Social Security has posted final 2021 numbers on disability claims. Claims filed in 2021 went down slightly from 1,838,893 in 2020 to 1,820,282 in 2021 but there was a sharp 11.75% decline in the number of claims approved from 648,121 in 2020 to 571,952 in 2021. This is on top of a 10.46% decline in claims approved in 2020. Note that claims approved went down far faster than claims filed. The difference is vastly increased backlogs, mostly at the initial and reconsideration levels but also at the payment centers where favorable Title II decisions are implemented. The number of claimants in current payment went down 3.36% in 2021 from 8,151,016 in 2020 to 7,877,129 in 2021.
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Anyone running a SSD practice can corroborate those national numbers. While our new client acquisition is at an all time high, our firm revenue is markedly down. We have an abnormal amount of cases just sitting at the initial app and reconsideration levels. Our hearing counts, as a result, are significantly down. We're impatiently waiting for these cases to move to the hearing level so we can return to a more normal cash flow. I don't know the answer to this problem with Social Security: return to the office, hire more employees, allow overtime?
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ReplyDeleteIt looks like the downward trend started 10 years ago. Cutbacks in overtime over the last two years probably contributed to this too.
Currently the emphasize at the local Field Offices is having a high answer rate on the GI line, and intaking new claims. There's really no time given to process docs and proofs that have been sent in.
ReplyDeleteAll of the above, lack of employees, reduction of overtime over the past year. It's like watching the titanic sink. It's all a vicious cycle, the above issues have resulted in processing priorities daily when everything is labeled a priority, so no meaningful achievement is met.
ReplyDeleteI see it as job security.
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