From the New York Times:

The nation’s top Social Security official has sent letters expressing “grave concern” to governors who are furloughing the state workers who oversee disability benefits programs.

Michael J. Astrue, commissioner of Social Security, said such actions are delaying benefits for tens of thousands of eligible people, damaging state budgets, and increasing the backlog of claims. He called the layoffs “completely illogical.”

Claims are evaluated by state employees, but the federal government reimburses states for the salaries of those employees and pays the full cost of benefits for people found to be disabled.

“We pay the full freight,”  Astrue said. “States do not save any money when they furlough or lay off these employees. They only delay payments to disabled citizens who rely on the monthly benefits.”

Disability workers have already been furloughed in at least five states accounting for 15 percent of all disability cases — California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts and Oregon. Federal officials say another ten are considering similar actions.

Earlier post here.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 10:08 am and is filed under benefits, budget, NOT2BEMISSED, social security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.