Mar 15, 2009

Waiting In Kansas

From the Lawrence Journal World & News:

On the last day of 2008, Debra Shirar opened the mailbox and found a letter she had been waiting more than two years to receive.

It was the notice setting the date for her disability hearing. Almost 900 days after she filed a claim for Social Security Disability Insurance, she would finally get her day in court. She cried the whole way back from the mailbox. ...

More than 11,000 people are waiting for a disability hearing in front of a judge in either Kansas City or Wichita. In 2008, the average time it took to hear an appeal in Kansas City was 719 days, which is just under the two-year mark. In Wichita, it was 516 days. ...

At Lawrence’s Independence Inc. office, which helps hundreds of people navigate the disability system each year, the wait times have gone down, benefit advocate Rob Tabor said.

More cases are being sent back to the state for special review, which results in faster decisions and frees up hearing spots. However, hardship remains. ...

In August 2007, Kansas was ranked as the worst state in the country for the time it took to process disability claims. Since then, improvements have been made, both in the region and nationally.

SSA has decided to open a hearings office in Topeka, which will take about two years. That office will have five judges and support staff.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is the average prcessing times defined from request date until actual decision?

Anonymous said...

The backlog is about to get worse. There is a significant shortage of qualified vocational experts which are utilized to make decisions in the hearing process. They have not received a fee increase for 36 years. One was finally approved for FY '09 and then rescinded blaming it on the continuing resolution and again extending the old rates through 2010. Many will no longer take hearings or have reduced the number of hearings they will take as a result which will further delay timeliness of hearings. But can't say that I'd be happy if I were paid 1972 rates.