Social Security News

By Tomasz Stasiuk, July 8th, 2009 | SSA News | 2 Comments

The “Social Security Hot Topics” Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program provided quite a bit of information about the state of Social Security.

More judges on the way:

• 150 new judges already hired in 2009.
• 20-30 additional judges to be hired before end of 2009
• ~200 more judges to be hired in 2010.

Applications on the rise:

With the poor economy, more people are filing for disability benefits. There has been approximately a 25% increase in new claims filed in 2009.

Psychological problems loom large in disability cases:

35-40% of disability cases involve mental limitations.

New National Hearing Centers (NHC) coming online:

National Hearing Centers handle video hearings only, and can hear cases from around the country to try to reduce backlog. As previously noted, the Falls Church Virginia, and Albuquerque New Mexico hearing centers are already up and running.

Another NHC in Chicago is set to open in 2009, with a fourth center to open in Maryland in 2010.

Tomasz Stasiuk is the founding attorney of the Stasiuk Firm - a law firm devoted to exclusively handling Social Security disability cases in Colorado. Contingent fees available.