Jun 19, 2008

Waiting In Michigan -- And Spreading A Misconception

WLNS in Lansing, MI is running a story on the backlogs in adjudicating Social Security disability claims. The story is misleading in a rather common way. Here is a quote:
"It was to the point where we had gone through all of my retirement and all of our life savings. We weren't going to be able to keep our house if something didn't happen relatively quickly."

Teresa [Brown, the claimant] finally decided to call Congressman Mike Rogers. She had her hearing two months later and finally got approved for disability.

Teresa Brown: "Relief, the end was finally here."
No, the call to the Congressman had nothing to do with the allowance. It was almost certainly coincidence. Now, thousands of people in the Lansing will believe that their Congressman has some special magic that will enable them to be approved quickly for Social Security disability benefits. Claimants may even avoid hiring an attorney who might actually be able to help them because of this misconception.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think all elected officials do is make an inquiry about your claim and then they have SSA to give them a monthly update. At least that's what ours did and we're still waiting. If nothing else, it will draw attention to your claim.