From WTVR in Richmond, VA:
For the past year, Lowrine Ford's pain has only gotten worse.
"It's hard. I'm in pain all the time," she said. "I sleep about three hours a night because I'm hurting all the time. My feet, my legs stay swollen. I can't hardly walk at times. I'm in so much pain."
Rheumatoid arthritis causes her joints to swell, burn, and ache, making her job as a home health aide — where she is constantly on her feet — nearly impossible.
And for the better part of a year, she has been waiting to hear from the Social Security Administration (SSA) whether she qualifies for disability benefits.
She is near despair. ..
“It's very hectic. I had been calling them for months and months. But every time I call, they tell me — this computer comes on and says, 'We're not accepting calls today. Call back another day,'" she said.
On top of the difficulty in finding someone to help her, the SSA has sent her conflicting signals.
"Then finally, when I do call back, and actually get somebody, they tell me that, on August the 23rd of last year, I was denied," Ford said. "And so they say I was denied, but I didn't get any kind of paperwork or anything saying that I was denied."
But while Ford never got documentation from the SSA about her denial, her online account continued to show a different story.
"They had I was in 'Phase Three,'" Ford said. "They were reviewing my medical history. And then after all of this, it goes to 'Phase Four.' Now it's back on 'Phase Three' again. So I really don't know what to do. I'm very confused, to be honest with you.” …
16 comments:
The phone issue...teleworkers not answering their phone because of telework...a myth...SSA does not have desk phones...it is no easier to answer a phone in office than at home because it is the same phone, on your laptop with the same headset that travels with you. Those that don't answer their phone at home are the same ones that don't in office. Problem is, way more customers than staff so phones are always overloaded. If an examiner isn't answering a phone or returning calls, ask for the supervisor.
Contact your Congressperson and ask for help. Hopefully between telework bills they can get some answers for your disability application.
To FO workers: what's the issue with this? Besides "more funding." Are there not enough people answering the phones? Should folks be forced to make appointments? Too much bureaucracy with completing what the callers need?
I've seen many reposted investigative news stories over the years describing claimant reports of delays and inability to get approved despite what the outlet characterizes as obvious disability. This one, like most, leaves out more details than it includes, such as whether the claim is for current SSID or for SSDI with an expired DLI -- or whether the mentioned job as a HHA results in SGA concerns. It is hard to blame the claimant or the news outlet since it is a complex system.
The one thing that jumped out at me was the mention of "Phase Three" vs. "Phase Four." I've never seen this terminology used within SSA, but I have worked exclusively for OHO. Is this an actual classification of pending claims at the FO/DDS levels and available to the claimant through her online mySSA account? If not, it makes me wonder whether the online account she is accessing is legitimate or possibly part of a representative's case tracking system. Have any of you seen cases listed in this manner?
When I was working, management would send out messages telling everyone who was not in an interview to start answering the phones. So we could have 30+ people answering the phones. They knew who was logged in, how many calls you answered, how long the calls lasted, what color your underwear was, and on and on…. There were just too many calls coming in vs the employees. And if your office que got caught up, calls from other offices were routed to you. Never ended. That’s why I quit.
There are just not enough employees period. All the issues that SSA handles: Enumeration, Phone calls about everything and anything under the sun, applications for benefits, tax issues, Medicare, post entitlement issues, etc. The current number of employees are stretched too thinly and things are ALWAYS falling through the cracks. Management is unsupportive and just cracks the whip harder while they hide in their office offering no help on workloads. It’s a disaster that will only get better with more streamlined technology (that actually works), more bodies to do the work, and more streamlined policy…which all come down to increase funding.
It's my opinion as an outsider beneficiary,the bureacracy/customer service got worse after the election.
This story repeats itself with nearly every applicant. Its not news to us who deal with claims everyday.
Could it be SSI was denied in August for non medical reasons and her TWO is still pending?
Yeah, you might be experiencing the effects of appointment focused service. It's great. Customers come in, get told they need to have an appointment, where an employee wastes five or more minutes with them setting up an appointment only to return or get called sometime later. Meanwhile we have people at all levels dreaming how this increases our ability to support employees schedules or should I say help protect their telework dreams. Meanwhile, the customer gets jacked around in the office and can't get through to people on the phone as they desperately try to set up unnecessary appointments. Appointment focused service is a sham. It's noble to wish more appointments could be offered but the way this was rolled out is ridiculous. It is interesting that AFS went live the day after the election. Political gamesmanship? Maybe.
5:31. Or her Disability was denied for uninsured reasons and her SSI is still pending. This is why I always tell the claimants to not worry if they get a denial notice in the mail because their other ben is still pending... that is if I can even get them on the phone.
Speaking of, the reason claimants can't reach anyone on the phone is because we're ALREADY on the phone assisting others. Then we have to navigate many outdated systems to give the claimant a clear answer. That's not to mention the mail we have to sort, the people in the lobby, etc.
12:57: It's probably the online claim tracking system from the claimant's perspective. "It says my claim is on [Step 2] under review and it hasn't changed in 2 months..."
It’s that way with every story like this. The writer has no familiarity with disability law and analysis, has no idea what is going on with her case, has no idea what’s in her medical records, has no idea what information she has provided to SSA about her case, and really no idea about anything other than what they’re told. It’s like a story about a 100% rated vet Charles shared a few years ago. In the SSA story, he and his wife talked about how he can’t do anything, hasn’t been able to function since discharge, how his prosthetic has never worked, etc. Bit just a year earlier a different story about how great the VA had been described how incredibly functional he was, how his prosthesis let him run again and regain independence, how he enjoyed a multitude of complex and social hobbies, etc.
Another regularly seen thing from the story is the following.
"I have the bad arthritis. It began with the rheumatism, arthritis. I can't pronounce it like it is, but when you are diagnosed with that, you're considered already disabled," she said.
No, that’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works. I’m guessing someone told her that, whether a friend, doctor, rep, or whoever, but clearly having a diagnosis of RA isn’t automatically disabling.
Now all that said, I would be surprised if a 59yo home health aide with RA and who appears to be obese wouldn’t grid out, but again, I don’t know what her records show, what information she provided to SSA about her treatment, etc.
I work in the TSC and have been many years. We just don’t have enough people.
I am in the Chicago Region. We are now answering phones for ALL of the offices in the area. Mainly for poor performing offices. Claimants hate it. They think they are calling their local office and they get someone out of state that has no clue how their office is organized. Then we wait for a long time to get anyone in that office to answer who that person should be sent to. This is if it is not a straightforward issue we could help and take care of. This is VERY rare if ever. Our office is small and we do not have customer service reps. So you have a GS 12-7 answering phones and doing recept instead of being a technical expert and taking and adjudicating claims and assisting staff with complicated cases. No one cares, mgmt or above. This is horrible customer service.
The claimants are describing it by that worthless "step" bar that appears in mySSA accounts.
But, it counts as a successfully answered call, and that is all the management morons want. A successful call isn't measured by them in terms of either accuracy or ability to help claimants, but whether someone managed to answer it before they hung up.
The bar is laying on the ground to hop over for management.
Post a Comment