A previous blog explained what has happened to the Social Security Administration the last few years due to an inadequate budget. This blog will examine the day-to-day impact of shrinking budgets at one of the hearing’s offices in the country, officially identified as the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR).
A recent article in The Roanoke Times examined what the Roanoke ODAR is faced with these days. According to the article, people who have requested a disability hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), wait about two years before their hearing is held. This is not abnormal, most hearings offices around the country face similar wait times. There are more than 1 million people across the country who are waiting for disability hearings right now. The two-year wait for a hearing is just the tip of the iceberg. The article leaves out the fact that most people wait up to a year before they can even request a hearing, so total wait time is around three years for a final disability decision.
The people at the Roanoke hearings office believe they can read the tea leaves about what is coming since President Trump ordered a federal hiring freeze and don’t expect any worthwhile increase in the operating budget, which is just going to make matters worse.
“I shudder to think what will happen if we don’t get significant relief from the hiring freeze. We desperately need support staff,” said ALJ Marilyn Zahm, who is the president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges.
At the Roanoke ODAR one ALJ position is vacant and more than 30 percent of the support staff jobs are vacant. Social Security is not asking for much. A plan by the agency requesting the hiring of 25 more ALJs and 200 more support staff across the country would not change much, but that is the only life rope Social Security has to cling to these days.
