Disability Cases Last Longer as Backlog Rises

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Disability Cases Last Longer as Backlog Rises
Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times

Richard and Vicki Wild of Hillsborough, N.C., said they were mystified when their son Mark’s disability claim was rejected. “We had 10 years’ worth of hospital records,” Mr. Wild said.

By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: December 10, 2007
RALEIGH, N.C. — Steadily lengthening delays in the resolution of Social Security disability claims have left hundreds of thousands of people in a kind of purgatory, now waiting as long as three years for a decision.

Thomas Airington, 48, was told his appeal, filed last spring, would be expedited when he showed officials an eviction notice. In the meantime he lost his house.
Two-thirds of those who appeal an initial rejection eventually win their cases.

But in the meantime, more and more people have lost their homes, declared bankruptcy or even died while awaiting an appeals hearing, say lawyers representing claimants and officials of the Social Security Administration, which administers disability benefits for those judged unable to work or who face terminal illness.

The agency’s new plan to hire at least 150 new appeals judges to whittle down the backlog, which has soared to 755,000 from 311,000 in 2000, will require $100 million more than the president requested this year and still more in the future. The plan has been delayed by the standoff between Congress and the White House over domestic appropriations.

There are 1,025 judges currently at work, and the wait for an appeals hearing averages more than 500 days, compared with 258 in 2000. Without new hirings, federal officials predict even longer waits and more of the personal tragedies that can result from years of painful uncertainty.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/us/10disability.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Wiley50]

1. Bastards took 3 1/2 years to approve me

I lost my home in the process

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2. This is purposeful "clogging" of the system ---

and unbelievable un-American stories brought to us by Republicans working for a third world America --- !!!

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3. This is one of the pathways to third world America ---

Deny health care --- bankrupt families ---

In fact, many people can't work because their drugs are so costly ---

An outrageous situation --- !!!