FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact (202) 225-9263
October 14, 1999
No. SS-8
Congressman E. Clay Shaw, Jr., (R-FL), Chairman, Subcommittee on Social Security and Congresswoman Nancy Johnson (R-CT), Chairman, Subcommittee on Human Resources, Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittees will hold a joint hearing on the Social Security Administration's management of its disability caseload. The hearing will take place on Thursday, October 21, 1999, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m.
In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), representatives from the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), organizations representing disability examiners, Social Security caseworkers and applicants, and disability benefit recipients. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
Social Security's disability programs help protect workers and their families against financial hardship due to disabling conditions that prevent them from working. The number of Social Security disability beneficiaries rose from 4.1 million in 1989 to 6.4 million today, an increase of 56 percent; disabled Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients grew from 3.1 million in 1989 to 5.3 million today, or 71 percent. Accompanying this rise has been an equally noteworthy surge in waiting periods for accessing benefits. Two-thirds of claimants filing an appeal eventually received a favorable decision, indicating potential problems with either initial or appellate decisions and raising questions about the fairness and efficiency of the process.
In response to such concerns, in 1994 SSA announced a fundamental overhaul of the process it uses to determine if claimants are eligible for disability benefits. Thus, SSA has undertaken several key initiatives involving initial workload processing, Office of Hearings and Appeals workloads, and including a new Hearing Process Initiative, and Appeals Council workloads. Following release of its initial plan, SSA issued a scaled-back plan in 1997. According to a March 1999 GAO report, "while SSA has made some progress. . .even with its scaled-back plan, SSA has been unable to keep its redesign activities on schedule and to demonstrate that its proposed changes will significantly improve the claims process."
At the same time, the number of continuing disability reviews conducted by SSA has grown rapidly. SSA processed nearly 1.4 million periodic reviews in 1998, the largest number ever and more than twice the number performed in 1997. While these reviews will result in significant savings over time, the sheer volume of reviews, their accuracy, and how they mesh with SSA's other disability program responsibilities are matters of interest to the Subcommittees.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Shaw stated: "Ensuring that American workers who experience a disability have all the protection they paid for is a core function of the SSA. While caseloads have grown, so have waits to get on the rolls. This hearing will help us determine whether SSA is taking steps to ensure that disabled workers get the benefits they deserve in a fair and timely fashion."
Chairman Johnson stated: "The SSI program, which is so important to many disabled recipients, needs an administrative system that strikes a balance between timely processing of beneficiary claims and ensuring adequate safeguards against fraud and abuse. Testimony from this hearing will provide useful information about SSA's plans to improve disability services."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The hearing will focus on SSA management of the Social Security Disability Insurance and SSI program caseloads, including the ability of SSA's disability redesign plan and hearing process initiative to address concerns regarding initial, appeals, and continuing disability determinations.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Thursday, November 4, 1999, to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may deliver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Subcommittee on Social Security office, room B-316 Rayburn House Office Building, by close of business the day before the hearing.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.
The
Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with
disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please
call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event
(four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to
special accommodation needs in general (including availability of
Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the
Committee as noted above.