"Here's the trick. And it's no trick at all. Most claims require a hearing before they will be approved. You get a hearing by filing an appeal to your denial. It's what you must do if you want to win."
You may have waded through a Social Security disability claim and come away wondering, "Why is this so difficult?" Or, "Why does it take so long?"
I think there are many reasons why SSDI is so difficult to get. Some of the reasons relate to policy and some relate to practical realities.
Policy Gets in the Way
The Social Security Environment: The system is going broke. The Administration now estimates that it can only pay current levels of benefits through 2031. The news media is critical of Social Security, calling it "the new welfare" and scandalizing it with exaggerated claims of fraud and abuse. Politicians are running for cover and Social Security is becoming the most scandalized government program in the country, and unfairly so. So, this environment encourages slowing down the system, saving money, paying fewer benefits and making everything slower and harder. It's much harder to get an SSDI benefit in 2018 than it was in 2012. Award rates have dropped from 62 percent to 42 percent.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is frightened to death of fraud. They have been ripped off, though not as much as you might hear. They respond by checking and triple checking everything. When in doubt, deny. For the most part, the rules and regulations haven't changed but the attitude of how they are enforced certainly has. If you want a benefit now, you had darned well better be able to prove your eligibility. You simply are not going to be given any benefit of the doubt.
Social Security's policy today is: Be certain nobody gets a benefit unless they can prove eligibility beyond a shadow of a doubt. Policy is to go slow, be very deliberate and prove everything with objective evidence. It doesn't matter how long it takes.
"The thing is like an aging dinosaur. It just gets slower and slower every day."
PRACTICAL THINGS GET IN THE WAY
Most claims now go to a hearing before a federal administrative law judge (ALJ) Social Security has about 1200 AlJs nationwide. It also has over 1 million appeals each year. There aren't enough judges to hear the cases quickly. The average wait time is over 20 months. This doesn't seem to concern anyone in the Government.
Proposed new changes only make things take longer. President Trump's 2019 Social Security budget proposes to get rid of the 10 prototype states and re-establish "Reconsideration" in all 50 states. This will add about 6 months to how long it takes to get a hearing. So, in Alabama today the average wait time is about 20 months. If the new policy is adopted, it will take about 26 months. You see, the thing is like an aging dinosaur. It just keep getting slower and slower with each passing day.
No one is in a hurry to speed things up at Social Security. They may call a press conference now and then, or send out a press release to voters criticizing Social Security--but they aren't about to take steps to change anything. They like it slow and deliberate. Nobody wants to spend money faster--certainly not on Social Security.
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E-Mail me: forsythefirm@gmail.com
Call Me: (256) 799-0297
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