How to Speed Up the Social Security Disability Decision Making Process
Legal Article GuideBy: Jonathan Ginsberg
If you have filed a Social Security disability claim, there is a very good chance that you may be forced to wait as long as four years for a decision. According to Social Security’s own reports, the average claim in the United States take over three years start to finish. In some areas of the country, SSDI and SSI claims may take over four years because of a shortage of judges and other Social Security Administration personnel.
These delays can cause extreme hardship to disabled claimants who do not have savings or family support to offer food, clothing and housing. Injured or sick workers who somehow manage to “hold on” for six months or even a year simply cannot survive if the delays extend beyond 12 months.
New Social Security Disability Regulations - Designed to Reduce Delays
Social Security is trying to address this problem with a new set of rules that go into effect starting in August, 2006. Over the next seven years these new Social Security regulations will be in force all over the country. Among the highlights - a new program called QDD (quick disability determination) which is designed to identify those cases where a claimant is clearly disabled and is unlikely to recover. Hopefully this new program will offer some relief to sufferers of AIDS, congestive heart failure, brittle diabetes, multi-level disc disease and other severe medical conditions.
The new Social Security regulations are sure to be the topic of numerous disability blog posts and you should take advantage of these free resources to educate yourself.
The new regulations also provide for a Federal Reviewing Officer - a specially trained Social Security employee who has more decision making power than the decision makers who normally process claims.
If these new programs have been started in your area, you should make every effort to take advantage of them. A Social Security disability lawyer in your area can advise you whether the new rules have gone into effect where you live.
Your Elected Representatives May Be Able to Move You to the Front of the Line
Another effective strategy for getting a quick decision requires the help and participation of your elected representatives. Every United States Senator and most Congressional Representatives have a Social Security liaison staff person whose sole job is to assist Social Security claimants. Although your Senator or Representative cannot influence Social Security claim decisions, they can sometimes move your case to the front of the list and get your hearing put on a judge’s docket.
If you contact your elected representatives to ask for help be prepared to identify a pending crisis such as a home foreclosure or vehicle repossession and be prepared to document that you have provided Social Security with a complete list of treating doctors and hospitals.
Finally, do not hesitate to contact a local Social Security disability attorney who can advise you as to the typical delays in your area, and whether your elected representatives have been helpful in the past.
Jonathan Ginsberg is a practicing Social Security disability lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to his law practice, Jonathan is the editor and publisher of several national Social Security disability related web sites, the most recent of which is the Social Security disability blog at http://www.ssdAnswers.com.
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