With Looming Budget Cuts, Getting Approved for Disability Social Security Can Become Tougher

For people living with disabilities, it’s been a case of “do you want the good news or bad news first.” Let’s begin with the good: based on several reports the lifetime of the Social Security Trust Fund has been deemed slightly healthier. This means the fund will have enough money to support the agency’s initiatives until 2028—a full five years longer than initial forecasts.

Now the bad news: the larger-than-expected fund is caused by a massive backlog in social security applications and payouts. It’s been revealed that people who have been rejected previously for disability social security benefits have to wait a record 596 days or 19.5 months before hearing anything back. This is up from 545 days in September of last year, and markedly longer than the 353 processing days in took in 2012 -- an increase of over 54%. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2wOj5eD

Eligibility for Social Security Disability Taking Much Longer Due to Hearings

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Eligibility for Social Security Disability Taking Much Longer Due to Hearings

For many people, getting social security disability benefits can be a manner of life and death. That’s why any delay in finalizing the decision is a huge cause of stress. As it turns out, hearings for eligibility for social security disability have been slowing down to a painful crawl to the point that patients in line have to wait for several more months to get a decision.


The Long Road to a Decision

It can take many months just to get a schedule for a hearing. Once the date is set, however, it’s not even guaranteed that a decision will be made immediately. The average wait for a regular disability hearing averages 19 months, while the wait for decisions to be promulgated can take anywhere from 120 to 180 days. That’s another half year of waiting, time that people with serious conditions may not be able to afford. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2verXuI