By Mike Hinshaw

Normally, we don’t post about issues that are outside the realm of most U.S. citizens or family members who may have a legit claim to disability payments.

However, in today’s first case, we make an exception. Then we look at more trouble for SSDI recipients in California.

The first case concerns those miners from Chile, who were wildly cheered throughout the U.S. every time another one of them popped to the surface in that German-made rescue device.

Four of the the 33 have lost their disability payments.

But apparently they’re not victims of some nefarious scheme or bumbling bureaucracy.

Medical review appointments missed

Nope, their own fame did them in, via invitations abroad, which led to their missing scheduled medical review appointments.

According to a Dec. 31 piece at Inquirer.net:

Omar Reygadas, Edison Pena — who practiced for the New York City marathon while trapped deep underground with his colleagues — Dario Segovia and Carlos Bugueno lost their medical leave payments, officials said.

“Article 33 of the work accident law clearly states that if the worker does not comply with medical instructions, he will be suspended from the allotted payments,” said Jorge Diaz, medical director for the Chilean Insurance Association (ACHS), which is treating the miners.

After their 69-day ordeal deep in the San Jose mine, many of the miners traveled abroad to tell their story, preventing them from attending their required checkups.

Reygadas, who has since dedicated his time to delivering motivational speeches, criticized the move, saying most of his colleagues have yet to recover psychologically.

Earlier this month, according to the article, 14 of the men were reviewed and declared fit to return to work.

Governor’s furloughs: delays without benefit?

We’ve covered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s various run-ins with disability and workers’ comp programs before (here’s one, from November).  Now, a Dec. 27 piece at Contra Costa Times describes how the governor’s furlough practices have caused delays for SSDI recipients, without generating benefits to the state in return. Worse, the furloughs may continue even after the Guv’nater leaves office in a few days–with approval ratings barely above 30 per cent.

Former rail-yard worker waits almost four years

The Contra Costa piece reports that former rail-yard worker Grant Sterling began suffering symptoms of a heart condition in June 2006, painful enough to keep him from working. So he began the application process for Social Security Disability Insurance that same month.

He began receiving payments in March–almost four years later. According to the CC Times:

Part of that long delay was that applying for disability benefits is a complicated process that requires plenty of doctor visits and paperwork. But another part was that, for more than a year, the state workers who go through disability applications were ordered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to take two or three unpaid days off each month.

That’s a practice that disability advocates say has hurt disabled workers and state employees but hasn’t helped the state. But it’s a practice that could continue, although to a lesser degree, after Schwarzenegger leaves office.

“As of Nov. 30 of this year, 84,000 initial applications for SSDI have been delayed” because of the furloughs, said Dan Allsup, communications director for Allsup Inc., a firm specializing in SSDI claims. “That’s more than $23 million in monthly benefits that have been held up.”

In December 2008, amid a state budget crisis, Schwarzenegger ordered most California state employees to take two unpaid days off each month. In June 2009, he ordered a third furlough day per month.

SSDI workers were not paid by state

Here’s the really hinky part: among those affected by the furloughs were the state workers in the Department of Social Services’ Disability Determination Service Division, which are those who handle applications from people like Sterling. Well, they’re not paid by the state; they’re paid by federal funds.

Says the CC Times, ” ‘The state of California never saved any money by furloughing those employees,’ said Lowell Kepke, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration’s San Francisco office. ‘That has been brought up to the governor’s office and it was never changed.’

“The furloughs are now down to one day per month rather than three, but the Social Security Administration still has a backlog of about 30,000 applications. For now, the administration is sending about 1,400 applications per week to processors in other states.”

New contract would be required

The Social Security Administration has contacted Jerry Brown, who gets sworn in on Monday, asking for assurances that SSDI processors will be no longer exposed to state furloughs, freezes or overtime limitations.

But, according to the article, “Brown spokesman Evan Westrup pointed out that the once-per- month furloughs are now part of a new contract between the state and the union representing SSDI processors and that undoing those furloughs could require renegotiating that contract.”