the SSA website

People with Disabilities Often Wait Years for Social Security Money

From The Dallas Morning News (April 6):

Disabled often wait years for Social Security payment
The disabled may go years from initial claim to Social Security payment

By BOB MOOS

Judith Byrd thinks Social Security has flunked its first big test with baby boomers. After losing her airline customer service job following medical problems, the 59-year-old Allen woman waited more than two years for an answer to her claim for disability insurance.

It took 26 months for Judith Byrd, suffering from constant back pain, to finally receive disability insurance payments from Social Security.

Ms. Byrd received her first payment last May after enduring what she describes as the longest 26 months of her life. The pain of her unrelenting back problems and the frustration of dealing with a government bureaucracy threw her into a crippling depression that kept her at home for weeks...

...Read more.

Insurers Faulted for Overloading Social Security

From The New York Times:

April 1, 2008

Insurers Faulted as Overloading Social Security
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

The Social Security system is choking on paperwork and spending millions of dollars a year screening dubious applications for disability benefits, according to lawsuits filed by whistle-blowers.

Insurance companies are the source of the problem, the lawsuits say. The insurers are forcing many people who file disability claims with them to also apply to Social Security — even people who clearly do not qualify for the government program...

...Read more.

Social Security Disability Cases Pending, Pending...

From The Washington Post:

February 29, 2008

Disability Cases Pending, Pending...
By Stephen Barr

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 Michael 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...

...Read the rest of this article.

Social Security: "Failing the Disabled"

From CBS News (1/15):

Failing the Disabled

ATLANTA, GA—Two years ago, 52-year-old Sherry Farner was a manager at a Denny's restaurant. But heart problems, strokes, and kidney failure put an end to her employment.

"I can't be alone, because I fall a lot. This is the hardest thing I've ever been through," Farner told CBS News chief investigative reporter Armen Keteyian. "And I wouldn't wish this on nobody."

When Farner filed a claim against a lifetime of paying into federal Social Security disability, she was turned down -- twice. Even though a rejection letter acknowledged she was severely disabled. But not disabled enough: Unable to perform work of any kind...

...Read the rest of the article.

SS Backlog Editorial in NYTimes

From The New York Times (12/11):

**EDITORIAL**

December 11, 2007
Editorial
Disabled, and Waiting for Justice

We know what is behind President Bush’s sudden enthusiasm for fiscal discipline after years of running up deficits and debt: political posturing, just in time for the 2008 election. But one should not forget the damage that his administration has also inflicted by shortchanging important domestic programs in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy and his never-ending Iraq war.

A case in point is the worsening bureaucratic delays at the chronically underfunded Social Security Administration that have kept hundreds of thousands of disabled Americans from timely receipt of their Social Security disability benefits.

As laid out by Erik Eckholm in The Times on Monday, the backlog of applicants who are awaiting a decision after appealing an initial rejection has soared to 755,000 from 311,000 in 2000...

...Read the rest.

Hillary Clinton Statement on Social Security Backlogs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 10, 2007

Contact: Press Office, 703-875-1271
press@hillaryclinton.com

Hillary Clinton Statement on Backlogs in the Social Security Disability Insurance System

“Today’s front-page New York Times story highlighting the human toll of the growing backlogs in our Social Security Disability Insurance system is a stark reminder that Congress and the President must act immediately to address this problem. I have for several years been calling on this Administration to adequately fund the Social Security Administration to ensure that people with disabilities and retirees can access the benefits they deserve. But the President has been more interested in spending $10 billion a month on a misguided war in Iraq and tens of billions each year in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans than in funding key services for our most vulnerable citizens. As a result, the average delay for individuals seeking an appeal from a disability determination has doubled since 2000 to more than 500 days. 

“The President’s recent veto of additional funding for the Social Security Administration signals an unacceptable willingness to let this problem continue to grow. His veto will leave hundreds of thousands of Americans with disabilities to suffer and even die without our support. That’s why today I wrote the President urging him to reconsider his veto threat. I asked the President to make immediately clear that he will support the needed funding increase for SSA, and will sign it into law. I hope the President heeds this advice. But if he fails to act, then as President I will act immediately to address these growing backlogs, and ensure that the SSA has adequate support to serve Americans in need. People with disabilities and retirees deserve a President willing to stand up for their interests and ensure that government is delivering—not denying—them the support they need. I intend to be that President.”   

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Social Security Backlog Makes Disability Purgatory

From The New York Times (12/10):

Disability Cases Last Longer as Backlog Rises
By Erik Eckholm

RALEIGH, N.C. — Steadily lengthening delays in the resolution of Social Security disability claims have left hundreds of thousands of people in a kind of purgatory, now waiting as long as three years for a decision.

Two-thirds of those who appeal an initial rejection eventually win their cases.

But in the meantime, more and more people have lost their homes, declared bankruptcy or even died while awaiting an appeals hearing, say lawyers representing claimants and officials of the Social Security Administration, which administers disability benefits for those judged unable to work or who face terminal illness...

 

... Read the rest of the article.