The Costs of Delay

The New York Times has an article (registration required) that demonstrates the human costs of delaying filing a claim for Social Security disability benefits -- and the human costs of delay in adjudicating disability claims at SSA. This formerly middle class family was thrust into dire poverty primarily by disability and their delay in seeking disability benefits from SSA.

The indignities of poverty are endless. In this case, the family had a Thanksgiving meal only because of the generosity of Catholic charities and the wife has been forced to sell her wedding ring. Sadly, this sort of story is repeated hundreds of thousands times a year and gets almost no publicity.