SSD Delays

If you Google Social Security Disability (“SSD”) delays, you will find countless articles about the record long waiting time to get a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge, or about how thousands of people are dying while they wait for their SSD benefits.  Claimants frequently ask me what they can do to minimize their wait time.  My answer is that they should visit their doctors to ensure that they provide the necessary test results, treatment records, and opinion reports and forms that I advised.

I represent a 59 year old house cleaner with back and neck problems, whose SSD application was approved today in less than five months.  While the majority of my clients are in their 50’s with musculoskeletal problems, few get approved in less than five months.  The only thing that was really different here was that the claimant promptly provided all of the medical information that I suggested was needed to support her claim.

The SSD process takes much longer than it should.  Because claimants can no longer work and have no income, most cannot afford the usual delay involved.  It helps to be proactive.  While we always request documentation, doctors obviously are more responsive to information requests from their patients, than they are to us.