Seattle TV Station Reports On Social Security Hearing Backlogs

KING in Seattle, Washington is reporting on Social Security hearing backlogs. The Seattle hearing office ranks 111th out of 142 hearing offices. Some excerpts:

Social Security is so bogged down that people's lives are falling apart waiting for the process to work, and we've found the Seattle area is one of the worst. ...

Wait times for disability benefits are long nationwide, but we've found the Northwest is especially bad. If you're denied, you'll wait an average of 19 and a half more months just to plead your case in court in our area. Only the Chicago area is worse at 19.8 months.

"As a citizen it breaks my heart, as a professional it bothers me," says Don Uslan, a psychotherapist who treats chronically ill patients. One third of his clients have pending disability cases.

"This time period, this three or four or five years appears to be the slowest and the most inefficient I've ever seen in my 30 years of practice," says Uslan.

Social Security says the wait times are so long because there's too much work, not enough money, and a shortage of judges to hear cases. But they couldn't come up with any explanation as to why Seattle's particularly slow, and they refused our repeated requests to talk about these important issues on camera.