Understaffing Strains Social Security

Washingtonpost.com

By Stephen Barr
Wednesday, July 25, 2007; Page D01

Social Security is stressing out.

Staffing at the Social Security Administration will soon be at its lowest level since 1974. The number of disability claims waiting for hearing decisions is at an all-time high.

The drop in staffing and budget constraints have led to crowded waiting rooms and jammed telephone lines at many field offices. For every two field employees who retire or quit, Social Security replaces one.

"It is like a disaster here. We can't do the work we are getting," said Witold Skwierczynski, an officer of the American Federation of Government Employees who specializes in Social Security field operations.

Congress is trying to address the problems. The House Appropriations Committee has recommended that Social Security receive $100 million more than the White House requested, and the Senate Appropriations Committee has proposed a $125 million increase.

President Bush proposed that Social Security, which has about 61,400 employees, receive $9.6 billion for operations in fiscal 2008. That fell short of the $10.44 billion that the agency calculated it would need. Congress does not allow it to dip into the Social Security trust fund for administrative and operating costs.

Richard E. Warsinskey, president of the National Council of Social Security Management Associations, said he appreciates that Congress is trying to help. But, he said, the proposed budget still means that Social Security will "be kind of treading water" next year.

Social Security staffing will have declined by 4,000 positions over two years ending Oct. 1, and the proposed congressional funding should allow the agency to hire 1,000 employees in the next year, Warsinskey said.

But the new hires would make only a small dent in the workload. The agency has a huge backlog of disability claims, with some applicants waiting three or four years for decisions, Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-N.Y.) said during a House floor discussion of Social Security funding.

Employees also have been given extra work by Congress, such as making Medicare subsidy determinations for prescription drugs and imposing tighter requirements for obtaining or replacing Social Security cards.

That is on top of the agency's regular workload. On average, about 850,000 people visit field offices each week, and some wait two to three hours for help. About 68 million phone calls pour into the field offices each year, overwhelming employees in thinly staffed offices, Warsinskey said.

Partly because of budget constraints, Social Security is closing field offices that serve areas with stable or shrinking populations. Offices are closing in California, Connecticut, New York, Texas and Pennsylvania, Skwierczynski said.

Michael J. Astrue, the Social Security commissioner, has said that inadequate funding since 2001 is largely to blame for staffing and workload problems. He recently told Congress that the agency was addressing workload issues, including the disability claims backlog.

The agency's problems could become more serious in the next few years, as millions of baby boomers apply for retirement benefits and file disability claims.

And, Social Security itself has its share of baby boomers nearing retirement. About 41 percent of claims representatives, a key part of the agency's workforce, will be eligible to retire by 2010, according to the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service.

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To Dawn 3063 Thank you for the report on this type of information it needs to be posted.

I'm disabled and it took me over 4 years to get my claim processd so I have a pretty good idea of the insanity of this process.

In my opinion the solution to this problem is in those of us who are in fact disablied.

We need to start writing our Congressman and Senators once a week and let them know what's up. If these people started getting 10 million letters once a week maybe the pretend game would stop. I vote and when I write my letters to my Cogressman and Senators I let them know I vote and I let my family and friends know about this issue because they also vote.

This backlog of 750.000 is insane and there alot of people who are suffering because of this.

Be pro active Jeffn

Hi....good info from ya'll . ...thanks.` I have been writing to my congressman and my senator for about 6 months. The senator didn't bother to respond but my congressman has sent me a letter every week since I contacted him. I didn't know this but they have a special "team" of people in their local office to address the social security issues. This letter said that there has been no change in my case however, they have asked that my case be expeditied. We'll see. Thanks again for posting....this is a slow moving thread.

To Bama: You may want to check out two sites 1. My Social Security Blog and Social Security Disability Coalition there a ton on information on these sites that might help you expedite your claim. There is also a great deal of information here and it seems a lot of people, because they don't know what the rules are do not fill out the first application correctly there some good ideas here on how to do that.

I contacted my Congressman in person as there office is only a few miles from my house. I had typed up a one page summary report and had a copy of my Fully Favorable Deceicion letter witch I gave to the Congressmans aid and ask her if that was enough information as I have 4 file boxes of documentation over the last four years.

I wanted to know why this claim had not been processed and I wanted to know now no excuses. I went in the following week with some addictional information she had requested.

The third week I started calling and requesting a progess report on the status of my claim and I let them know that the Social Security office where dragging their feet on this issue of not paying my back payment.

The forth week there were 100 demonstrators in front of The Congressmans Office picketing for Health Care Reform they made the six o'clock news, so I did not call that week.

I received half of my back pay the following week. Round 2.

I know from my own experience that getting my Congressman involved in this process expedited the back payment issue and if I had not done this I would still be waiting for my back payment check.

I will be writing my Congressman and Senator once a week for the 750.000 disabled people that are waiting to go before an ALJ to have there case decided. My case should have been decided Fully Favorable 4 years ago and that was the ALJ decision after he reviewed the documentation.

Be pro active and vote and let these people know you vote and this issue of the SSA dragging there feet and not paying the disability insurance, that we paid for is not going to go away.

Hope this was helpful and don't give up. Jeffn

PS: No one wants to be disabled. I was hit by a Drunck Driver riding my motor cycle home from work circumstances beyond my controll.