Wednesday, December 19, 2007

In the News: Editorial Responds to Disability Benefit Delays

... The backlog of applicants who are awaiting a decision after appealing an initial rejection has soared to 755,000 from 311,000 in 2000. The average wait for an appeals hearing now exceeds 500 days, twice as long as applicants had to wait in 2000.

Typically two-thirds of those who appeal eventually win their cases. But during the long wait, their conditions may worsen and their lives often fall apart. More and more people have lost their homes, declared bankruptcy or even died while awaiting an appeals hearing.


This is an excerpt from a December 11, 2007, editorial from the New York Times. Click here to read the complete piece.


New SSDI Resources Available
The National MS Society has just released a guidebook to help people living with MS navigate the Social Security disability application process.
For more information, visit www.nationalMSsociety.org/SSDI

1 comment:

YouCanCallMe...T said...

Not the worst article I've ever read on the topic of the backlogs, but certainly not the best. The writer unfortuntely did not take the time to attempt to understand how the system works and what the problems are. This page is written by a former claims examiner for social security and describes the root of the problem:

http://disabilityblogger.blogspot.com/2007/11/problem-with-social-security-disability.html

The original site is:

http://www.disabilityblogger.blogspot.com/