The House Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee has scheduled a hearing related to the Social Security’s backlog of disability cases for September 6. The members of the subcommittee are expected to discus Social Security’s plan to reduce claimant wait times and how to improve the disability determination process.
This is an issue Social Security has been dealing with for quite a while as wait times have been getting longer and longer. According to the announcement of the scheduled hearing by the chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Sam Johnson, (R-Texas), wait times for a disability decision at the hearing level have increased nationwide from 353 days in fiscal year 2012 to 600 days currently.
In a statement from Johnson’s office, the congressman said the wait times for hearings have become unacceptable.
“Americans rightfully expect that when they file for disability benefits that they will get an answer quickly and not have to wait years for the Social Security Administration to make a decision. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Today, people wait nearly 600 days on average for a decision by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). Social Security has to do better. I look forward to hearing how Social Security plans to get these wait times under control. Americans want, need, and deserve nothing less,” Johnson said.
Social Security has taken a couple different approaches previously to try and reduce the backlog through congressional-funded programs aimed to fast-track certain cases, but the funding was less than adequate.
Unfortunately, Johnson’s statement neglected to inform that Social Security is under-funded and understaffed and has roughly the same operating budget it had more than seven years ago. No witnesses to testify at the hearing have been identified as yet, but you are likely to hear from Social Security employees who will probably inform the subcommittee that funding is a major roadblock to reducing the backlog.
