SSA figures show increase in system wait times

Posted F d, Y on behalf of Sofia McDermott of Reyes & Reyes Law Firm, PLLC in Social Security Disability (SSD)

When a person suffering from a serious and otherwise incapacitating medical condition applies for Social Security disability benefits, they can generally anticipate waiting anywhere from six months to a year for a review and initial hearing to be completed.

In the event that disability benefits are denied after the initial hearing, a person may then ask the Social Security Administration's Appeals Council to review the decision, a process that can take up to another full year to complete.

While all of this may seem like an inordinate amount of time to wait for the processing, review and issuance of a final decision concerning an application for disability benefits, consider that the wait for just the initial hearing is currently over a year and a half in some SSA branch offices.

According to SSA statistics, branch offices in these five cities currently have the longest wait times for initial hearings:

  1. Fort Myers, Florida - 19 months
  2. Miami, Florida - 18 months
  3. Baltimore, Maryland - 17 months
  4. Tupelo, Mississippi - 17 months
  5. Atlanta, Georgia - 16 months  

While this revelation comes as something of a surprise given that the SSA had significantly reduced wait times across the nation from 2007 to 2011, agency officials indicate that the trend was recently reversed thanks to congressional budget cuts.

"Over the past three years, though, we received an average of nearly a billion dollars less each year than what the president requested for our administrative budget," said an SSA spokesperson.

In addition to increasing wait times for initial hearings, agency officials indicate that these congressional budget cuts have served to increase the backlog of disability claims.

Indeed, the SSA predicted back in 2011 that it could reduce the national disability claim backlog to 525,000 by the current fiscal year. However, it has since revised this figure to 668,127 in the light of the aforementioned budget cuts.  

While these long wait times for initial hearings are certainly disconcerting, it is nevertheless worth noting that no branch office here in Texas cracked the top five.

If you are considering applying for SSD benefits, resist the urge to be automatically dissuaded by potentially long wait times. Instead, consider speaking with an experienced legal professional who can explain the process, answer all of your questions and help you moving forward.

Source: The Baltimore Sun, "Social Security disability backlog in Md. among highest in nation," John Fritze, June 2, 2014