Disability Blog

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2012

A report released today by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty shows that bureaucratic barriers are preventing thousands of homeless Americans from accessing Social Security disability benefits that could help them get off the street.

Social Security benefits are critical to keeping people with disabilities in stable housing through income support and health services. Unfortunately, the application process and decision criteria operates to freeze out many eligible homeless people. While up to 40 percent are potentially eligible due to physical or mental disability, only 14 percent actually receive benefits.

One key barrier is the severe restriction on the types of health care workers who can provide a medical diagnosis. Most health clinics for homeless people are staffed by non-doctors, such as nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants. If you’re poor, you won’t see medical doctors, you’ll see nurses and physician’s assistants.  But Social Security regulations explicitly provide that these healthcare providers are not “acceptable medical sources” and their opinions and diagnoses do not carry the same legal weight as a diagnosis made by an M.D., D.O. or Ph.d.

As a result, poor and homeless people’s disability claims often lack critical supportive medical evidence and are not approved–thus perpetuating homelessness and poverty.

Only allowing a doctor’s diagnosis is meant to prevent fraud and ensure only eligible individuals can access benefits. But according to the Report, this approach is inefficient and unnecessary. There are 38 percent more nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants practicing primary care today than there are doctors, and their licensing and education requirements are stringent.

Moreover, increasing access to disability benefits–and thus permanent housing and supportive services–saves money otherwise spent on expensive hospitalizations and emergency room visits. According to Improving Access, homeless people who enter supportive housing have 77 percent fewer inpatient hospitalizations and 62 percent fewer emergency room visits.

“In essence, the current policy causes long delays for homeless people while also wasting government resources,” Rosen said. “Letting these other highly-trained professionals provide a diagnosis is a common sense solution for everyone involved.”

To read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/report-denial-of-social-security-benefits-perpetuates-homelessness-2012-05-16

The Washington Post recently ran an editorial responding to those who have read about the imminent crisis in funding for Social Security — and chosen to blame it on the disabled.  But as the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives observed:

We all have a stake in seeing deserving people with disabilities get the benefits they need and have earned.

There are significant societal costs when claimants are improperly denied benefits. These costs include increased home foreclosures and evictions; homelessness; family dissolutions; bankruptcies; welfare payments; strains on Medicaid and other residual indigent health care systems from postponed care; human suffering when a claimant cannot obtain medical treatment; and sometimes even death.

Moreover, there are strains on the Social Security system that should not be blamed on disabled Americans who need support.

• The SSDI program provides income to nonelderly adults most of whom have worked in the past and have contributed to the fund-but are determined unable to work now because of a medical condition that is expected to last at least a year or to result in death.

• Many factors have increased the number of people receiving SSDI benefits: the aging Baby Boomers; increases in the number of women working; and increases in life expectancy, with more people surviving what once might have been fatal disabilities due to medical advancements.

See:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-tattered-safety-net-for-the-disabled/2012/05/12/gIQAXxt3KU_story.html

For an interesting discussion of the negative side of putting social security information, including disability benefit information, online, see:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/10/us-column-miller-socialsecurityonline-idUSBRE8491DN20120510

Two-thirds of Americans working in the private sector do not have private disability insurance, leaving them only Social Security disability as their safety net if they become unable to work.  Is it any wonder that the Social Security disability system is struggling to meet its obligations to disabled Americans?  For more, see http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/most-workers-lack-disability-insurance-survey-finds/

The best way to improve Social Security’s value is by increasing benefits to better serve the neediest workers and expanding its reach to cover workers and dependents who have been excluded.
Read more at the LA Times.

The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), which is composed of the disability examiners who make determinations on Social Security disability claims at the initial and reconsideration stages, predicts exactly that, in its Spring Newsletter. According to NADE, SSA is facing a funding cut of 9% in FY 2012. Amost 3000 DDS examiners have lost their jobs since FY 2010.

Why should we care?

Because the loss of each DDS examiner equates to a loss of work on 600 claims. That means that each of those claims will move more slowly through the process.

At the same time, the budget for continuing disability reviews (CDR) – when current benefit recipients get told that they have to prove they are still disabled or risk losing benefits – is slated to receive significant budget increases.

Does it make sense that Congress has conferred great increases in the number of CDRs at a time when the agency is not being given enough funds to review new disability claims?

The Treasury Department is phasing out paper check payments for Social Security disability benefit receipients. Starting March 1, 2013, disability benefits will be paid  by direct deposit to a bank or credit union account or to a Direct Express^® Debit MasterCard^® card account.  If a person does not make a choice by that date, they will receive payments via the Direct Express^® card.

Important things to know:

• If you are already receiving your federal benefit payments electronically, this change will not affect you.
• There are many reasons why you should switch now rather than wait for the deadline. Getting your money electronically is safer, easier and more reliable than paper checks. There’s no risk or lost or stolen checks and no need to make a trip to cash or deposit a check. Your money is on time, every time. Additionally, by switching now, you will beat the rush and avoid long waits to sign up as the deadline approaches.
•    You can sign up online any time at www.GoDirect.org or call the U.S. Treasury Electronic Payment Solution Center at (800) 333-1795 Monday – Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. You can also switch at your bank or credit union (for direct deposit only) or at your local federal benefit agency office.
• The Treasury Department recommends that you get your federal benefit payments by direct deposit to a bank or credit union account. If you don’t have a bank account or prefer a prepaid debit card, you can sign up for the Direct Express^® Debit MasterCard^®card.
• When you switch to electronic payments, make sure you have on hand your most recent federal benefit check. You will need to know the amount of your last check and your 12-digit federal benefit check number, which is in the upper right hand corner of the check. If you would like to get your payments by direct deposit to a bank or credit union account, you’ll also need your account type (checking or savings), account number and your financial institution’s routing transit number. Your account number and the routing transit number can often be found on a personal check. You can also ask your bank for these numbers.
• With electronic payments, your money will be in your bank or credit union account or posted to the Direct Express card account on payment day each month. You can count on it.
• If you have the Direct Express card, you can sign up at www.USDirectExpress.com  to get free text, phone or email alerts when your money goes into your card account.
• Beneficiaries who are age 90 or older won’t be required to make the change. Others can apply for a hardship waiver but they will be granted only in “extreme, rare circumstances.”

For more information: call (800) 333-1795 or go online to http://www.godirect.org/