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Category Archives for Delays

What Does October 2025 Government Shutdown Mean for Social Security?

As all of you are undoubtedly aware, the federal government shut down on October 1, 2025 because Congress and the President could not come to an agreement regarding funding to keep the government open. The early indication is that this may last for some time. Understandably, this creates concern for our clients. Below is the best information available right now about how this might affect clients who are in the process of applying for benefits.

Benefits to Current Claimants

Clients already receiving Social Security, SSI, or SSDI benefits will continue receiving payments without interruption. This has been true in all 20 previous shutdowns since 1976, and disability benefits remain funded as “mandatory spending” outside of congressional appropriations.

Pending Claims and Applications

Hearings: The Social Security Administration (SSA) will hold already scheduled disability hearings.

Initial Applications: State Disability Determination Services will continue processing initial claims, but processing speed may vary because each state controls its own staffing and funding during a lapse. Each state must independently determine whether it can maintain operations (pay its employees) during a federal funding lapse. This could lead to some states processing claims more or less as usual, but others, more affected by the funding lapse, may be processing claims more slowly.

Appeals/Reconsiderations: These will continue but probably with reduced support staff, resulting in extended processing times. Continue reading →

How is this Even Remotely Acceptable?

This is a news story from a Colorado TV station.  If the video doesn’t play this is a news story about a Colorado woman with chronic back problems, sciatica, diabetes with neuropathy and other severe impairments who became homeless while waiting for Social Security to make a decision on her application for benefits.  She waited over a year and a half before receiving a denial notice.

Her attorney was interviewed by the reported and commented that the attorney’s office was having a huge problem getting documents to SSA.  They submitted the same documents – presumably medical records – six times because SSA kept losing the submissions and seemed unable to associate these records with this claimant’s file.

As the claimant’s lawyer noted, delays in disability determinations has skyrocketed over the past few years.  I see this same problem, not  just in Colorado, but in Social Security offices all over the country.

Ten years ago, a disability applicant could expect to wait three or four months for a decision on his/her application.  Now, wait times of nine to twelve months are common, with delays of fifteen to eighteen months not atypical. Continue reading →

“I’m 34 Years Old with Serious Medical Problems but Still Hanging on at Work. Should I Quit and File for Social Security Disability?”

should I file for disabilityAs a Social Security disability attorney, I frequently receive emails like pose this question – from a man or woman in their 30’s or early 40’s with a long standing medical condition that makes work a real struggle.

Sometimes the issue is chronic pain – in the back, the knees or even a generalized body pain (like fibromyalgia). Sometimes the underlying medical condition is a chronic disease like diabetes or kidney disease that saps one’s energy and makes it difficult to function reliably day after day.

I even hear from potential clients who are cancer survivors – the cancer may have been removed surgically but the struggles with long term effects of chemotherapy or radiation remain.

More recently I am hearing from Covid “long haulers” – people who contracted Covid in 2020 and who continue to struggle with cognitive loss, low energy and occasional breathing issues.

And almost every younger person I correspond with has some level of anxiety or depression about how facing a future with likely lifelong medical complications, and stress about how they will support themselves or their families.

Should You Quit Work to File for Disability?

So, if you find yourself in one of these situations, what should you do? Keep working? Quit and file for disability? Work part time and file for disability? Here are my thoughts about the reality of pursuing disability if you are under 50 and still hanging on at work. Continue reading →

Disabled Baseball Star Waits for Disability Decision

Is it really easier to win a World Series ring than to win Social Security disability benefits?  Atlanta’s Fox 5 reports on the sad case of former Yankees second baseman Brian Doyle who has been denied twice by Social Security despite a bout with leukemia and a serious case of Parkinson’s Disease.

Atlanta’s Fox-5 recently reported a story about Mr. Doyle who has been waiting months and months for a hearing with a Social Security judge despite battling leukemia, two neck fusions and a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease.

With all of the chatter by political types about “rampant fraud” and abuse, the reality is that deserving claimants like Brian Doyle continue to suffer because of Social Security’s delays and inefficiencies.

And there is no guarantee that Mr. Doyle will be approved.  Approval rates in the downtown Atlanta hearing office range from less than 20% to over 65% so whether this obviously disabled gentleman gets approved will rely as much on the luck of the judicial lottery as his medical records.  Mr. Doyle is represented in his case by a very capable lawyer, my good friend Greg Rogers, so hopefully this deserving claimant will get some good news soon.

Link to the Fox 5 story 

Local TV Station Highlights Problems with Social Security Hearing Process

This is the video segment about Social Security disability delays, hosted by investigative reporter Randy Travis of Atlanta’s Fox 5 TV.   Travis highlights what most Social Security disability lawyers already know – that the judge assigned to your case could mean more than the medical records in terms of whether or not you receive benefits.

In the Atlanta downtown hearing office, there are judges who approve less than 20% of cases, and judges who approve more than 70%.   So two identical claimants – each with the exact same medical issues – would likely get different results based solely on the luck of the draw.

And you are going to wait – often two years or longer – before you even get the chance to appear before that judge.

While there are other problems with the SSD process, Mr. Travis’ report highlights two of the biggest issues – the wildly divergent approval rates by judges within the same hearing office and the outrageous delays.

Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5

Claim Review Doctors at Social Security Overworked, Underqualified and Underpaid

Social Security medical review system under strainIf you have received a claim denial notice from Social Security, you are familiar with the language used in these denials:

We have determined that your condition is not severe enough to be considered disabling.  In deciding this, we considered the medical records, your statements, and how your condition affects your ability to work….Doctors and other people in the State agency who are trained in disability evaluation reviewed the evidence and made the determination based on Social Security law and regulations….

Now it turns out that these “doctors and other people” are not so well trained, nor is it likely that they spent more than a few minutes reviewing your file.

Continue reading →

If You Appeal an Unfavorable Hearing Decision, You Can No Longer File a New Claim as Well

Social Security Ruling 11-1pFor as long as I have been in practice, I have advised my clients that if they received an unfavorable hearing decision, they could file an appeal with the Appeals Council and, at the same time, file a new claim for benefits.

As of July 28, 2011, this “double filing” option is no longer available.

SSA has issued a “ruling” called SSR 11-1p which says in part:

Under the new procedures we are adopting in this Ruling, generally you will no longer be allowed to have two claims for the same type of benefits pending at the same time. If you want to file a new disability claim under the same title and of the same type as a disability claim pending at any level of administrative review, you will have to choose between pursuing your administrative review rights on the pending disability claim or declining to pursue further administrative review and filing a new application.

Social Security concluded that this new rule was needed because of the administrative complications of coordinating appeals with new claims. Continue reading →

Hearing Delays Result in Increased Danger to Judges

Recently, I represented a claimant afflicted with cancer who clearly met Social Security’s definition of disability – she had a medically determinable condition that precluded substantial gainful activity and her condition had lasted 12 consecutive months and was longstanding in nature.   The judge assigned to this case is a no-nonsense person who took no more than 5 minutes to conclude the hearing.

Angry claimant threatens Social Security judgeIn the past, this judge had the practice of announcing his favorable decisions – in other words, he would tell my client “I am going to find you disabled and award benefits.”   This time, however, he closed the case without saying anything.   After the recording equipment was turned off, he asked my client to leave the room but asked me to stay.  He then explained that “I have been told by the chief judge that I am no longer allowed to announce when I am going to grant a case.  I think this is a ridiculous policy as your client and thousands like her have been waiting for years, but I can no longer announce my decisions.”

Although my judge did not explain the reasons for this change in policy, I suspect it has to do with the nature of Social Security hearings.  The Social Security Administration is an agency that is part of the executive branch of government, rather than the judicial branch.  As such, the procedures, including rules of evidence and trial procedures are not the same as the procedures used in judicial proceedings that you might find in a state or federal court.

In state and federal courts, you find baliffs and court personnel who provide security to judges.  In Social Security hearings, there is no formal security other than a sole security officer who performs a brief security check of claimants and witnesses when they enter the hearing office waiting room. Continue reading →

If I Stop Working and File for Disability, How Do I Know that my Money Won’t Run Out Before my Case is Approved?

I have written extensively on this blog about the claim processing delays that continue to plague Social Security disability.  I suspect that there are a lot of folks out there who are suffering and struggling trying to stay at work, perhaps at the expense of their health, because they are concerned that if they stop working, they will run out of savings before their case is decided.  I recently received the following question from a gentleman named Steve who is fighting diabetes and diabetic complications and who finds himself with this quandary:

I am a 43 year old diabetic. I was diagnosed 7 years ago and progressed quickly from pills to insulin injections and have now been on an insulin pump for 3 years.  I have neuropathy in both legs, heart disease, and many other diabetic problems, because of high blood sugar.  I am at an ideal weight of 170 Lbs. and 5′ 9″ height and have always been active and try to eat healthy.   I take 40-50 units of insulin each day, but my A1C readings are still 10+. I am no longer able to perform my work assignments.  My employer (25years)had even allowed me to change to an office job but I am still not able to sit for over an hour without my legs hurting and I have had many hypo (low-sugar) episodes at work which scared everyone.  My doctor’s have suggested that I quit so that I can concentrate on this disease before it kills me, but the stories of possible delays in SSDI have really concerned me and my family.  I have enough money saved to survive for a year, but that is it.  Do you think someone like me would qualify for SSDI benefits, and what would a potential wait be?

Here are my thoughts: I think that Steve has very good reason to be concerned.  When you apply for benefits, there are two times when you are likely to be approved – at the initial application stage, which will be within four to six months after application, or at the hearing stage, which could be two to three years after application.

diabetes1Initial application approvals are almost always arise in cases that meet a listing.  Steve is a diabetic and the applicable listing is at Listing 9.08. State Agency adjudicators will approve diabetes cases on the listings but they will expect the medical records to document as many of the following complications:

  • long standing neuropathy (numbness in extremities)
  • long standing retinopathy (vision issues)
  • blood sugar readings at 200 or higher over an extended period of time despite increasing dosages of insulin
  • organ damage (documented by abnormal lab readings)
  • frequent urination
  • sexual dysfunction
  • statement or checklist from treating doctor that condition equals 9.08

In my view, you need to aggressively argue to the adjudicator that your case meets a listing – do not assume that the adjudicator will figure it out.

If your case is denied at the initial application stage, it is very unlikely that a different adjudicator will approve it at reconsideration.  Statistics I have seen suggest that no more than 10 to 15% of cases are approved at the reconsideration appeal level. Continue reading →

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