The most asked question by anyone who has ever gone through the Social Security disability process has to be “why does it take so long?” In reality, it’s an easy question to answer, but not as easily accepted.
Most of the people who apply and are awarded benefits for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) face an approximate wait time of up to two years, depending on what part of the country they live in, before claims are ultimately decided. The main reason for this is that the majority of SSDI and SSI applicants have to appear at a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge before benefits are awarded because Social Security denied them on two previous attempts to acquire benefits.
The Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) in Minneapolis, the Social Security office that schedules and administers hearings, has up to 10,000 cases on any given day that are waiting to be scheduled for a hearing. The number of cases waiting to be scheduled for a hearing in other jurisdictions varies. Because there are this many cases waiting to be scheduled in Minneapolis it takes 12 to 15 months before a hearing will be held because there not enough judges to hear all the requests for hearings in a timely manner. Other jurisdictions face wait times between 8 and 20 months for hearings.
If you are someone who is waiting 12 to 15 months for a hearing that means you have already been denied SSDI or SSI on two previous occasions, which results in you having spent up to 10 months on this process before you even have chance to request a hearing. With this knowledge it’s easy to see why Social Security disability cases can drag on.
It is true that not everyone who applies for SSDI or SSI have to go to a hearing before they are approved. About 25 percent of applicants are approved on initial application and another 10 percent or so are approved after their first appeal. Even if you are approved at one of these two levels the process can still take several months.
You may know someone who didn’t have to wait a long time before they were approved, but these people are the exception to the rule. If you have to go to a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge for your SSDI or SSI case, you have a lot of company.
This link explains the appeals and hearing process.
