Backlog in Disability Cases Create Traumatic Horror Stories!!

[dajoki]

Disability Cases Last Longer as Backlog Rises
Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times


Richard and Vicki Wild of Hillsborough, N.C., said they were mystified when their son Mark’s disability claim was rejected. “We had 10 years’ worth of hospital records,” Mr. Wild said.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE TO FIND OUY WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR SON, AND OTHER HORROR STORIES!!

By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: December 10, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/us/10disability.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

RALEIGH, N.C. — Steadily lengthening delays in the resolution of Social Security disability claims have left hundreds of thousands of people in a kind of purgatory, now waiting as long as three years for a decision.

Two-thirds of those who appeal an initial rejection eventually win their cases. But in the meantime, more and more people have lost their homes, declared bankruptcy or even died while awaiting an appeals hearing, say lawyers representing claimants and officials of the Social Security Administration, which administers disability benefits for those judged unable to work or who face terminal illness.

The agency’s new plan to hire at least 150 new appeals judges to whittle down the backlog, which has soared to 755,000 from 311,000 in 2000, will require $100 million more than the president requested this year and still more in the future. The plan has been delayed by the standoff between Congress and the White House over domestic appropriations.

There are 1,025 judges currently at work, and the wait for an appeals hearing averages more than 500 days, compared with 258 in 2000. Without new hirings, federal officials predict even longer waits and more of the personal tragedies that can result from years of painful uncertainty.

<<snip>>

Mr. Astrue and other officials attribute the high number of reversals to several causes. Those who file appeals tend to be those with stronger cases and lawyers who help them gather persuasive medical data. During the extended waiting period, a person’s condition may worsen, strengthening the case. The judges see applicants in person and have more discretion to grant benefits in borderline cases.

[datadiva]

1. I read this article earlier today

It hits home for me. I am currently on State Disability and have been afraid to file for SS Disability. If I file for SSD and have to wait almost three years, I don't know what I will do. I am old enough to file for Social Security. But if I want SSI which I will need to survive then I will have to file for SSD. I have PVD, osteoporosis, and Spinal Stenosis. I am 62 and will be 63 in April. I am scared to death of the future. Really don't know what to do.

[silverojo]

4. Get a lawyer

They'll usually just take part of what you win, so there's no out-of-pocket costs for you unless and until you win your case.

However, some things you've said confuse me....

Won't you be eligible for plain old Medicare when you're 65, anyway? If you'd be filing for SSD, that means you'd have to have worked during your lifetime, right? I was stricken in early adulthood, so I have to file for SSI (that's for people with low incomes, as opposed to SSD which is for people who have worked and paid into SS).

In any case, you really need a lawyer to look at the specifics of your situation. But even if you've never worked and are just trying for SSI, you can get it automatically as soon as you turn 65 IIRC. Ask a lawyer to be certain, but I believe that's the age at which one automatically qualifies.

Good luck and God bless! :hug:

[bluestateguy]

2. We have to ask what's the better trade-off to have

We can have the system as it is today, with 1+ year waiting times, so as to prevent the would-be cheaters from slipping through the cracks.

Myself, I'd rather live with a few cheaters slipping through the cracks (though if they are caught intentionally defrauding the government they should be jailed) if it means that thousands more can be spared the agony of this inhumanely long wait.

[silverojo]

5. A-freakin'-men! n/t

[dajoki]

9. I agree...

Too many people are suffering with their illness and they are struggling financially. I will take the trade off.

[nosmokes]

3. I firmly believe they automatically deny every case so that it continues to

fuel the mini-industry that has sprung up of semi-reputable and dis-reputable people that prey on those who are denied and scared and confused by the *system.* There are many services out there that will represent you in an appeal of your denial. They try awfully hard to look, act taste and smell like attorneys but the fact is they aren't. They simply know how to fill out the forms and where to submit them. and for that trivial knowledge they charge the disabled person 25% of their claim, which can often be thousands of dollars. What is needed is a social worker or someone that can walk the disabled person through the process and a little less by the book rigidity on the part of the SSA.

[SlingBlade]

6. I agree

I've been denied two times now.

My lawyer has requested a hearing before a judge next...We'll see.

I'm sure not holding my breath.

[nosmokes]

7. Try calling SSA direct and speaking w/ a clerk

one or two rungs up from the bottom. My experience has shown if you can get a sympathetic one, and what the guy I talked too that finally cleared my case up told me, is that there are certain and very specific words for every *condition* that the doctor must use for the patient/claimee to be considered disabled. Similes don't cut it-this is a bureaucracy we're talking about here. But once you have those magic words it's like the key to the farking kingdom. I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's the beauty of it from their point of view doncha think?Good luck and hang in there.

[cutlassmama]

8. Good luck with that. My local office phone line is CONSTANTLY busy.

I've called the 1-800 # five times with my information. It never did get corrected. Now they want me to pay back $40.00 a month in my son's SSI which disqualifies him for Medicaid. :mad:

I've written three letters also. No change.

[dajoki]

10. My lawyer told me...

never to speak with anybody from SSA without him being there. They are tricky and can twist things you say and use it against you. I won my case long ago after a hearing with a judge, but my lawyer said not to even send the reviews in without him looking at it first.

[cutlassmama]

11. It's good you have a good lawyer.

That is exactly what they did with my son. I called in that "we" had moved (he's always lived with me) and that the rent went up $150.00. Well, they used this as "he" moved and his "fair share" was somehow "reduced".

Um, excuse me...how do they get $150.00 rent INCREASE as a reduction??? They are insane with their rules.

And the fact that they couldn't send paperwork fast enough to get him to pay back $40.00, yet IGNORE my phone calls and letters...sheesh

[dajoki]

12. They are heartless...

Like I said, I would never speak to them without my lawyer. They will twist everything for their advantage, even if you are correct. They can't be trusted.