From a television station in Bloomfield, MO:
Every day, Susan Babis wonders how she's going to pay even the smallest bills.
Babis lives with schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder and said she is unable to hold a job. Even a $3 co-pay for her medications forces her to rely on friends. ...
Babis applied for Social Security disability benefits in July 2016. More than a year and a half later, she still hasn't had a hearing to determine whether she'll receive them. The government denied her application and she filed an appeal in January 2017. Earlier this year, she was informed she was scheduled for a hearing this September.
Babis isn't alone.
The Social Security Administration's own data show an average wait time of 16 months at the agency's facilities in Springfield and Kansas City, 18 months in Columbia and 20 months in St. Louis. ...
The Social Security Administration turned down a request for an on-camera interview for this story. It also never responded to a request for the number of Missourians currently awaiting disability claims.
7 comments:
We know there's a backlog but do we have to read about it over and over in your blog? Not much has changed since the last time (less than 3 hours earlier) you spoke about it.
How many applicants denied at initial application go on to get approved by an ALJ hearing? It seems to me if this number is high the the DDS is doing a sub par job and helping to increase the backlog. I'm not saying everyone should be approved at initial. Just saying maybe DDS is missing too many cases that should have been approved.
@3:12:
Sounds like this is getting underneath your skin!
Good. That’s the point! If you are among SSA TPTB, even better!
I am not 3:12 but I do agree, I don't follow the links or read the stories with those titles any longer, kind of numb to it like a trump tweet.
@10:42
Exactly! An obviously disabled person denied by DDS should be a crime. I've seen people with chronic and congenital conditions that have worsened to the point some weren't able to walk/talk and were STILL denied even with proper medical evidence, only to be approved on their reconsideration. Who runs DDS, clones of Cruella de Vil? I've seen some seriously messed up decisions from DDS, obviously and blatantly wrong decisions. Why? Because they can? I know a lot of people here would like the Recon step to be phased out, I disagree, though, not many actually are approved at this phase, it's small percentage of approvals do lighten the load of the ALJ's a smidgen. DDS needs to step up to the plate and be held accountable for unsubstantiated denials. Obviously, lack of medical records, and other documentation is reason for denial. If everything is in order, and it's a pretty clear situation of disability, and the DDS denies the claim, there should be an investigation into why.
@3:14 if you want to make denying a crime, then are you willing to make exaggerating symptoms and working under the table for cash after approved equally criminal?
@ 9:35 - Laws are already in place for crimes of fraud against Social Security. Denial of a favorable claim by the DDS probably wouldn't fall into the fraud category. What category that would fall into would be anyones guess...
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