Claimant receives a favorable decision from an Administrative Law Judge on July 25. In mid-September the client still hasn't been paid so we call the payment center which says they're working on it. By October 8 there's still been no payment of benefits so we call back. An exasperated employee at the payment center tells us (inaccurately) that they told us in mid-September that it takes 45-60 days for these to be paid and asks that we not call back for at least a month. You notice that as of October 8, it had already been well over 60 days since the favorable decision.
12 comments:
To anyone responding to mr hall post can you also elaborate on medical cdrs .
Why do medical cdrs with sufficient information take months to process?
This is the "hidden" part of the increasing backlog that many don't understand or appreciate. Yes, the hearing backlog has steadily grown (12-16 months at the ODARs in my region). Those numbers are easy to track. However, most don't know that it then typically takes another 2-4 months to receive the written ALJ decision and another month or two to effectuate payment. So for many of our successful claimants, it can be close to two years to receive payment after the request for hearing is filed.
If it typically takes you two to four months to receive a FF decision, then you are dealing with an unusual ODAR, because favorable decisions are given priority in ODAR offices and are typically written with days or a couple of weeks of the ALJ making the decision. The only reason it should 2-4 months to receive a FF decision is if there is a need for post-hearing evidence.
2-4 months for an UF would not be too unusual since backlogs in writing are common.
If any claimant has to wait longer than x (fill in the number) days after a favorable ALJ decision, then what should be done? Reallocate available manpower, delay actions on more recent decisions, fire employees who did not act timely, cancel employee leave, or what combination of actions to resolve the immediate problem? More to the point is that there will always be some cases paid faster, some slower, but the story as to why is individual to each case. As to the average time to process, welcome to the new normal, and understand all the reasons why the new normal exists.
@ 1:14...I work at ODAR. Why would you think that FF decisions go out any quicker than UF. In our office, they are all processed the same.
@ 1:14 and @ 2:15
I concur. Pretty sure top brass has made it clear that we are to follow "FIFO" (first in, first out). Except for when we aren't, like with dire needs, criticals, TERIs, and whatever other special categories there are that trump everything in one's queue. Don't get me started on how tricky it is to figure out what cases to do first when those types of cases are in the mix since SSA refuses to provide a rigid hierarchy, but aside from that rather rare occurrence, it should be FIFO.
Maybe you have supervisors that haven't shed the old mindset of "numbers, numbers, numbers." Surprised they haven't heard the recent repeated calls of "quality, quality, quality" from the top.
I've been @ a law firm in CA for the last 16 yrs. We appear @ seven ODARs in this area and it's unusual to receive an ODAR decision (whether FF or Unfav) in less than 3 months after the date of the hearing. This time frame has been consistent since I started working here.
Our ODAR writes decisions in FIFO order. It's been that way for a year or two. It's not fair to the claimants that have been found disabled.
I work in the FO, where I process favorable SSI hearing decisions. I also work the front counter, answer the phone, take initial claims, process overpayments and waivers, post wages and other income and recompute SSI payments, deal with piles of mail, mentor newer employees, sit through training, and countless other claims and postentitlement workloads including SSI redeterminations and continuing disability reviews. We are OVERWHELMED so please give us a break, we are processing everything as fast as we can.
It's a shame SSA can not work 24/7 like medicare.
@8:03
I think Mr. Hall was commiserating with you, in acknowledging the problem is too few employees and too much work. SSA has pointed out for years, to everyone who will listen, that the baby boomers were coming (along with other demographic factors) and increased funding for staff was needed to meet the increasing demand for services.
If you followed budget process the past years, you can see exactly where those reasonable requests hit a brick wall. For years the U.S. House of Reps has routinely shot down requests for prudent budget increases for staffing to meet the predicted (and now very actual) increased demand for services at SSA.
So, if you are outraged by SSA office closures, long waits on the toll-free number, hearings or other services, don't blame overworked SSA employees. Blame those who knew what would happen, had the ability to prevent it, were asked to prevent it, and decided to do nothing about it: The House leadership for the past years. Ironically, some of the House members who created the problem are those whining loudest about long waits and office closures
A problem we are hearing about is more and more decisions are being sent to remote writers, coming back for editing, being sent back again, etc. A UF and a FF may be sent to writing on the same day, but since the FF is probably shorter and easier to write, it comes back first.
Justin
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