From the Meridian Star:
Amanda Evans sought Social Security Disability Income 20 years after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when her advancing condition made it more and more difficult for her to move around her Pearl home.
But it wouldn’t be until 2016, two years after applying, before an administrative law judge determined she was eligible for benefits.
She had to go before a Social Security administrative law judge (the third level of appeal after initial claim and reconsideration). She had been denied on three separate initial applications and finally exercised her right of appeal on the third application. By then, she had to use a rolling walker to get into the courtroom.
Evans said the judge looked at her and said, “I am so sorry that this has happened and no one has paid attention.”
Her experience is not an uncommon one in Mississippi, which has the lowest rate of allowances for initial claims and reconsiderations among its neighboring Southern states, according to data from the Atlanta Regional office for the Social Security Administration. ...
Mississippi also has a higher processing time for claims than what SSA considers reasonable, with the SSA field offices taking an average of eight days to determine financial eligibility for benefits, while the Mississippi DDS takes 76 days on average to make a medical decision. ...
As a worker in an adjacent state, most of the follow-up we do on FO actions started in Mississippi are fairly jacked up. It's either a culture issue or a resource issue (they have much less admin support at the state level than its neighbors, and nobody's ever said why).
ReplyDeleteGee, why am I not surprised?
ReplyDelete