Waiting In Fargo

From the Bismark Tribune:

FARGO - Sharon Eid says she has spent the last four years battling paralysis, both from a spinal condition that left her unable to work and a government agency that left her without benefits. ...

"It's been a very long haul," Eid said Monday at a meeting with Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., and Social Security Administration officials. "If it weren't for my children and my friends and my church taking care of me, I wouldn't be here. I think I would have put an end to it a long time ago." ...

"If it's this hard to reach a final decision in a case of these facts, as disturbing as they are ... what does it take to establish disability?" Pomeroy asked.

The average wait for a person in North Dakota to receive a decision on a disability claim is 435 days, nearly twice the average in 2001, Pomeroy said. The national average is a 520-day wait.

"I tell you something, if I had regulated an insurance company that took more than two years whether or not to play a claim, that would have been a company in a whole lot of trouble with me as insurance commissioner," Pomeroy said.