Staff testified about the ssi disability program. And the process for filing disability claims. Sam johnson chairs the ways and means subcommittee on Social Security. This is an hour and 40 minutes. Good morning to all of you. And welcome to todays hearing. On the challenges Social Security faces when deciding if a person should receive disability benefits. Since i have been chairman, we have held 18 hearings including today on the Disability Insurance program. On one topic or another. Now thats a lot of hearings. But the Disability Insurance program is too important for Social Security not to get it right. Americans pay taxes on their hard earned wages for the promise of future Social Security benefits. When the worker retires, and is unable to work unable to disability or dies. These benefits are an important part of a familys financial security. And americans rightfully expect that when they apply for benefits, if they are eligible, that they will receive them quickly. But for those applying for disability benefits, that isnt the case. Today over 1 Million People are waiting for a hearing with Social SecurityAdministrative Law judges and on the average these folks will wait around 600 days to get that hearing. Thats nearly two years. And thats after waiting almost four months on the average for an initial decision. And more than 3 months for a second look. Known as reconsideration. While not all of them will qualify for benefits, all of these people deserve an answer in a timely fashion. And for those who dont qualify for benefits, these long wait times make getting back to work even harder. With backlogs at records highs, its more important than ever for Social Security to insure the program is working as intended. The Compassionate Alliance program was created in 2008 as a way to help those with the most severe impairments jump to the front of line. But, as we will hear today, this program doesnt always work the way it should. Its clear Social Security has serious problems, when it comes to making sure people get the disability decisions as quickly as possible. But Social Security problems and the Disability Insurance program are more than long wait times. Since 2003, Social Security disability programs have been on the gao high risk list. Out dated criteria to do determine eligibility for disability benefits. While some progress has been made, theres more work to be done to modernize Social Securitys disability program. As we know more money is isnt always the answer. This year the Social Security administration received 90 million in dedicated funding to address the disability backlog. Yet, wait times continue to grow. Social security used some of this funding in much needed information technology. Improvements. That should pay dividends in the long run. The Social SecurityAdministration Must find ways to be more efficient and modernize the Disability Insurance programs. And today were going to hear about how Social Security plans to do just that. This wont be easy work. And theres plenty to do. Social security needs more than just a plan to fix this. It needs real leadership. And thats a large part of management problem. Since 2013, Social Security has had an active commissioner. In february Ranking Member lar son and i, along with our cleebs from the Human Resources subcommittee. Sent a letter to President Trump asking that he nominate a commissioner without delay. Social security needs a Senate Confirmed commissioner. Who can lead the agency and focus on providing the Service Americans expect and deserve. Social security provides important benefits that Many Americans rely on. With the right leadership, and a good plan, Social Security can get back on the right track. But until then, this subcommittee will keep asking tough questions about how to get this done. The American People deserve nothing less. And im sure that my patriot next to me agrees to that. I thank our distinguished chairman and i certainly concur with that. And most importantly, concur in saying your continued leadership to your country and every capacity is greatly respected. And i would say that we are in agreement on a number of the problems that Social Security is set with. As you know mr. Chairman, million offense americans rely on Social Security for basic income. When they retire. Or if they are severely disabled or no longer hurt. Social security is also there to help. Widows kp children. Who have lost a parent. There is not private plan on the market simply put. That can compare to Social Security. Thats just a fact. Were living that fact currently. And the people at Social Security deserve a lot of credit. In the midst of harvey and whats going on in the devastation and the people of texas and the greater houston area, and with irma baring down upon florida now, i think its heartening to know Social Security hasnt missed a payment. On the ground Social Security has people working with the red cross and other volunteer agencies. And even in the case where people do not have electronic transfers that the theyre there to help and make sure that america gets what is americas number one program. The Social Security program. Natural disasters remind of us how important it is to fight back calls to cut Social Security. And instead come together and a by partisan way to make common sense adjustments to strengthen americas Insurance Plan and protect the benefits the americans have earned and rely on. Both the chairman and i offered comprehensive plans to address the long term shortfall in Social Security system. The americans can continue to count on the benefits whether they become disabled, or retired, or they should die prematurely. Leaving their Young Children behind. By offering while differing in our approaches, i hope we will be able to have a hearing. I keep on plugging for a hearing and in plain o, texas. With our chairman. But anywhere in the country where we will have an opportunity to let the Congress Work its will. Let the vitality of ideas come forward. We both share the same goals, we have a different path of getting there. Todays hearing is focussed on a problem of record high delays in processing disability applications. This is just simply unacceptable. And deplorable at its very core of what every day average citizens in this country have to endure. As the chairman pointed out, more than 600 days . It the number of beneficiaries have grown. As baby boomers reach retirement age. And especially after the Great Recession a number of people who lost jobs, and are scrambling for the positions. Social security operating budget in the same period of time has fallen by more than 10 . After accounting for inflation. This is made it difficult if not impossible for Social Security to serve our constituents promptly when they need help the most. Thats where i think money does matter. And that money in these budgets. So that we can get the front line people who can handle these. We have had many discussions about technology and theres been Tech Knowledge kal advances. Not on the fwragrand scale we n to address this. And nothing on the scale that will assist us in the way that caseworker can who can deal with an individual personally. Like these people are currently enduring and suffering through in houston. There are delays throughout the Social Security administration. Todays hearing is focussed on the long wait ands the chairman went over this. Of the Administrative Law judge who can decide on disability benefits appeal. These hearings are important and for first time an applicant gets to meet face to face with an examiner. In many instances the hearings are the first time the Social Security administration has the applicants complete medical evidence in hand. And the applicant can seek help from an attorney or professional which is important given how complex the law is. In this area. So far this year, the wait as the chairman under scored is 600 days. I have several constituents in my district. Im so glad shes here today. And well get to hear from her. When you find the people are committing suicide. When you find that in many cases they lose their homes. When you look at what happens to them mentally. Im talking about people that have served in our Armed Services who have posttraumatic stress. Who then find their greatest posttraumatic stress becomes dealing with the Social Security system thats there to help them. And so it is uncon shl this goes on. We have to solve the problem on behalf of the citizens. By correcting and making sure that americas primary Insurance Program for its citizens is there to provide them relief on a timely basis. I say Insurance Program because thats what it is. Citizens have contributed to this program. They deserve the best as the chairman under scored in his remarks. From this committee. Im looking forward to the testimony today. Thank you, mr. Chairman. As is customary, any member is welcome to submit a statement for the hearing record. And before we move onto our testimony today, i want to remind our witnesses to please limit your oral stadium statements to five minutes. Without objection all of the written testimony will be made part of the hearing record. We have five witnesses today. And seated at the table are acting chief of staff. Social security administration. Katherine director of education work force and income security issues. Government accountability office. Thats a mouthful. Elizabeth mclauren bureau chief iowa disability determination service. On behalf of National Counsel of disability determination directors. Maryland president of association of Administrative Law judges. And lisa heckman director of Government Affairs national O Organization of Social Security. Claimants representatives on behalf of the con source yum for the Disability Task force. Mr. Dezman, welcome. Thank you for being here. Proceed. Chairman johnson, Ranking Members and members of the subcommittee. Im acting chief of staff for the Social Security administration. Before i begin on behalf of the. Is your mike on, maam . Yes. Before i begin on behalf of the Social Security administration, our thoughts are those affected by the devastation in texas. And parts of louisiana. By hurricane harvey. We know chairman brady district in houston is especially affected by the storm. And that districts across texas like chairman johnson providing Disaster Relief services. Even though some of the field offices were closed as he said. We were on site with fema over the weekend at three sites in texas and two in louisiana. Where Social Security and sum plemtal security income beneficiaries could request immediate payment in person if they did not receive regular payment. We will continue to be on site in three locations in texas this week. And all but two of the field offices in texas have opened again. Thank you for inviting me to discuss how were taking a systemic approach to modernize the disability process and policy. We appreciate the subcommittee for its ongoing over sight of the disability program, and rejss. With over 50 years of accident peer experience at Social Security. We are serving the. And preserving the integrity of the Social Security program. We are mission focus, mission driven. In developing policy and processes. The Social Security act defines disability at the inability to engage in any substantial gainful tft due to a medically determined physical or mental impairment that is expected to last at least one year or result in death. While this definition provides the Statutory Foundation of the Social SecurityDisability Insurance and ssi income process, our management of the program is also informed by both technology and policy advances. The changes in Healthcare Delivery require us to rethink use of medical Source Information and its support blt and consistency. With that in mind the policy updates and revisions we have recently made establish the foundation for an integrated systemic approach to disability decision making. For example we have revised most of the listings of impairment criteria. After we finish the updates and fiscal 18 we will update the listings on a basis using a three to five year update cycle. Woef the expertise in place to meet the objective. We are developing an Occupational Information system. That will be the primary source of Occupational Information used in disability adjudication. We are committed to providing accurate high quality policy research in support of the initiative. And have been working with the bureau of lay por statistics which has been collecting data since 2015. We plan to implement the system in 2020. With the introduction of a vocational information tool that adjudicates use to decide claims. In january 2016, we have developed our plan to improve hearing workloads and service delivery. We updated the plan in august of 2017. To meet our changing needs. We greatly appreciate the 90 million funding that congress has provided. The plan will permit us to enhance business efficiencies such as expanding prehearing conferences. It will allow us to increase capacity by hiring additional laj. Decision writers and other support staff. The plan also supports Technology Investment in the hearing process. Such as using natural language processing to improve the quality of decisions. The quality of decisions have been a paramount to us. To this end we establish the office of analytics, review and over sight. Which will improve coordination on the adjudication process. This new office centralizes all Agency Offices that analyze data and disability programs. And conduct quality reviews of our hearings process. We appreciate gao work in assessing our kal program. Kal delivers Faster Services by making policy comply benefit decisions quickly to eligible individuals with the most serious disabilities. We are working to incorporate their recommendation to strengthen the kal program. For example we have updated our web site to be more transparent. And to include useful information for advocates to submit conditions. Kal will be the focus of a november National Disability forum. We are looking forward to holding out reach meetings again with an eye to improving how we communicate about the policies and updates. We are enhancing our internal processes as well to develop and update kal conditions. Including development enhancements to give us more flexibility for program. Thank you for your interest in discussing disability with us. Serve the most vulnerable segment of our society. Moving forward we are and will continue to be mission driven. Mission focussed. As we serve the millions of individuals who need our help. We look forward to continuing to work with you and the subcommittee. Thank you, maam. Youre recognized. Chairman johnson, Ranking Member and members of the committee. Im pleased to be here today to discuss the report on the Social Security administration compassionate yeah. Allowance initiative. This initiative known as kal expedites the processing of disability claims for those with certain conditions. A process that could otherwise take months. While kal has been effective and fast tracking eligibility determination for some applicants, questions have been raised about how the initiative has been impliemented. How ssa identifies conditions, for inclusion on the k