A Call From the Senate - Momentum on Both Sides Now ?

Senator Dorgan Wants Investigation of SSA Appeal Delays

As the drums bang, Senator Dorgan has asked the Inspector Generals' office to investigate the SSA Disability Appeal backlogs. The agency, keenly aware of the continuing scrutiny announces new initiatives and a perfect storm continues. The difference is SSA's continued review of novel solutions to deal with the heavy weather. In August 2007, SSA's new Commissioner Astrue restored the attorney advisor program permitting attorney advisers, under managerial oversight, to help reduce the backlogs. The following was released on Senator Dorgan's website last week.

DORGAN WANTS INVESTIGATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFIT
DENIALS, DELAY IN DECIDING APPEALS
2,800 North Dakotans now caught up in "broken system"

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) wants to know
why 2,800 North Dakotans and hundreds of thousands of other Americans
who have submitted disability claims under the Social Security
Administration are being systematically denied, only to have them
approved on appeal - after waiting nearly a year and a half.

"This system is broken," Dorgan said Thursday. "How else can one
explain that the appeal process results in nearly two thirds of the claims that
were previously denied finally being approved? Moreover, the huge
backlog of claims means that many with disabilities are forced to live
in poverty while waiting for a fair resolution of their disability claim."

Dorgan has asked the Inspector General's office to investigate what has
caused these problems and to determine how it affects people.
"This is unfair to a lot of working Americans who have paid premiums in
the form of their social security payroll tax for a program that
includes disability payments if they become disabled," Dorgan said.
"However, it seems that someone has decided they are going to
systematically deny those claims and force those people to wait lengthy
periods of time before an appeal will be heard. We now learn that nearly
two thirds of the claims that have been denied were subsequently
approved on appeal. This suggests to me that a whole lot of folks who
are suffering with disabilities are being mistreated by this system and
I want it fixed. Nationwide, there are more than three quarters of a
million waiting in long backlogs to have their appeals decided.
I don't know whether it is sheer incompetence or a deliberate
decision to delay and deny benefits that people desperately need that
have previously paid through the social security system, but I
intend to find out."

In a letter to the President, Dorgan is also asking for action to
correct the situation. "The bottom line is that elderly Americans
and other poor individuals with disabilities that prevent them earning
a living and paying their bills deserve better," Dorgan wrote. "Social
Security disability benefits keep millions of disabled Americans out of
poverty. But these people who are unable to work and need immediate
assistance to avoid financial collapse do not appear to be a priority
for your Administration."