Fort Wayne Journal Gazette On Hearing Backlogs

Eventually, there will be a story like this in every newspaper in America. Some excerpts from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

In nearly 30 years, Thomas Williams has worked in a hospital, an ice cream factory and a group home. With each paycheck, he’s paid into a government system that promises to help workers if they get too sick to hold a job.

A degenerative back condition has put him in a wheelchair, unable to do the jobs he’s qualified for. But instead of paying his bills with money from monthly disability checks, Williams, 47, relies on food stamps, some help from the township trustee, a subsidized apartment and whatever his sister and sons can chip in.

Since the summer of 2005, Williams has been waiting for the government to agree with his doctors’ assessment. His case hasn’t been scheduled for a hearing. ...

Thousands of Hoosiers are scraping the bottom of their savings accounts, relying on food banks and bunking with relatives while they wait to find out whether their Social Security disability claims are approved under the safety net Congress created decades ago for physically injured or mentally disabled Americans who can’t work. ...

“It puts people under a tremendous stress and strain,” said Thomas Knight, a Fort Wayne attorney who has seen the waiting period stretch dramatically since he started handling Social Security disability cases six years ago.