Additional Budget Cuts Would Be Devastating To the Social Security Administration

It is no secret that the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) is floundering these days. Backlogs and budget cuts mean that claimants applying for disability benefits through SSA are waiting over 500 days to get a hearing, according to a recent Washington Post article.  The 500-plus days of waiting at the hearing level does not take into account the processing periods at the initial application and reconsideration levels either. Both the initial application and reconsideration levels can take SSA anywhere from 4 to 9 months to process, thus tacking on the potential for another 18 months of waiting before a claimant can even request a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”).  

Now House Republicans hope to pass an appropriations bill that would further cut SSA’s budget, thus triggering worsening backlogs in an already painfully delayed system. Since 2010, SSA’s operating budget has been decreased by 10 percent in spite of the fact that beneficiaries have increased by 12 percent. Currently, more than 1.1 million people are waiting for a disability hearing. The reality is that SSA lacks the staff and an efficient system to process all these hearing requests, which in turn, makes it difficult for disability applicants to receive their benefits in a timely manner. Budget cuts would just be another giant hurdle in the way of disabled claimants and the disability benefits that they need in order to survive.

These proposed budget cuts would come with a temporary furlough and a hiring freeze – measures that undoubtedly would negatively impact SSA’s ever-growing backlog as well. “Cutting staff when SSA is processing historically high claims is irresponsible and a sign that the Republicans who voted for this cut are not interested in providing tax payers with good service regarding SSA,” said Witold Skwierczynski, President of the American Federation of Government Employees SSA Council. Such drastic measures do seem that they have the potential to further cripple this already struggling agency.

The future of SSA is in jeopardy. It is already an agency in vast need of improvement, but it is currently teetering on the brink of failure. SSA needs to take a hard look at ways to improve its efficiency, especially in the face of potential budget cuts. However, it is a government beast that is resistant to change. In spite of the fact that SSA has promised to utilize their attorney-writers for early decisions, review on-the-record requests, direct national overflow branches to prescreen the cases, it appears they have been reluctant to implement these promises. Thus, the prospect of further budget cuts and increasing delays is devastating news to the disability community.

 Got a question about SSDI or SSI that you need us to answer? Please check out our website at www.westcoastdisability.com . We try to provide you with helpful information on our website that will allow you to successfully navigate the Social Security Disability process. Also, feel free to email me your questions at megan@westcoastdisability.com or call me at (800) 459-3017 x 103.