WHY DISABILITY DECISIONS TAKE SO LONG

Are you applying for Social Security disability?  Expect a long wait.  It is taking 4 go 6 months to get the initial decision.  If that decision is unfavorable, an appeal will take much longer.  In Alabama, it is taking an average of 15.6 months to get a hearing.  In the Florence ODAR office, which handles most of the appeals in north Alabama, the average wait is 15 months for a hearing.

 The Social Security disability appeal process first got seriously "behind" during Gerald Ford's administration.  It made progress, then got bogged down during the 2007-2008 recession.  Today, there are over 1 million disability cases in the appeal process nationwide.  With only about 1,400 administrative law judges working to clear this enormous backlog, hearings are still at least 15 months away for the average claimant.

Administrative law judges are quick to point out that it is not the attorneys' or representatives' fault.  It's the system.  Congress isn't helping by freezing or cutting funding.  In 2016, the massive Social Security Administration (SSA) gets the same funding that it got in 2010, adjusted for inflation, but has about 125 percent of the workload.

We too often have claimants who die waiting for a hearing.  This is sad.  

If a person is in the position of seeking Social Security disability or SSI benefits, the money is usually badly needed just to pay for housing, food and utilities.  There is no short term or immediate help from Social Security.  Hearings are generally scheduled in the order in which they were requested (filed).  You wait your turn.

There are very few ways to get a hearing scheduled sooner.  Claimants may claim "dire need" for certain emergencies, such as homelessness or inability to get emergency medical care--but it must be a true emergency and the need must be extremely "dire."  Since most claimants are in the same boat, Social Security is extremely reluctant to let anyone "cut line."

While waiting on a hearing it is extremely important to prepare the case well to offer the best chance of success.  







 
 

 

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