Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that for the first time since 1999, the agency has ended the year with fewer disability hearings pending than in the prior year. Social Security ended fiscal year (FY) 2009 with 722,822 hearings pending compared to 760,813 hearings pending at the start of the year, a reduction of more than 37,000 cases. Over the same period, the average processing time for these cases improved from 514 days in FY 2008 to 491 in FY 2009.

“Our backlog reduction plan is working, and progress is accelerating,” Commissioner Astrue said. “Even in the face of a significant increase in our workloads as a result of the worst recession since the Great Depression, we have reduced the hearings backlog for nine consecutive months. Thanks to the efforts of thousands of hardworking Social Security employees and the additional funding we received from President Obama and the Congress, we have exceeded our backlog reduction goal for this year.”

To achieve its backlog reduction goals, the agency has embarked on the largest expansion in decades of its capacity to hear disability appeals. This year, the agency hired 147 new Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) and 850 support staff and plans to hire 226 additional ALJs plus support staff in FY 2010. To provide flexibility to assist the most backlogged hearing offices, the agency opened three new National Hearing Centers (NHCs) in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Baltimore, Maryland; and Chicago, Illinois. The agency also has aggressive plans to open 14 new hearing offices and 4 satellite offices by the end of next year with the first of those new offices opening in Anchorage, Alaska in the next few months.

In addition to reducing the number of cases awaiting a hearing decision, the agency again targeted the oldest and most difficult cases for processing. Beginning in FY 2007 with 65,000 cases that were 1,000 days old or older, the agency has continually attacked its “aged” cases. This year, the agency targeted 166,838 cases that were 850 days or older and virtually eliminated this entire universe of cases. The goal in FY 2010 has been reset again to eliminate cases over 825 days old.

Social Security’s ALJs also continue to increase their productivity. The agency averaged 570 dispositions (2.28 per day) per available ALJ in FY 2009, an upward trend that has continued for the last three years.

For more information about Social Security’s hearings process and backlog reduction initiatives, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/appeals.

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced the establishment of a new Financial Literacy Research Consortium (FLRC), made up of research centers at Boston College, the RAND Corporation, and the University of Wisconsin. The FLRC, supported through five-year cooperative agreements, will develop innovative materials and programs to help Americans plan for a secure retirement.

“We have a responsibility to help the public understand the role of Social Security benefits and the need for them to save as they plan for their future,” said Commissioner Astrue. “Consequently, we have launched a research initiative to better inform the public about retirement saving options.”

The FLRC will tailor materials for Americans at different stages of their working lives – new workers, mid-career professionals, near-retirees, and those who have already left the workforce – to address the different challenges these individuals face. The FLRC also will help traditionally underserved populations better understand the path toward a secure retirement.

“The consortium constitutes an impressive collection of expertise and resources with a deep understanding of issues related to financial literacy,” Commissioner Astrue said. “We look forward to building a strong partnership with the FLRC as well as with other federal agencies with similar missions. In these challenging economic times, this partnership will help Americans to solidify their financial future.”

“This year, through Compassionate Allowances and our Quick Disability Determination process, over 100,000 Americans with severe disabilities will be approved for Social Security disability benefits in a matter of days rather than the months and years it can sometimes take,” said Commissioner Astrue. “We are now looking to add more diseases and impairments to these expedited processes. With today’s hearing, we are expanding our focus from specific rare diseases and cancers to look at subgroups of much broader conditions. Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease is a rapidly progressive and debilitating disease of the brain that affects individuals between the ages of 50 and 65 and clearly deserves our consideration.”

In October 2008, Social Security launched Compassionate Allowances to expedite the processing of disability claims for applicants with medical conditions so severe that their conditions by definition meet Social Security’s standards. To learn more and to view a web cast and pdf testimonies of today’s hearing, go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances/hearings0729alt.htm.

“With the aging of the baby-boomers, we are beginning to see more, younger working Americans diagnosed with this devastating disease,” Commissioner Astrue said. “I want to thank the Alzheimer’s Association and their staff, particularly Harry Johns, President and CEO. Their help has been invaluable and many of the witnesses are here at their suggestion. Together, we hope to identify the most severe cases that can be included in our Compassionate Allowances process.”

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that the agency plans to open a new teleservice center (TSC) in Jackson, Tennessee, which will be the first new call center opened by Social Security in more than a decade. The Jackson TSC will employ about 175 people once it is fully operational.

“Social Security is facing an unprecedented wave of people needing our services as baby boomers retire,” Commissioner Astrue said. “Response times have been improving significantly, and the new Jackson TSC will help us provide even more timely service to the 60 million Americans who call our toll-free number each year.”

Social Security currently has 35 TSCs operating in locations all across the country. All TSCs take calls from throughout the U.S. and provide service via Social Security’s national toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). Live service is available from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Automated service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

More than two-thirds of the calls to Social Security’s 800 number come from the Eastern and Central time zones. Jackson was chosen as the site for a new TSC because of the additional capacity needed in these time zones to handle calls. In addition, with four colleges and universities in Jackson and several others within a short commute, the Jackson area will provide Social Security with a highly-skilled and well-educated workforce.

“Social Security consistently ranks as one of the top federal agencies to work for,” noted Commissioner Astrue. “With President Obama having called a new generation of Americans to public service, I am confident that Social Security will become the employer of choice in Jackson.”

Social Security will be working closely with the General Services Administration to facilitate the process for opening the new TSC. The process provides for open competition and normally takes 18 to 24 months to complete.

With the economy crisis taking its toll, a lot of people are now depending on the new stimulus bill, which has just been passed, to slow down the waning economy. However, since only 700 billion dollars were given to President Obama by the Congress, many say that it won’t be sufficient enough to cover the estimated 2.6 trillion dollars foreseen to be lost not only this year but also until the next one.

The newly elected President should ponder about how to improve the economy without asking for more money from the Congress and one of his options is to comfort the baby boomers that their Social Security is guaranteed to be given to them.

According to Harvard Economics professor Martin Feldstein, employees spend money while they’re working because they know that they can depend on their Social Security once they resign from their job and this gives them the assurance to spend and not worry about saving up for their later years which is a good way to boost the economy.

The only hitch to this solution is the destabilization of Social Security due to a program billionaire banker Peter Peterson is investing in. Over the last twenty years the billionaire has thought of ways to totally remove all the benefits for the elderly including Medicare and Social Security and it has caught the attention of the media which in turn tickled the thoughts of some members of the congress and senators who are now supporting Peterson and his goal. With this looming over the heads of soon to be retirees, they have no other choice but to save up in order to maintain their way of living.

To be able to help not only the economy but the elderly as well, President Obama should try to calm the minds of baby boomers by assuring them that his administration, himself included, will prevent people like Peter Peterson from cutting off their rightful benefits.

The President’s show of support is beneficial since it will not cost him anything unlike the stimulus bill plus it will help pacify the sentiments of expected retirees.

The the 70-year-old woman from Jacksonville, Alabama, fought a legal battle in 2007 for the rectification of a lower court’s ruling for her case on a long-term wage bias. For the 20 years that she had worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber. Her male counterparts were earning more than what she was earning and when she found out during retirement, the Supreme Court ruled that because her 180-day time limit had already expired then her case could not proceed.

This technicality made the Congress pass a bill under her name, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which is also the first that Obama has signed after becoming President. Although she has received numerous awards, she is still dependent on her retirement funds. This February 2, her monthly benefits from Social Security were not deposited into her bank account and her bills started piling up.

As a retiree, she frequently faces money problems. She blames this on the fact that she was not paid adequately in her job, therefore her contributions for benefits were much less. She is getting less than what she could be receiving if only she had been earning the adequate pay in the past.

The problem with her Social Security benefits started after her husband died last December. Her husband was receiving his retirement benefits from the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board and not from SS. Lilly submitted a request to transfer her husband’s request to Social Security, but a woman who handles the paperwork said that they do not put these urgent priority transfer requests” into the system every time.

Lilly Ledbetter was only 60 when Goodyear forced her out of job. Since she hadn’t turned 62 yet, she was ineligible for SS benefits at the time. She filed 4 cases against Goodyear and one of that case was because she believe that Goodyear had retaliated against her after she complained about discrimination because her male counterparts were paid more than what she was paid.