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Sep 21, 2009

Waiting In Michigan

From the Detroit News:
A nationwide surge in Social Security disability claims has hit Michigan disproportionately hard. ...

It takes an average of 676 days to get a claim processed at Metro Detroit's Oak Park office -- the third longest wait time among the country's 142 hearings offices. Only the Madison, Wis., and Indianapolis offices are slower at 688 and 719 days, respectively.

Processing takes 659 days in Detroit, which ranks fifth slowest in the country. The average wait time nationwide is 487 days.

To try to shorten the waiting time, the government is opening offices and hiring judges.

"The average claimant now waits two years, somewhat longer to get a hearing," said Evan Zagoria, a disability attorney with Bingham Farms-based Provizer & Phillips PC. "Our clients lose their homes, they're evicted from apartments, they lose their cars. ...

More than 32,700 Michigan residents had claims pending as of Aug. 21, an increase of 46.7 percent over the same period last year, and higher than the nationwide increase of 33.7 percent, according to the Social Security Administration.

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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:17 PM, September 21, 2009

    More judges is part of the problem. More judges mean more denials and appeals. A thorough evaluation at dds would eliminate backlog. In my opinion,trim salaries until better legal decisions are made.

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  2. Anonymous9:13 PM, September 21, 2009

    Anonymous#1: That's ridiculous. Yes, DDS should make more accurate decisions, but DDS staff are already paid poorly and have such arbitrarily high productivity standards that it forces them to make grossly oversimplified decisions. That's why people wrongly get denied, not all this conspiracy theory nonsense about denial incentives.

    But even then, more judges won't result in more denials. There's no logic in that statement.

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  3. Anonymous12:36 PM, September 22, 2009

    There is no basis in the belief that taking more time at the initial level in DDS would result in fewer appeals. There is no study that indicates high error rates in DDS's. On the other hand, there is no study to indicate whether ALJ allowances are accurate, and ALJ reversals are not really a reflection of the accuracy of the initial DDS decision.

    The thing I don't like about this type of article is that it does not differentiate between the actual processing time of the majority of initial disability claims, which is less than 90 days nationwide, and the processing times for those few cases that require a hearing. The article makes it sound like an applicant who files today for benefits won't hear for years. ALJ allowances are a very tiny part of the total disability claims approved by SSA each year, and the vast majority of claims are processed timely.

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  4. Nancy Ortiz2:30 PM, September 22, 2009

    I concur with A#3's comment.

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  5. Anonymous10:20 PM, September 22, 2009

    They are processed "timely" because they are denied. Actually there is a study of the correctness of ALJ decisions and the number was something like 95% with Sr. Atty. decisions coming in even higher.

    Further there are not only a "few" cases that need a hearing. That is an absolutely ridiculous statement. I will say that the reason that a lot of people drop out after DDS, not because they are not disabled but because they are frustrated with the process.

    The DDS decisions are "non-decisions" that don't tell the claimant anything. How some of the cases I have seen at hearing are denied at DDS are beyond me. But then again that is what happens when you don't bother to develop the record and have no idea that someone can be disabled without meeting a listing.

    Of course there is going to be "insufficent evidence" if you don't contact the treating sources. As for those "durational denials", what is wrong with the people at the DDS. At OHA we know that the DDS is under pressure to deny because every case they pay is vetted by DQB. But really how can you sleep at night. We figure that you assume that we will pay it eventually. This is what is wrong with the system.

    Either shut down the DDS or issue a mandate that cases that are paid at DDS are not subject to such scrutiny. Really it is nothing more than one big chinese "f" circus.

    Thank you for letting me vent.

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  6. Anonymous11:01 PM, September 22, 2009

    Thank you A#5 for telling it like it is. Fewer than 50 percent of cases are allowed at the DDS. So, if you file a claim, you have more than a fifty percent chance of waiting two-three years before ever seeing a payment. Back-end time in FO's and PC's is not even being acknowledged in most stories about the backlogs. and what about installment payments. adding another 12 months, if they ever get paid. The crisis at SSA is beyond most people's ability to comprehend, and yet people ignore it or deny it daily, even management people whose only answer is to "work the lists" because that will make it all better. Astrue is an utter failure. as is Congress.

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