Personal Injury and Social Security Disability Blog

Social Security Administration Admits Challenges

In a recently announced "Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2008 - 2013" the Social Security Administration lists the challenges the agency faces. I agree with this list, although I might add a couple of items to it. The Social Security Administration's service to our clients is deteriorating, which is bad for our clients and bad for our law firm.

Many of these challenges will require additional funding to resolve. Funding has never been easy for the Social Security Administration to obtain, and now with the massive Wall Street bailout plan looming, it may be impossible to get the money required to just stay even, much less to improve. Here is the list of challenges:

•     Unacceptable hearings backlog

•     Aging computer systems

•     Complex and outdated disability process

•     Threats to computer systems and personal information

•     Geographic, generational, and cultural population shifts

•     Loss of expertise as our employee retirements accelerate

•     Increasing demand for service

•     Limited public understanding of the role of Social Security benefits

•     Increasing non-traditional workloads (e.g., Medicare and immigration)

•     Increasing improper payments

•     Limited resources

•     Infrastructure costs rising well over the rate of inflation

Friday Fun

Here's a mindless little game that I just don't have the coordination to do well. It's called Ball.

Featured Link - Family Caregiver Alliance

The Web site of the Family Caregiver Alliance is a very good resource for people who are responsibile for loved ones who are disabled or otherwise unable to care for themselves. Here you'll find articles, tips, and links to other sites. This is the mission statement of the Alliance:

Family caregiving is typically at the core of what sustains frail elders and adults with disabilities, yet caregivers often make major sacrifices to help loved ones remain in their homes. Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA) – founded 30 years ago in 1977 – serves as a public voice for these caregivers, illuminating the daily challenges they face, offering them the assistance they so desperately need and deserve, and championing their cause through education, services, research and advocacy. Long recognized as a pioneer among caregiver organizations, FCA operates programs at local, state and national levels. FCA provides direct services to family caregivers in the San Francisco Bay Area and is the lead agency and model for California’s statewide system of Caregiver Resource Centers. Since 2001, FCA’s National Center on Caregiving (NCC) has advanced the development of high-quality, cost-effective policies and programs for family caregivers at the national level and in every state in the country.

Today Is National Punctuation Day!

Punctuation is a subject near and dear to my heart, and I'm thrilled that today is officially National Punctuation Day. Visit the Web site and get all your questions about commas and semicolons answered.

Don't Get Hooked By Consumer Fraud

This article is excerpted from the portion of the Web site of the Texas Attorney General devoted to protecting senior citizens. But the information is important and relevant to people of all ages. These scams can occur in person or by telephone, but these days are much more likely to pop up on the Internet. Remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is not true.

Every day, Texans lose money to consumer frauds. It happens more ways than you can imagine. Decent, intelligent people are duped out of their life savings by smooth-talking, utterly unscrupulous crooks. These are people who will look you in the eye and lie.

You have been warned about mail fraud, telephone fraud, internet fraud and door-to-door fraud. But how will you know it when you see it? Whether they reach you by mail, by phone, by e-mail or by talking to you in person, they will give themselves away if you know what to look for. No matter what the bait they offer you, underneath it is a hook. Don’t get hooked!

FIVE HOOKS:

THEY contacted YOU. Think about it. If you look up a business and call to make an order, you know who is on the other end of the deal. With a con artist, all you know is who that person says he or she is. You are already at a huge disadvantage.

They dangle BAIT in front of you. It is almost always a large sum of money, like a prize or an easy loan, or a large income. It sounds so easy! But we all know that people don’t give away large sums of money so easily, or pay large incomes for nothing. Only in daydreams.

They want your PERSONAL INFORMATION. Anytime someone tries to get your bank account number, Social Security Number, or other sensitive information, you should automatically be on red alert. Don’t do it.

First, YOU have to pay THEM. Don’t be blinded by the promise of a large sum of money in the future. If they are asking you to give them money first, back off. It is illegal for someone to require up-front payment before funding a loan or paying out a sweepstakes prize.

You have to WIRE money instead of MAILING it. This is your last warning: if you are on the brink of wiring somebody money in order to get a prize or a loan, an inheritance or any other large sum of money, STOP! It’s a fraud. You are about to be robbed.

By mail, by phone or face to face, con artists dangle baited hooks in front of honest people every day of the week. It usually begins with an unsolicited contact from a company, individual or organization you never heard of. You do not know who the caller really is. Real lotteries don't call you to say you've won. You don't get grants without applying for them. You don’t get easy loans if you have bad credit. Real money is hard to get. It doesn't just come to you. But there are people who would like to have whatever money you have to lose. Don’t get hooked!

Featured Link - Real Car Prices

The Web site RealCarTips can be useful for anyone considering the purchase of a new car. The site lists what they say are the actual prices paid for certain new models in different parts of the country. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the prices here, but if I were about to buy a new car, I'd sure check this site first. Here's their description from the site:

1 out of 10 car buyers don't know you can negotiate down from MSRP. These buyers end up losing thousands of dollars for their ignorance. But the question remains, just how much is a dealer willing to negotiate off MSRP? We aim to answer that question by building a database of actual prices paid for new vehicles across the country. This will help prospective buyers figure out how much they should be paying for the car of their choice. If you already purchased a new car in the last 6 months, please add your info to the database.

Sleep Disorders And Social Security Disability

Many people suffer from various sleep disorders. The Social Security Administration recognizes a variety of causes for sleeping disorders including: Sleep Apnea, Bi-Polar Disorder, and Narcolepsy. 

The first listing is 3.10 for Sleep Related Breathing Disorders. Generally this will be sleep apnea. To establish a disability under this listing Social Security is looking for one of the following: A mean pulmonary artery pressure greater than 40 mm Hg or arterial hypoxemia. This listing is very hard to achieve. A better, more realistic approach is to establish functional limitations such as daytime sleepiness and difficulty concentrating. You should also undergo a sleep study to establish the fact that you actually have sleep apnea.  Remember that sleep apnea can usually be effectively treated with the use of a C-PAP machine, so before seeking disability you should consult with your doctor about treatment.

People also can have difficulty sleeping caused by psychological problems. Often, people with Bi-Polar disorder will find themselves having “racing” thoughts and unable to sleep for several days at a time. We have discussed bi-polar disorder before. For any claim based on psychological disorders you MUST seek psychological or psychiatric treatment to have any chance to prevail on your claim. Many states have laws establishing indigent mental health facilities for people with low income.

Finally, a few people suffer from Narcolepsy, which is a disease of the mind that causes you to sleep too much. Narcolepsy requires treatment from a Neurologist. It is a rare disease and must be fully documented by your doctor. It is often associated with seizures. If you think you might suffer from Narcolepsy you should contact your doctor and begin keeping a log of any seizures you are having.

New York Railroad Gives Disabled Workers A Bad Name

A disturbing story about disabled railroad workers appeared today in the New York Times. The implication of the article is that many, if not most, of the retired employees of the Long Island Rail Road are faking disability claims. The sad thing is that the Times appears to be correct. This makes claims harder to make for truly disabled workers. If the public or government agencies believe that many people are faking disabilities, they're less likely to believe the ones who really are disabled. Here's a short excerpt from the article:

Virtually every career employee — as many as 97 percent in one recent year — applies for and gets disability payments soon after retirement, a computer analysis of federal records by The New York Times has found. Since 2000, those records show, about a quarter of a billion dollars in federal disability money has gone to former L.I.R.R. employees, including about 2,000 who retired during that time.

The L.I.R.R.’s disability rate suggests it is one of the nation’s most dangerous places to work. Yet in four of the last five years, the railroad has won national awards for improving worker safety.

“Short of the gulag, I can’t imagine any work force that would have a so-to-speak 90 percent disability attrition rate,” said Glenn Scammel, long one of Capitol Hill’s top experts on railroads. “That defies both logic and experience.”

Said Dr. J. Mark Melhorn, co-editor of a book on occupational disability published by the American Medical Association: “No one has a rate that high — that just doesn’t happen.”

And it is not just engineers, conductors or track workers seeking disability payments. Dozens of retired white-collar managers are doing it as well, including the former deputy general counsel, employment manager, claims manager and director of government and community affairs.

Federal Regulations To Be Updated For Construction Cranes

The Associated Press reports that for the first time since 1971 the federal government is to update building crane regulations and will require crane operators nationwide to pass a certification test. This change by the U.S. Department of Laborfollows deadly accidents in several U.S. cities, including Houston, and serious injuries caused by crane collapses in Dallas.Here are excerpts from the story:

The draft rules will require crane operators to pass written and practical tests in all 50 states and also will require the operators to undergo more training.

The new standards aim to toughen requirements on inspecting ground conditions, the assembly and disassembly of cranes, the operation of cranes near power lines, the certification and training of crane operators, the use of safety devices and inspections of cranes.

Crane operators would have four options under the new requirements: certification through an accredited third-party testing organization, qualification through an audited employer testing program, a U.S. military-issued qualification, or qualification by a state or local licensing authority.

Just 15 states and six cities — including New York state and New York City — require the tests. Texas, which led the nation in deadly crane accidents for the past three years, does not.

Industry officials had called for months for uniform standards for operating cranes and had pushed the government to move quicker to update the standards. A final approval process will likely take more than a year.

Friday Fun

My thanks to Tom Mighell for pointing out this simplest weather forecast site in Internet history: Umbrella Today.