November 7, 2009

U.S. District court orders SSA to provide correspondence in alternative formats for the blind or visually impaired

Posted by Geri Kahn under Blindness, Health, Social Security cases in district court, Social Security disability hearings | Tags: , , |
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As reported on the NOSSCR (National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives) website, “a federal judge in the northern California district has ruled that SSA violated Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and its implementing regulations, by failing to provide “meaningful access” for SSA programs to all blind and visually impaired individuals. American Council of the Blind, et al v. Astrue , No. C 05-04696-WHA (N.D.Cal. Oct. 20, 2009).”

The history of this case is fairly amazing.  It has been going on for four years and involved 329 filings made either by the government or the plaintiffs’ lawyers. The Social Security Administration (“SSA”) had an opportunity to end it earlier. Last year, after the Judge ruled that the SSA had to comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, he gave both sides the opportunity to stay the proceedings and allow SSA to engage in rulemaking so as how to comply with the Rehabilitation Act.  The Social Security Administration refused and continued on with the litigation.  The judge stated in his order:

Both sides, including SSA, requested that the litigation continue with a decision on the merits. Having spurned the opportunity for a stay pending rulemaking, the agency has, in effect, consented to resolve the case by litigation, not rulemaking.

The Court ruled that the SSA has to provide two alternative modes of communication when sending out notices to people who are disabled by blindness.  The notices must be either:  1) written in Braille or  2) contained on a CD in  Microsoft Word.

And since the Judge was now making the rules, he did so. He gave the SSA strict guidelines as to when they must comply:

  • November 29, 2009, Defendants must file with the court a description of the Braille or Microsoft Word CD and plans on how it is to be distributed;
  • December 31, 2009 – the SSA has to send out notices asking claimants to elect either receipt of a CD or notices in braille;
  • April 15, 2010 – the SSA has to develop and offer either a Braille alternative or a navigable CD in Microsoft Word;
  • The SSA  has to post a notice to their website and train staff on how to deal with people who are blind or visually impaired.  They must offer to read the notice which indicates how claimants are supposed to choose between a Braille format or a CD;
  • April 16, 2010 – no social security benefits may be reduced or terminated to any individual shown in the SSA records to be blind or visually impaired (or whose authorized payee is shown to be blind or visually impaired) unless such person was first provided with the notice prescribed above and the method of notice, if any, selected by said person was followed.

This is a great result and will undoubtedly benefit many people in the future.

 

October 30, 2009

California reduces SSI payment again in October 2009

Posted by Geri Kahn under California budget, Health, SSI | Tags: , |
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As those of you already on SSI already know, your SSI monthly amount was reduced in October 2009.  The California state legislature has made a series of budget cuts to the state supplement over the past year:

  • January 2009, the maximum grant was $907 for a single person and $1579 for couples;
  • May 2009, the maximum grant was $870 for a single person and $1524 for couples;
  • July 2009, the maximum grant was $850 for a single person and $1489 for couples;
  • October 2009, the maximum is now $845 for a single person and $1407 for couples.

Disability Rights California has published an excellent question and answer booklet about California’s budget cuts to the state SSI supplement.  It answers many frequently asked questions and is quite informative.

 

October 18, 2009

SSA to soon grant attorneys access to claimants’ electronic hearing folders

Posted by Geri Kahn under Health, ODAR, Social Security disability hearings, Uncategorized | Tags: , |
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One of the most interesting presentations I attended at the NOSSCR (National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives) conference in San Francisco was a presentation by  SSA (Social Security Administration) personnel on a new program which will allow authorized representatives to have online access to electronic hearing folders.  Essentially the SSA understands that the more they can take advantage of technology and automate their processes, the easier it will be for the public to work with them.

For the past year, SSA has been working with 9 attorneys in various areas of the United States on a pilot program which grants online access to claimants’ electronic hearing folders.  They have been ironing out problems and now are ready to launch the program.  The program will allow claimants’ representatives to access their clients’ electronic folders at the hearing level only.  Eventually SSA wants to allow access at the initial and reconsideration stages but for now, they will start at the hearing level.

The program will begin in November 2009 with the official registration of the 9 attorneys involved in the pilot program.  Registration alone is a complicated process.  Because of the sensitive data an attorney will have access to,  the SSA wants to ensure that the attorney is real and licensed.  The SSA will require a great deal of information from the attorney during the registration process – identification and verification of identification (from different sources).   The good thing about the program is that once an attorney registers, he or she does not need to go through the process again.  The data will be stored and attorneys will only need to use their ID and password to access a claimant’s data.  An attorney will only be able to access the data of a claimant whom he or she represents.

All interested attorneys will have to register.  Despite having registered for other programs with SSA, this is a completely new and different process.  The SSA is rolling out registration in a staged process:

  • 11/09 – spring 2010 – registration to the 9 pilot attorneys and by invitation only;
  • Spring 2010 – open enrollment;
  • Summer 2010 – continued enrollment and automation of Form 1696 and Form 1697.

After the presentation, I inquired with one of the presenters to find out if I was on the list of invitees.  (The presenter said she had the list with her.)  I found out that I was not.  I asked her how they chose the attorneys to be on the list.   She told me that they looked at a variety of factors but would not tell me or perhaps did not know what they were.  My guess would be that they would choose attorneys with a high volume practice.  I was standing next to a well known, well respected, experienced attorney and he was not on the list either despite having been involved in initial talks with Baltimore about this program.  Oh well.   The SSA representative indicated that she was willing to take the business cards of attorneys who wanted to be invited and if those on the list did not respond, she would add them to the list.  If you are interested in this information, please contact me and I will let you know who I spoke to.  In any case, by the spring of next year, if all goes well, those attorneys that wish to, will be able to have instant access to claimants’ hearing folders.

I find it all to be very exciting and really commend the SSA on their work in this area.

 

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