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Rehabilitation agency chief testifies
before House panel
By ALAN BERNSTEIN
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle
The Texas Rehabilitation Commission's chief
told state lawmakers Wednesday that he is
working to change the state's status as the
least likely place in the nation for sick and
injured people to be approved for Social
Security disability insurance payments.
"We are hoping to move up to the
national average," said Vernon M.
"Max" Arrell, commissioner of the
agency, which makes the initial decision on
whether the benefits should be paid.
But an agency spokesman said it is too
early to come up with any plans to reform the
Texas disability application process.
Arrell spoke to the Texas House
Appropriations Committee, which favors state
Rep. Garnet Coleman's amendment that requires
the commission to report every three months
about its disability approval rates and how
they compare with rates in other states and
the nation.
Coleman, D-Houston, said he added the
reporting requirement in response to a Houston
Chronicle series of articles about obstacles
facing the 7,000 people every year in
Southeast Texas who seek the benefits. He had
already filed an amendment that would require
such reporting in a similar program for
low-income Texans.
In the year period that ended in September,
Texas granted 31 percent of applications for
disability benefits, lowest in the nation and
well below the national average of 45 percent,
according to the Social Security Advisory
Board. People who appeal their decision after
being denied by the state agency get a hearing
before a Social Security administrative law
judge. The 15 judges in the Houston area grant
appeals less often than their counterparts
across the state and the nation, the Chronicle
reported.
The advisory board, created by Congress to
monitor the Social Security Administration,
said there is no single explanation for why
the national program is interpreted so
differently across the country.
Arrell presented slightly different figures
Wednesday about the rate at which his agency
approves the initial applications.
He said the Rehabilitation Commission
granted 29 percent of the applications as of
September, and that figure has risen to 34.1
percent, virtually even with the 33.9 percent
rate in the five-state region.
He said he is consulting with the Social
Security Administration and U.S. Rep. Lloyd
Doggett, D-Austin, a member of the House
Subcommittee on Social Security, about ways to
raise the rate.
Rehabilitation Commission spokesman Glenn
Neal said any changes must wait until the
agency finds the reasons for its low national
rank.
"We don't have an answer just
yet," he said.
Coleman said the answer may lie in how the
agency decides whether people are disabled.
In states where the approval rates are
high, he pointed out, most of the decisions
are based on whether people can perform the
jobs for which they are trained. But in Texas
and other nearby states, he said, more than
half the decisions are based on whether people
are generally disabled by their medical
conditions. The difference between the
"vocational test" and the
"medical test" may explain the gap
between state approval rates, he said.
"The trend (in other states) has been
... looking at the whole person" and not
just their medical records, Coleman added.
Dave Ward, deputy commissioner of the
Rehabilitation Commission, told Coleman the
agency tries to take both factors into
account.
The Social Security Administration has said
Texas has a low approval rate because it has a
high number of people in injury-prone,
blue-collar jobs who are unfamiliar with
disability rules.
Coleman expressed doubts about the
explanation.
"I think it requires a little more
looking into," he said.
He also emphasized that disability
insurance benefits are not a welfare program
because people apply based on how much they
paid into the Social Security system through
payroll taxes.
The average monthly payment for disability
benefits is $755.
Four U.S. House members say they will press
the Social Security Administration to explain
the state approval rates and the relatively
low odds and delays faced by Houston-area
residents who appeal.
Local residents wait more than a month
longer than the national average for a hearing
in a local system that grants appeals below
the state and national rate.
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