Jan 13, 2008

Indiana Paper Reports On Backlogs

An excerpt from the first of a two part series in the South Bend Tribune:
Hunting clothes lie on the floor of his home -- his mother's basement -- and 50-year-old Robert Auer figures he'll sell those off, too. ...

A year ago, he was looking at his own stuff in the one-story bungalow on Milburn Avenue he gutted, remodeled and lived in for 12 years -- gone now in a foreclosure.

He laments that he would have been able to keep the house had he received monthly checks from Social Security Disability Insurance.

He first applied four years ago, then applied again, then again through a hearing, then through an appeal.

His is one of 26,820 disability cases that are pending in Indiana -- and more than 700,000 nationwide -- that are caught in agonizing delays, a backlog that the Social Security Administration says has mushroomed. ...

A Social Security report in September pointed out that some disabled people end up homeless or losing family and friends during their long wait to resolve their cases.
Is this "Social Security report" from September something the agency did or is it a reference to something in the media?

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