Dec 6, 2007

More From The Pacific Northwest

From The Oregonian:

You have a good job, you're buying your own home, you've accumulated a life savings for retirement or to pay for the kids' college educations.

And then you get sick. Really sick. ...

You apply for Social Security disability. It's not a handout; you're asking for your own money -- money you've been contributing with every paycheck you received, through the FICA tax that's been withheld.

And you get denied. ...

That's what happens to 69.6 percent of the people in Oregon who apply for Social Security disability. They're denied the first time they apply.

So they make a "reconsideration request." And in Oregon, 90.3 percent of those people are denied.

The next step is to ask for a hearing. And the average wait in Portland for a Social Security disability hearing?

It's 668 days. ...

In a single year, says Portland attorney Richard Sly, 15 of his clients died waiting for a hearing after their applications for SSI disability had been twice rejected. ...

When applicants finally do get hearings, the majority are granted benefits. Why are so many rejected at first? No one can explain.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When will someone admit the fact that the ALJ rarely, if ever, adjudicates the same case the DDS evaluated. We have all seen the DDS medium RFC to avoid a favorable grid result but the truth is the record is rarely developed sufficiently developed until after the recon (and appointment of a rep who develops the record). With the advent of the e-file, the average non-rep'd claimant can't even read the disc to understand what records are, or are not, in the file. I personally believe no one should get a 2d, 3d, 4th or 5th look before someone elses 1st claim because subsequent applications are breaking the back of an already over-loaded system.

Anonymous said...

BRAVO. You are onpoint. Particularly on the issue of subsequent claims.

I would add on addition point however. I believe that most of the problems with DDS not developing claims fully rests with the claims reps in the local FO. At best they have 50 minutes (yes, less than an hour!) to interview the claimant. About 20 to 30 minutes of this is related to the Insurance end of the business, that is checking work history, documenting MCS, developing marital history and auxilliary claims. That leave the average CR about 30 minutes, at best, to do the medical history portion. Is it any wonder that DDS fails? Most applicants can not remember the MD they saw 2 years ago. The CR doesn't press, and DDS doesn't develop. No freaking wonder the system is broken. /S/Field Office Management.