Sam Johnson commends disability backlog progress
Washington,
Oct 20 -
Today the Ranking Member of the Social Security Subcommittee on the Ways and Means Committee, U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson (3rd Dist.-Texas), commended the work of Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue and praised agency efforts to reduce backlogged claims for disability benefits.
“I’m glad to see Mike Astrue’s hard work and good management are paying off. He and his staff have done a great job streamlining the disability appeals process and improving service to those who need it most, especially to those who were waiting the longest,” said Johnson.
At a recent speaking engagement to the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives, Commissioner Astrue gave a detailed progress report on agency actions. The Social Security Administration (SSA) hired 190 new Administrative Law Judges, “opened a National Hearing Center, eliminated virtually its entire aged case backlog of more than 135,000 cases waiting over 900 days for a hearing decision, and implemented a quick disability determination process in all 50 states.”
According to the SSA, “as a result of these and many other activities, the disability backlog at the hearings level, which had been growing at the rate of about 70,000 cases each year for most of this decade, grew by only about 14,000 cases.”
Last year Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Mike McNulty (D-N.Y.) and Johnson worked together with Appropriators to receive close to $150 million more in additional funding over the President’s budget request to bolster disability program service. As a result, the number of judges and support staff are increasing.
Social Security disability benefits provide essential income security to workers with disabilities and their families and represent 16% of total Social Security benefits paid. As of June 2008, 7.2 million disabled workers and 1.8 million dependents collected Social Security disability benefits.
Johnson has long expressed his concerns that Americans have been waiting longer than ever, over 17 months on average, to hear whether a judge has decided they are eligible for benefits and the fact that some judges are processing cases at a level well below the agency expectations.
To read the full SSA news release announcing the disability backlog progress, visit http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/backlog-progress-pr.html
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