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 →