Social Security Examines Massive, Years-Old Backlog

Despite hiring new judges with an additional $150 million in funding, the Social Security Administration’s backlog of disability claims has not been appreciably reduced over the last year, although the agency has processed most cases that have been in the pipeline the longest.

A person claiming disability benefits must prove to the Social Security Administration (SSA) that she or he is unable to perform any degree of work in order to begin receiving Social Security Disability Insurance. Initial applications are often denied, leading to an appeal to an administrative law judge (ALJ) for reconsideration. More than 760,000 cases were pending review from an ALJ at the end of September. This is 14,000 more cases than were pending in September 2007, and shows that growth in the backlog had slowed significantly. Previously, SSA had added about 70,000 cases to its backlog annually.

According to agency data, the average wait for a decision in September 2008 was 509 days. This is slightly longer than the average wait one year ago. During fiscal year 2008, SSA hired 190 new ALJs, opened a National Hearing Center (NHC), and eliminated virtually the entire backlog of over 135,000 cases that had been waiting over 900 days for a hearing decision.

SSA notes that the hiring of new ALJs was critical, but it will take a number of months before they become fully productive. The NHC will give SSA the capability of conducting video hearings in cities with the worst backlogs. The agency is also working with the Government Services Administration to establish new hearing offices.

-From: “Social Security Examines Massive, Years-Old Backlog”, MEDICARE WATCH, a biweekly electronic newsletter of the Medicare Rights Center, Vol. 11 , No. 22 : October 28, 2008.

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