Extremely long wait for disability benefits approval has left many in devastating situation- unable to work nor function properly, without funds and support. The average wait for appeal decision was over 600 days in 2017! Social Security Administration is short-staffed due to budget cuts which forced sharp reductions in staffing , along with other resources, which decreased the agency’s ability to provide effective public service. The SSA’s operating budget has been decreased by 11%  between 2010 and 2017 in inflation-adjusted terms, while at the same time, the number of beneficiaries rose 13 percent.

Over 1 million people are waiting for a hearing decision. Slow paperwork processing can keep beneficiaries in the unknown for many months or years when waiting for mistakes to be corrected.

But recent budget changes (March 2018) are moving in the right direction: The omnibus legislation increases the SSA budget by $480 million over FY 17’s appropriation; $280 million is going towards IT upgrades. Another $100 million is tagged for reducing the disability backlog. Another $100 million is general funding that can be used to improve field office and toll-free teleservice operations.

But the increased funding for disability hearings will not turn things around overnight. Much will depend on how the money is spent. $100 million sounds like a lot, but it’s just a drop in the context of the chronic underfunding of the system for so many years.

Source: Reuters “U.S. Social Security funding should ease customer-service crisis”

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