Yesterday, The Denver Post published an editorial entitled Social Security’s lag time in disability assistance is unconscionable. The editorial noted that thousands of people die waiting for hearings. A couple of days ago, AP News published stating that, “More than 1 million Americans await a hearing to see whether they qualify for disability benefits from Social Security, with the average wait nearly two years — longer than some of them will live.”
In the recent past, OTR decisions have been helpful in
reducing the hearing backlog in the past. As recently as Fiscal Year 2010, senior attorneys issued more than 54,000 on-the record decisions, and OTRs were not uncommon. However, last year just over 1,000 were issued, with this year following suit.
Senior attorney or attorney advisor’s would approve OTRs when medical-vocational rules directed awarding benefits, or when a listing was met. I had a hearing today, where the medical expert said the claimant met a listing, and the ALJ indicated that he was accepting that opinion. This case would have been approved by a staff attorney OTR several years ago, and resuming the program to allow them to issue OTRs would be an effective start to help alleviate the backlog.
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