From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (paywall):
A hospital social worker helped Nicholas Johnson fill out dozens of pages of paperwork for Social Security Disability Insurance in September after he woke up from a coma and realized he was paralyzed. ...
Johnson missed two phone calls from the Social Security office while he was in physical therapy. He started the application process over, for a third time, in early January.
With no income, Johnson can’t pay rent, so he moved in with his grandmother. But her home is too small to accommodate his wheelchair, so family members come over daily to carry him from room to room. ...
Johnson is one of more than 2,000 people in Milwaukee waiting for the Social Security Administration's approval to receive disability benefits, according to the latest data available from the agency. The average wait time is 368 days, leaving many people struggling without adequate housing or money to pay for their basic needs for more than a year. ...
Hope Lloyd is a community living and home supervisor with Independence First who is working with about a dozen people in Milwaukee with spinal cord injuries who haven't been able to get their first disability checks, so they are living in nursing homes or with family.
"It's not where they belong, but without those expedited payments, they can’t apply for an apartment because they don't have any income," Lloyd said. "A lot of times, they're the primary breadwinner, so it's just really, really bad." ...
At the state level, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said a mandated federal update to its computer system in late 2019 further pushed wait times.
"Wisconsin’s legacy system was superior to the current (federal) system because it included more automatic prompts for examiners that made it easier for them to manage their very high caseloads," said Jennifer Miller, a spokeswoman with DHS.
Miller said examiners receive specialized training that takes more than two years to become fully proficient.
"As a result of increased evidence, increased scrutiny, continuously growing case complexity, and a new nationwide case processing system rollout, case production has become more labor-intensive and slower," Miller said. "Adjudicators’ case counts have increased significantly, and the job has become untenable in many states. ...
12 comments:
So in a perfect world, where things worked as people desired, how long should a claim take at Initial, and if denied, how long before a decision is made at Hearing?
To allow development of the case, get records, make a decision. There is going to be some time involved, and since the vast majority of claims do not have a single condition that is causing the disability but a number of conditions adding up to overall disability that makes it more difficult.
What is the consensus on time to process in a perfect world?
Knowing that ideal number, how would things be changed to get to that number realistically?
@10:37: Nice bait. I’m going to avoid your trap, though, and just say that the answer is “as fast as an accurate decision can be made.” That ought provide an ample lodestar, and makes a whole hell of a lot more sense to me than the arbitrary timelines the numbers-obsessed fools in Woodlawn have been shoving down everyone’s throats for decades now.
@10:37
As 2:27 says, as fast as an accurate decision can be made, however I would note that 39 years ago, 90 days from the filing of the request for a hearing was found reasonable by a Court. The decision was overturned by SCOTUS on the basis of it exceeding the Courts' authority to impose such a deadline, but it is remarkable such a timeline was even thinkable. Also, SSA's position was that 165 days was reasonable, which would still be absurdly fast. And all this is in the context of way better technology. Curious though as to what the caseload was like per alj back then though.
https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/rulings/oasi/33/SSR84-22-oasi-33.html
He missed two appointments because he was in physical therapy. He filed just a few weeks ago. While the waiting times may be bad in general, the first example is not a good one.
I'll tell you what it SHOULDN'T be... Two and a half YEARS from my initial application, just to be denied by an ALJ. Did his decision suddenly make me capable of working? H E double hockey🏒 stick NO! Took another nearly 3 years to get approved... 6 years after I was last able to do anything that resembled "work."
@4:57
The first example is, he filed in September 2022, missed 2 phone calls while in physical therapy to treat whatever ailments caused him to be in a coma, and subsequently paralyzed requiring the use of a wheelchair, and now in January 2023 is starting a new application instead of probably a decent argument for reopening the already filed application.
I agree it's not really a solid argument for waiting times, but to be clear he filed months ago, it just got screwed up.
Just sayin….
https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/404/404-1642.htm
He's wheelchair bound. Should be a quick allowance. Shouldn't have been denied, someone should have tried harder to get in contact with him.
Fifteen years ago, in California, it took 2-3 years for me; there were no refiles.. just 2 denials then I got an attorney and won. I live with my grandmother as well.
Was he left a message and never returned the call? Happens most of the time.
426 Nice! Blame the claimant who is catastrophically ill! Totally ignore that it is almost impossible to get through to SSA.
Let's hear it for the all evidence rule where nurses notes and other nonsense is technically required to be submitted making the medical evidence thousands and thousands of pages. Good job SSA
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