The Social Security Disability program is a crucial asset that provides income to disabled workers who are unable to maintain full-time employment due to impairments, but because the process to obtain benefits can be long and drawn out there are many pitfalls that claimants can’t avoid before benefits are approved.
The first problem is that many people who apply for Social Security disability have little to no income to survive on because they can’t work. Asking these people to survive for a year or longer, which is how long it can take to obtain benefits, is asking too much. Because many of these people have limited resources many go bankrupt. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 48,000 individuals had to file for bankruptcy while waiting for a final decision on their disability claim between fiscal year 2014 and fiscal year 2015.
Even worse than having to file for bankruptcy is that a portion of claimants actually pass away before a final determination is made and they are awarded benefits. The GAO reported that nearly 110,000 claimants died prior to receiving a final decision on their disability claim between fiscal year 2008 and fiscal year 2019.
Below is a portion of the GAO report that shows wait times on disability claims remain a problem. As the report indicates, too many claimants have to file for bankruptcy during this process or don’t even survive the outcome to where they would receive benefits.
GAO found that most applicants for disability benefits who appealed the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) initial disability determination from fiscal years 2008 through 2019 waited more than 1 year for a final decision on their claim. Median wait times reached 839 days for claims filed in fiscal year 2015, following an increase of applications during the Great Recession.
