From Lisa Rein at the Washington Post:
Then one week in September came the unthinkable: 75,000 new claims suddenly were routed to an electronic queue already buckling under 2½ years of strain during the coronavirus pandemic. ...
The data obtained by The Washington Post paints a grim picture of the holdups claimants are confronting across the country. In Texas, it took 214 days on average in fiscal 2022 to process an initial application. Wisconsin took 227 days, up from 90 days in fiscal 2019. Florida’s average time has almost tripled to 225 days. Georgia is taking 246 days. And Delaware now holds the record for the longest wait: 261 days. The pileup of cases has driven a normally three-month wait for an initial review to at least seven, the data shows. But in states struggling most to catch up, it’s taking well over a year. ...
18 comments:
I know she was trying to help and it is a very good article but basically she has made the case for contracting out, which is a GOP dream: Social Security as conceived by Hill Burton. Hopefully she will now go put some GOP players on the hot seat for more funding.
I am sure articles like this help pull the very best and brightest the country has to offer into the system to help these Claimants. The top ten of every graduating class will want to work at DDS or SSA. Who doesnt want a soul crushing workload, a cube farm existence, low pay and high pressure? That right there is as American as chocolate chip cookies at Christmas!
50 years of benign neglect coming to roost, and those that started the neglect are still in charge, and nothing ever changes. I am beginning to see a pattern.
Same in NY likely. But not so staggering.
It may be time to reconstitute the Federal DDS
I'd argue that the State DDS's are "contracting out" just not private sector contracting out. SSA would actually have more leverage over a private contractor than with 50+ sovereign state agencies with various state law driven oddities. But most states would scream. Not all.
Wow Arizona, Texas, and Florida have risen dramatically. A lot in the pipeline.
Kind of makes me feel guilty when I send a case back to DDS for a vocational error because one job on an SSA-3369 shows a claimant was a supervisor but the supervisor skills were not clarified. I apologize DDS but as a DQB employee we are sampled like crazy and god-forbid we don’t find enough errors
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Closing the offices was necessary during the pandemic. The backlogs will be worked down with the offices reopened. Not enough time yet to recover. This is a snapshot things will hopefully improve.
Let it go past the breaking point. That is the only way it is going to get "fixed", total and complete failure is the only way forward.
The real problem is that DDS is programmed to deny. Don't start with the "thats not true" nonsense. I have a pretty decent birdseye view. DDS examiners get dinged for paying cases. I can't tell you how many nonsensical DDEs I have seen. Ease up on the quality review nonsense and you will see a dramatic difference. Afraid more people will be paid? The will, because they are disabled.
@ 8:55 Agreed. I heard only about 25 percent of cases get approved at the DDS level. Only those severe disorders like cancer, compassionate allowance cases, or amputations get mostly approved. Then again, I have heard stories of borderline cases getting approved randomly. It is just the luck of the draw.
It is like if a clt is 55 then DDS will always put the clt at medium or above. It is a stall technique probably baked into the system. Get rid of the reconsideration phase would also speed this up. Not holding out hope.
I thought the initial allowance rate was closer to mid 30s.
You may not realize that a significant minority, maybe 25 percent, of disability claimants have no chance at all. They have a broken arm that will heal in 6 to 8 weeks, regular COVID, sprained ankles or are being made to file to qualify for some other benefit. SSA takes those claims the same as those who file with more serious disabilities.
SSA needs to transfer workload and funding to the state DDS sites that can handle it. Make the DDS compete for the work. I am sure state Governors would love the extra funding and resources helping their local economies. SSA has the capability and technology to shift workload. They have done it
Outsource it
Claims have already been sent to out of state DDSes.
So, we have done this under government control for a few decades, and it is a total failure, turn it over to the private sector, time for a change, cant be any worse and could be better.
It's not enough people. Private industry can't do much better when there is 16 hours of work every darn day.
To 8:55 AM's point... How much pain and suffering, not to mention money (operating expenses) could be saved if DDS approved 90% of those Highly LIKELY to be approved (by a fair ALJ) on the first application? DDS could cut down on Reconsideration, ALJ and staff wouldn't have to handle them... I know that would be agaist SSA's DENY, DENY and hope they go away culture. If Congress complains, tell them you need more money to give cases more scrutiny. Congress will get the messsage.
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