The backlog for Social Security disability hearings is at an all time high. There are more than 1 million people across the country that are waiting for hearings, and some of these people have been waiting for two years or longer. The number of people who are waiting for hearings grows each month, as does the wait time at most hearing sites. These facts were rarely reported because most people, who are not trying to get benefits, don’t care much about the Social Security disability process, but the fact is, more than 25 percent of 20-year-olds today will become disabled before reaching age 67, according to Social Security.
The good news is the media is starting to notice the horrendous backlog of people who are waiting for disability hearings. The Norwood News, a newspaper that covers Bronx communities in New York called the Social Security disability backlog a “national disgrace.” The article shows that Bronx residents are waiting an average of 779 days to get a hearing, according to statistics supplied by Social Security. A spokesperson for Social Security, John Shallman, attributed the growing backlog to an aging Baby Boomer population and the recession of 2008, but said Social Security has hired 250 new judges since 2016 to help reduce the backlog. One thing Shallman failed to mention is that many of these judges were hire as a result of judges retiring over the last few years leaving vacancies for judges.
Waiting In North Carolina
The increased backlog is not only impacting people in New York, but all over the country. In North Carolina more than 38,000 people are experiencing the same thing. The News & Observer reported that the average wait times at North Carolina’s Greensboro office are just shy of 700 days and wait times in the state have doubled since 2010. It is no coincidence that the backlog began to increase in 2010. Social Security’s operating budget is less today than it was in 2010. The number of judges Social Security wanted to hire, 750, to address the backlog, is a far cry from how many judges that have actually been hired.
