Waiting on a Social Security disability appeal

[ronr]

An article from msn that I stumbled upon which shows some of why the system is so broken.

Full article at:
Waiting on a Social Security disability appeal? Get in line. A very long line.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/waiting-on-a-social-security-disability-appeal-get-in-line-a-very-long-line/ar-BB9Sstr

Excerpts that caught my eye:

In an obscure corner of the federal bureaucracy, there is an office that is 990,399 cases behind.

That is Washington's backlog of backlogs — a queue of waiting Americans larger than the populations of six different states. It is bigger even than the infamous backups at Veterans Affairs, where 526,000 people are waiting in line, and the patent office, where 606,000 applications are pending.

"I had two claimants on my docket this past month. . . . They died. They died. Waiting for a hearing," said Carol Pennock, a Social Security judge based in Miami.

The waiting list at this Social Security office is emblematic of a class of terrible backlogs across the bureaucracy. Some of the others move even slower. The average case at this Social Security office will take 422 days to decide, but an appeal at the VA will take 957 days. A patent application usually waits more than 800 days for a decision.

At this first step, there are about 633,000 cases waiting for an answer. Each decision takes 109 days. By Social Security's standards, this is classified as "no backlog at all."

At the end of this step, 32 percent of cases are approved for benefits. The rest can appeal.

If they do, most of them go on to the second step. (In 10 states, applicants can skip to the third.) Another official reads the paperwork again and decides if the first official was wrong.

There are about 170,000 people waiting on this step. The average wait time is 107 days. Only about 11 percent of the applications are approved.

The rest can appeal — and demand to see a judge in person. Eventually.

By 2008, the backlog had hit 760,000, and the wait time had stretched to 514 days.

In response, Social Security decided to try a simpler approach. It would push the judges to work faster and decide at least 500 cases a year.

"How many cases could you do in a day? You know, if you've got a well-run office, you could probably do three cases a day. That's 15 a week. You average that out, it takes you to above 500 to 700 cases a year," said Michael Astrue, who ran Social Security from 2007 to 2013. He said that an expert judge should be able to handle one case — start to finish — in 21 / 2 hours. He added: "These cases generally don't take very long."

"During claimant's testimony, snoring is heard in the background. Attorney: 'I just want to put on the record . . . that it appears as though the administrative law judge is sleeping at the moment,' " read Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) during a House hearing this year. She was questioning a West Virginia judge named Harry C. Taylor and reading a transcript of a 2009 hearing where Taylor allegedly fell asleep at the bench. "No response. The [judge] apparently continues sleeping."

For one thing, the system requires most judges to read all the medical records themselves, without the help of a dedicated clerk. That leaves them digging for valuable information in reams of hospital jargon and doctors' chicken scratch.

"You look for the shape of the words. . . . It looks like, well, that could be 'severe,' and that could be 'anxiety,' " said Jessica Pugrud, a judge based in Billings, Mont. Pugrud said in an average week, she might go over 3,700 pages of medical records. She drinks five-hour energy shots on the bench so she doesn't nod off after late nights of reading.

"I've had times [where] I look at my notes, and my handwriting would get really small and trail off," Pugrud said. "So I wasn't quite asleep, but I was getting there."

Another problem in the system is the government's enormous, outdated list of all of America's jobs.

That book is the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. It lists a "web worker" as someone who repairs fishing nets (a heavy-duty job, the book says, fit only for the strong and able). Its flaws mean judges must sometimes burn extra time, asking vocational experts to look in the old book for jobs that have parallels in the modern economy.

[countryboy]

This article really shows how our system is completely eroded away and the disabled people are almost forgotten.  This is an eye opener article and makes you want to scream at someone. 

Maybe we should sent this informational article to '60 Minuets' and see if they will jump on the band wagon.

SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE !!!!!!!

[denny]

Crazy

[looneylane]

Yikes! I have been in a hearing to support folks looking for supports a time or two. What floored me was that most social workers who pledged to support people in need were the ones trying to strip supports away from obviously deserving people in need. The point was to find "positives" to use against them. It then went before a tribunal you were not allowed to be at or even your advocate. A social worker (usually the one who denied you in the first place.) represented you in the closed tribunal. You could apply to appeal the tribunal but that usually meant you had to hire a lawyer and legal aid was not allowed to represent you. Needless to say the approval rate on appeal was less than 1 pct and took well over a year and a half.

[ronr]

I read somewhere, but can't find it now, that the list of jobs includes positions like horse carriage delivery driver  and others that just do not seem to exists in our current market.

[foxgrove]

Insane!!!  Yeah, having experienced our own Canadian version of the disability system, I am totally disgusted by the entirety of the thing.  One would think that we aren't even civilized at all unless you use the old adage about measuring the civility of a system by the amount of paperwork required to do anything.  If that is so, we're danged tootin civilized!!! 

I've gotta go have a pop and cool my heels.  Can't seem to remember reading an article that got my heat up so much in months!!

[mloved]

Along with all the archaic procedures, there's also the unusually big increase of ss disability applicants in the recent years that further bogs down the whole process.  Here's the graph from the SS site.

http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/dibGraphs.html

Some news writer recently speculated that the rise is due to people's unemployment benefits ending, so they are applying.  Seems ludicrous - but maybe a few would.  A few scammers too.  But no one I know would apply if they were not truly disabled.

Perhaps people in droves are finding themselves genuinely disabled (if those numbers are real and not inflated), along with those born, possibly from the effects of unhealthy food consumption, life style, chemicals - polluted air, water, products, pharmas  etcs - that has been normalized in our society for these past 60 or so yrs.  But that is speculation too.

To note - a ssdi recipient receives an average of aprox $14K yrly.  The cost of a person in prison is aprox $40K.  Something like that

[LizardKing]

To note - a ssdi recipient receives an average of aprox $14K yrly.  The cost of a person in prison is aprox $40K.  Something like that

On top of that someone has to pay into the SS insurance in order to get SSDI but merely commit a crime to go to jail.
I am well over a year waiting to get a hearing date.

[hurtingindian]

No Ve in my court room just me the lawyer and a secretary, judge yelled at the lawyer for not having me dis driver placard. Then we left out of the video room. 10 days later I was approved, after 3 years, the judge back dated to the week AFTER I got out of a extended hospital stay so that 40k bill wasn't covered.

[Lonesome George]

No Ve in my court room just me the lawyer and a secretary, judge yelled at the lawyer for not having me dis driver placard. Then we left out of the video room. 10 days later I was approved, after 3 years, the judge back dated to the week AFTER I got out of a extended hospital stay so that 40k bill wasn't covered.

How long ago was this? I'm keeping my own poll of approvals, and I'm not seeing very many people getting approved within the last year or two since the government crackdown on disability.

[ronr]

   Yea for the Indians! 

[hurtingindian]

4 years ago for me aprx.

[brownyboy]

I have'nt been here in a while,I hope everyone is well.Its been a roller coaster for me the last couple of years but I have great news I finally got approved by social security and I just want to thank you guys and this forum for all the info you have given me.God bless everyone.

[Robby]

brownyboy that's great, now don't let all that money go to your head 

[foxgrove]

Wonderful news brownyboy!!!  Welcome home and congrats... that's fabulous.