The Associated Press reports that the trustees for the Social Security and Medicare trust funds have shortened the life of these two trust funds.

The annual checkup by the trustees said that the Medicare hospital insurance fund will now be exhausted in 2024, five years earlier than last year’s estimate. While the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in 2036, one year earlier than before.

The trustees for the trust funds said in their annual report that this has been caused by the worsening economy and they emphasized the need for Congress to make changes to avoid disruptive consequences in the future for millions of people who depend on Medicare & Social Security Benefits.

For over seventy-five years, Social Security has provided hundreds of millions of Americans with an economic safety net. As the baby boomers retire and reach their disability-prone years, Social Security’s workloads continue to grow. In addition, the economic downturn has greatly increased the demand for our services. Despite this dramatic growth in our work, through increased employee productivity, new initiatives, and improved funding we have reversed a trend of declining service and an increasing backlog in our disability workloads.

The President’s budget request of $12.522 billion for Social Security’s administrative expenses will allow us to maintain staffing in our front-line components, fund ongoing activities, and cover our inflationary increases. It will allow us to reduce our hearings and initial disability claims backlogs, and to continue to reverse the decline in our program integrity work. Program integrity work not only pays for itself, but also produces considerable savings to the taxpayers.

Full funding by Congress of the President’s budget request is critical. This budget request is the minimum the agency needs to continue to reduce key backlogs and to increase deficit-reducing program integrity work. It will allow us to build on the considerable progress we have achieved, progress that is vital to the millions of people who depend on our services and to the American taxpayer.

For more information about the President’s 2012 budget request for Social Security, visit www.socialsecurity.gov/budget.

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, announced that the agency is submitting legislation to Congress that would prohibit states, without the Commissioner’s prior authorization, from reducing the number of state personnel who make disability determinations for Social Security or the hours they work below the amount the agency authorizes.

“It is long past time that states end these unconscionable furloughs and hiring freezes that needlessly harm citizens with disabilities,” Commissioner Astrue said. “States realize no fiscal savings whatsoever from these actions and this legislation would prevent needless delays in the disability determination process. I am grateful for the President’s support and urge Congress to move quickly to help us make this provision the law of the land.”

More than a dozen states have implemented furloughs and hiring freezes that affect the federally paid state workers who make disability determinations for Social Security. The state agencies that employ these workers in their disability determination service (DDS) components receive 100 percent of their funding from the Federal government. Accordingly, states do not save any money by imposing furloughs and hiring freezes on federally funded employees. Rather, they slow benefits to some of the most vulnerable citizens – for example, furloughs in California in fiscal year 2010 delayed payment of over $11 million in benefits to more than 40,000 citizens with disabilities. State-imposed furloughs and hiring freezes also reduce state income tax revenue and increase unemployment in the state.

“The members of Local 1000 have always believed that furloughing federally funded positions doesn’t make economic sense and that has been proven in California during these past 18 months that Governor Schwarzenegger has imposed furloughs on state employees,” Yvonne Walker, President of Service Employees International Union Local 1000 said. “I applaud Social Security for initiating legislation that would prevent further bad economic policy from going forward. This provision will not only help DDS workers, but the claimants who rely on the services our members provide.”

“We commend the Commissioner for his forceful and dedicated leadership in taking this bold action,” said Susan X. Smith, President of the National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE). “Our members are witness to the impact the current economic recession has had for disabled citizens and we are working hard to meet the dramatic increase in claims for benefits. These furloughs further compound the problems faced by disabled citizens by creating unnecessary delays in the processing of their claims. NADE urges quick action with regards to this legislative proposal.”

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act the first member of the House of Representatives with quadriplegia presided over the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., was the first person using a wheelchair to take the helm of the House. The opportunity was possible because of recent alterations to the House Speaker’s platform making it wheelchair accessible through a series of lifts.

“I have long said that I may be the first quadriplegic to serve in Congress, but I won’t be the last,” Langevin, a five-term congressman, said in a statement. “This is an extremely proud moment for me and helps renew my spirit as we continue to remove barriers and strengthen the ADA for millions of Americans with disabilities in the decades to come.”

Republican-held Congress might look to raise the retirement age to 70, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) suggested Monday June 28. Boehner, the top Republican lawmaker in the House, said raising the retirement age by five years, indexing benefits to the rate of inflation and means-testing benefits would make the massive entitlement program more solvent. “We’re all living a lot longer than anyone ever expected,” Boehner said in a meeting with the editors of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “And I think that raising the retirement age — going out 20 years, so you’re not affecting anyone close to retirement — and eventually getting the retirement age to 70 is a step that needs to be taken.” The GOP leader said Social Security was the most important entitlement to reform, though he also pledged Republicans would bring legislation to the floor to repeal and replace the health care reforms passed earlier this year if the GOP wins back control of the House this fall.

Source: The Hill (June 29, 2010)

The Congressional Budget Office determined it will pay out more in Social Security benefits in 2010 than it will receive in taxes. Social Security benefits are paid to senior citizens that are retired and those with disabilities funded by a federal deducted tax from payroll. This has never happened before, and was predicted to not happen until 2016. The Social Security administration blames the current recession as the main cause for this deficit taking place. More than 15 million Americans are out of jobs. With less people working, there are less paychecks being taxed, and therefore, less revenue for the Social Security Administration. However, the administration says this will not affect benefits for 2010.

Since the 1980s, analysts have been trying to predict when the social security system would go into deficit. Most predicted it would take place somewhere between 2016 and 2020. Now we know it is happening now.

Pending Cases Drop Below 700,000; Processing Time Down 72 Days

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, announced that the number of disability hearings pending stands at 697,437 cases — the lowest level since June 2005 and down more than 71,000 cases since December 2008, when the trend of month-by-month reductions began. In addition, the average processing time for hearing decisions has decreased to 442 days, down from a high of 514 days at the end of 2008.

“We have decreased the number of hearings pending by almost 10 percent over the last 14 months and cut the time it takes to make a decision by nearly two and a half months. This remarkable progress shows our backlog reduction plan is working,” Commissioner Astrue said. “With ongoing support from the President and Congress as well as the efforts of our hardworking employees, I am confident the hearings backlog will continue to diminish.”

Social Security has actively addressed the hearings backlog and increased the capacity to hold more hearings. The agency hired 147 Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) and over 1,000 support staff in 2009, and has plans to hire an additional 226 ALJs this year. The agency now has four National Hearing Centers to help process hearings by video conference for the most hard-hit areas of the country. The agency also has aggressive plans to open 14 new hearing offices and three satellite offices by the end of the year. The first of these offices was opened in Anchorage, Alaska on February 19, 2010.

Data from the U.S. Census is used to assign congressional seats to states, and it directly affects how more than $400 billion per year in federal funding is distributed to state, local and tribal governments. Accurate counts impact several important programs and services that are critical to the disabled community.

Here is what the census means for people with a disability:

* Helps state and county agencies plan for eligible recipients under the Medicare, Medicaid,and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs.

* Distributes funds and develops programs for people with disabilities and the elderly under the Rehabilitation Act.

* Distributes funds for housing for people with disabilities under the Housing and Urban Development Act.

* Allocates funds for mass transit systems to provide facilities for people with disabilities under the Federal Transit Act.

* Awards federal grants, under the Older Americans Act, based on the number of elderly people with physical and mental disabilities.

* Allocates funds to states and local areas for employment and job training programs for veterans and disabled veterans under the Job Training Partnership Act, Disabled Veterans Outreach Program.

* Ensures that comparable public transportation services are available for all segments of the population under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Associated Press – The Social Security Administration makes it official Thursday: There will be no cost of living increase for Social Security recipients next year, the first year without one since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975.

The announcement comes as President Barack Obama and key members of Congress call for a second round of $250 payments to more than 50 million seniors, veterans, retired railroad workers and people with disabilities.

The payments would be equal to about a 2 percent increase for the average Social Security recipient. The cost: $13 billion.

Obama called on Congress Wednesday to approve the payments, and several key members of Congress said they would.

“This additional assistance will be especially important in the coming months, as countless seniors and others have seen their retirement accounts and home values decline as a result of this economic crisis,” Obama said in a statement.

Blame falling consumer prices for no automatic increase next year. By law, Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is pegged to inflation, which was negative this year, due largely to falling energy costs.

The $250 payments would go to Social Security recipients as well as those receiving veterans benefits or disability benefits, railroad retirees and retired public employees who don’t receive Social Security. Recipients would be limited to one payment, even if they qualified for more.

Obama said he would not allow the payments to come out of the Social Security trust funds and further erode the finances of the retirement program. Social Security already is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in each of the next two years.

However, Obama did not offer any alternatives to finance the payments. A senior administration official said Obama was open to borrowing the money, increasing the federal budget deficit. The official, who requested anonymity, was not authorized to speak on the record.

The $250 payments would match the ones issued to seniors earlier this year as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Those, too, were financed with borrowed money.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he supports sending out another round of payments, as did Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over Social Security in the House.

Other lawmakers said Social Security recipients shouldn’t get the extra payments because the formula doesn’t call for it.

“I think it would be inappropriate,” said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. “The reason we set up this process was to have the Social Security reimbursement reflect the cost of living.”

Social Security payments increased by 5.8 percent in January, the largest increase since 1982. The big increase was largely because of a spike in energy costs in 2008.

Inflation has been negative this year as gasoline prices have dropped 30 percent and overall energy costs have dropped 23 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Social Security payments, however, cannot go down. The average monthly Social Security payment for all Social Security recipients is $1,094.

For the first time in more than three decades, recipients of Social Security benefits (including Social Security Disability benefits) will not get any increase in their benefits next year, federal forecasts show.

A bill that would create tax-deferred savings accounts for people with disabilities has been introduced in the House and Senate.  If passed, the new legislation would allow family members, friends, or a person with disabilities to place up to $500,000 of funds into an “ABLE” (Achieving a Better Life Experience) account that functions much like an IRA or 529 College Savings Account, with the income generated by the account accumulating without taxation.
Under the proposed legislation, the accounts will be initially available only to individuals who qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. The accounts would be titled in the name of the SSI beneficiary, but funds up to $500,000 placed in such accounts will not qualify as available resources and will not prevent a beneficiary from continuing to receive benefits. Furthermore, distributions from the accounts, so long as they are made for the benefit of the person with disabilities, will not count as a part of their income for purposes of SSI.

According to a press release from Sen. Bob Casey’s (D-PA) office, anyone will be able to transfer money into an ABLE account and rollovers from other accounts will be possible. Like an IRA, the funds in an ABLE account will accumulate tax-free interest during the beneficiary’s lifetime. Finally, should someone become disabled later in life, he would be allowed to roll over a previously existing IRA or 529 account into an ABLE account in order to qualify for benefits.

Hundreds of thousands of Social Security disability (SSDI) claimants are waiting up to three years for a resolution of their disability appeals, according to a article in the New York Times. During the long wait for an appeals hearing, more and more claimants are losing their homes, filing for bankruptcy, dying from their illnesses or even committing suicide. The average wait now exceeds 500 days, and the backlog of cases numbers 755,000; in 2000 the wait was 258 days and the backlog was 311,000 cases. The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) plan to hire 150 appeals judges to tackle the backlog is caught in the showdown between Congress and the White House over domestic appropriations. President Bush proposed a $9.6 billion budget for the SSA for fiscal year 2008, but an additional $100 million is needed to hire more SSA judges. Congress had approved an increase of $275 million for the SSA in November, but Bush vetoed the bill that included the increase. If the standoff continues and the government operates through continuing resolutions, the SSAA’s spending will remain at last year’s level, which would not only scuttle the plan for new judges but conceivably lead to furloughs, according to SSA Commissioner Michael A. Astrue. The increased backlog in appeals over the last decade is the result of litigation, funding shortages, and the rising number of SSD applications from baby boomers in their 50s and 60s. About 2.5 million disability cases are filed each year, two-thirds of which are denied initially by state agencies based solely on the documentary record. Most claimants give up at that point or after their request for local reconsideration is denied. But two-thirds of the more than 575,000 claimants who appeal eventually win reversals after a hearing before an SSA judge. Federal officials predict that the lack of additional judges will mean even longer waits and more personal hardships for claimants. The long delays are also a strain for state welfare agencies that provide cash assistance to some SSD claimants during their long wait for an appeals hearing. Like his predecessors, Commissioner Astrue has promised faster decisions. He indicated that the SSA has begun a process for the speedier initial approval for claimants who are clearly eligible and that more hearings are being held by video. But indications are that there will be no significant impact on the backlog without major increases in funding, judges, and support staff.