usa today article on disability backlog

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-29-disabled_N.htm

Disabled worker cases at record

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Enlarge By Todd for USA TODAY

Cleland helps Jeffery Houston out of his chair as he gets ready

for breakfast in Tempe, Ga. He has severe diabetes and numerous other

ailments. He hasn't worked since 1999.

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Wolf, USA TODAY

The Social Security Administration faces a record — and rapidly

growing — backlog of appeals by people who claim they are too disabled

to work. Through June, it had just over 745,000 cases pending, and the

wait for a hearing averaged 17 months, also a record.

Claimants in some parts of the country must wait up to 31 months,

according to the agency. " People have died waiting for a hearing, "

Social Security Commissioner Astrue says.

The agency says the backlog doubled in six years and could reach 1

million by 2010.

FEELING PAIN: Delays can lead to personal havoc; wait times in your city

Astrue is trying to reduce the waits, but Congress has provided nearly

$1 billion less than President Bush sought over the past six years.

Field offices have lost more than 2,300 workers in less than two

years, leaving the agency with its lowest staffing level since the

early 1970s. The agency froze staffing levels for nine months last

year after threatening furloughs.

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" We don't have enough staff members to answer the phones, " says

Warsinskey, president of the National Council of Social

Security Management Associations, which represents 3,500 field office

managers. District offices handle 110 million calls and visitors a

year. As the baby boom ages, he foresees " almost a tsunami of

additional people coming on to the rolls. "

This year, Bush proposed a 3% increase in funding for the program;

House and Senate bills would make that 4% to 5%.

The aging of baby boomers has added to the ranks of the disabled. As

workers age, they are more prone to injury and disease. The number of

people collecting disability benefits, 15.3 million, has risen by

about 24% in the past five years, agency figures show.

" It's a combination of two demographic trends — the population getting

larger and the population getting older, " Astrue says.

Under a system set up a half-century ago, state agencies first review

disability claims, a process that takes three to four months on

average. Of the 2.5 million people who file disability claims each

year, about 65% are initially denied. Those who appeal go to federal

hearings before administrative law judges. Eventually, 62% of the

appeals are approved.

The average wait for a federal hearing varies from nine months in

burg, Pa., to 31 months in Atlanta, mostly due to staffing

differences. " It really is a continuing disaster, financially and

emotionally, for millions of people, " says Tom Affleck, an Atlanta

attorney who works on such cases.

The agency also has reduced the number of approved cases it

periodically reviews. As a result, " people are getting paid benefits

that they're not entitled to, just because we don't have the staff to

review their cases, " says Witold Skwierczynski, president of the

National Council of Social Security Administration Field Operations

Locals.

Astrue is pursuing changes, from making " compassionate " early

decisions to holding more hearings electronically, so geographic

disparities are lessened. But " I can't look the Congress in the eye

right now and say we're doing our job as well as we can do it. "

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