Articles Tagged with “disability processing delays”

Many potential clients I speak with daily are shocked to learn that the average wait time for a disability decision with the Social Security Administration is two years.  Yes, you heard me correctly – two years.  Why is that?  First, most applications are denied.  Second, the time period for a decision on the initial application is five months.  An appeal to the next level of review (reconsideration) is three to five months.  The next level of review – and where your best chance of a favorable decision exists — is the hearing level.  The current approval rate in Georgia at the hearing level is 48%.

But wait times for a hearing are currently over a year.  Here are the official wait times for a hearing in Georgia:  Atlanta Downtown Hearing Office – 20 months; Atlanta North Hearing Office –         18 months; Covington  –  18 months; Macon  –  16 months; Savannah – 17 months.

From a  2017 CBS News report, there were 1.1 million applicants waiting on a hearing before an administrative law judge.  That is a 31 percent increase from 2012.  However, the agency’s annual budget is the same as it was in 2011.  Five years ago the hearing wait times were less than a year.   “No search for efficiencies, reprioritization of tasks or technological improvements can substitute for adequate resources,” said Lisa Ekman of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives.