Here is some excerpts from Atlanta's Disabled Often Wait Years For Aid:
Atlanta is arguably the worst place in the country to live if you are too sick or injured to work and have to rely on the government for help.
While Social Security hearing offices nationwide are clogged with claims from severely disabled individuals seeking benefits, the two Atlanta locations are known as "the backlog capital of the country."
The Downtown hearing office at Peachtree Center takes 769 days on average — more than two years — to resolve a claim. It has 9,145 claims pending.
The Atlanta North office on Clairmont Road is even worse, with a backlog of 12,497 claims and an average wait of 793 days, according to Social Security figures. Month after month, the two offices consistently rank among the slowest in the country for resolving claims.
The physical and financial health of many of people waiting will deteriorate.
Some will lose their homes and declare bankruptcy. Others will die. ...
"Over the last several months, the Downtown hearing office has gone hog wild on scheduling," said Robert Hughes, an attorney who specializes in Social Security cases. "I've gone from five hearings a month to five a day." ...
"It used to be very uncommon that you would have a claim where someone would die while their appeal was pending," [Rick] Waitsman [an Administrative Law Judge] said. "Unfortunately, that is becoming much more common. People are dying from what they are complaining of." ...
Astrue said he can't explain why Atlanta received less financial support, given the level of filings here. "All I know is it is a very bad practice and we have moved as quickly as we can to provide redress," he said.
He is pushing Congress for more money to open a third hearing office in suburban Atlanta.
Astrue pushing for more money for his agency? He has been lobbying for President Bush's budget for Social Security, which is less than what Congress has wanted to appropriate!
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