Posts under ‘SSA News’

Would you like to know what percentage of cases the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) assigned to your Social Security disability, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) case, approves and denies?
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Oregonian, the Social Security Administration released the production numbers and approval rates for all of its administrative law [...]

Veterans have filed a class action lawsuit has alleging the VA has been downplaying PTSD diagnoses and reducting VA impairment ratings:
A class action lawsuit has been filed against the federal government by five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The soldiers allege that they were illegally denied disability benefits despite being diagnosed with [...]

Social Security has started podcasting, and you can listen in, on your web browser.
Just go to Social Security Podcasts.
The first episode is titled “Deciding When to Start Receiving Retirement Benefits” and deals with the many factors to consider when deciding the right time for you to retire and start collecting Social Security benefits.

 
Remember the article about veterans suing for faster disability rulings in VA cases? Sadly, the lawsuit was denied.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton in Washington, D.C., has ruled that the court does not have the authority to require the Department of Veterans Affairs to accelerate efforts to process disability claims.
Federal Judge Rejects Request By Veterans Groups To Require VA To [...]

Here is one from the “heck-yeah” files:
The lawsuit, filed by the Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans of Modern Warfare in U.S. District Court in Washington, seeks to force the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide an initial ruling on every veterans claim for disability benefits within 90 days and to resolve appeals within 180 [...]

New figures are out about the Social Security backlog (September 2008 issue of the Social Security Forum):

The number of cases waiting for a decision at Social Security reached a record high of 767,000. 
The average wait time is 532 days, with wait times varying between 283 days and 943 days (just under three years).

In my own [...]

Social Security has launched a nation wide Compassionate Allowance (CAL) program.
Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced the national rollout of the agency’s Compassionate Allowances initiative, a way to expedite the processing of disability claims for applicants whose medical conditions are so severe that their conditions obviously meet Social Security’s standards.
“Getting benefits quickly to people [...]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes about three people who were awarded Social Security disability benefits after waiting years for a decision:
Social Security spokesman Mark Lassiter said the three cases were reviewed following an Aug. 3 article about the 21,000 people waiting for their day in court at the agency’s two Atlanta offices. Catherine Mulhall, Tony Mata and [...]

Paul Krugman tackles this topic in his March 28, 2008 column:
The date at which the trust fund will run out, according to Social Security Administration projections, has receded steadily into the future: 10 years ago it was 2029, now it’s 2042. As Kevin Drum, Brad DeLong, and others have pointed out, the SSA estimates are [...]

According to Social Security, 6.9 million disabled workers received disability benefits from Social Security in 2007. Another 1.8 million individuals received benefits as dependents of disabled workers.
This is compared to 31 million receiving retirement benefits.
The average monthly disability benefits was $979. Although it should be noted, for those receiving Supplemental Security Income benefits, [...]

You call one attorney looking for help on a Social Security problem.
I can’t help you.
You call another attorney.
We aren’t taking any new Social Security cases.
You make one more call.
We don’t do Social Security cases anymore.
You may soon not be able to find an attorney to take a Social Security case. Why? Social Security is [...]

The number of “aged” cases – cases pending for more than 900 (!) days dropped in 2007 from 63,700 to 108 during fiscal year 2007.
Fortunately, I do not see too many cases in Colorado that have been waiting more than two and half years for a hearing.  Unfortunately, I still see the average wait time [...]