I have been asked many times why those representing Social Security claimants do not bring a class action lawsuit concerning the terrible delays suffered by Social Security disability claimants who request hearings on their cases. This has been tried before. Here are a few excerpts from the decision of the Supreme Court in Day v. Heckler, 467 U.S. 104 (1984):
In November 1981, the District Court issued an injunction in favor of the statewide class that "ordered and directed [the Secretary of Health and Human Services, which, at the time, included the Social Security Administration] to conclude reconsideration processing and issue reconsideration determinations within 90 days of requests for reconsideration made by claimants." The injunction also required ALJs to provide hearings within 90 days after the request is made by claimants. Finally, it ordered payment of interim benefits to any claimant who did not receive a reconsideration determination or hearing within 180 days of the request for reconsideration or who did not receive a hearing within 90 days of the hearing request. ...
Legislation enacted by Congress in 1980 and 1982 is fully consistent with the repeated rejection of proposals for mandatory deadlines and with efforts by Congress to ensure quality and uniformity in agency adjudication. ...
In light of the unmistakable intention of Congress, it would be an unwarranted judicial intrusion into this pervasively regulated area for federal courts to issue injunctions imposing deadlines with respect to future disability claims. ...
Note just how badly our expectations of what Social Security should be expected to do have declined since this decision. Where would we be if the decision had gone the other way?
3 comments:
Put simply, individuals have the right to file a claim, but no right to receive a decision on that claim. And the American public has let successive Congresses and Administrations of both parties get away with this.
Part of the problem is that disabled people don't have the clout of senior citizens. Think AARP. Until the gross underfunding of the SSA becomes an issue with a larger demographic Congress will not fully fund the agency. You will notice that overall SSA has done an outstanding job of handling retirment claims.
Another part of that is priority is given to retirement claims because it is a benefit earned from a lifetime of work. The disabled are viewed as slackers who are just not trying hard enough--bad enough for t2 claimants, worse for t16 claimants.
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