Disability is our most pressing challenge

[Guest guest]

Disability is our most pressing challenge

http://www.wickedlocal.com/belmont/news/lifestyle/columnists/x37419235

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By Astrue/Guest Perspective

I know from personal experience how difficult Social Security's

disability process can be. When my father was 52, he suffered a

severe cerebral hemorrhage caused by a rare form of brain cancer. As

I took care of the application for him, it opened my eyes to the

complicated rules associated with our disability programs.

Each year, approximately 2.5 million people apply for Social Security

disability benefits. On average, one-third of them are approved upon

initial application, which takes an average of three months for a

decision. But for those who are denied and appeal the decision to the

hearing level, it can take a long time to receive a decision — much

too long, in my opinion.

Right now, there are more than 750,000 cases waiting for a hearing

and the average time to get a hearing decision is 499 days. Pending

hearings have doubled since 2001. In addition, the number of

applications for disability benefits has been extraordinarily high

throughout the last seven years and we can expect it to be even

higher in the coming years.

Social Security's disability programs have grown significantly over

the last seven years and will continue to do so at an increasing rate

as aging baby boomers reach their most disability-prone years. At the

same time, Congress has added new and non-traditional workloads to

Social Security's responsibilities. As a result, the agency is

struggling to balance those new responsibilities with its core

workloads under tight resource constraints.

That's why I've made improving the disability determination process

my top priority. It is our most pressing challenge.

Last year I appeared before the Senate Finance Committee to present

an aggressive plan to reduce the backlog and improve the disability

process. These new initiatives will eliminate the hearings backlog

and prevent it from recurring. Let me give you just a few examples.

The first is the Quick Disability Determination (QDD), a process

based on a computer model that allows us to screen cases with a high

potential for approval. The QDD process has proved highly successful

in the Boston region, and the average processing time now is just

eight days. On Sept, 5, 2007, the agency issued a final rule

extending QDD nationwide. By the end of this month, every state will

be processing QDD cases and about 5 percent of all allowances will be

handled through QDD.

The second, Compassionate Allowances, is a way of quickly identifying

medical conditions that invariably qualify under our listings. In

these cases, which are often rare diseases unfamiliar to reviewers,

allowances will be made as soon as the diagnosis is confirmed. In

December 2007, we held the first public hearing on this initiative

and will hold three more hearings this year. You can learn more about

compassionate allowances at

www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances.

In addition, Social Security has opened a National Hearing Center

(NHC). The NHC allows the agency to capitalize on new technologies

such as electronic disability folders and video teleconferencing and

gives needed flexibility to address the country's worst backlogs. We

also are hiring 175 new Administrative Law Judges (ALJs), the largest

group of new ALJs ever hired by Social Security in a single year. We

expect to start bringing these ALJs on board in the spring.

These are but a few of the many initiatives the agency has underway.

When it comes to eliminating disability backlogs, there is no single

magic bullet. But with additional staff, enhanced business processes

and improved ways of fast-tracking targeted cases, I believe we can

improve the disability process and waiting times.

To learn more about Social Security's plan to reduce the hearings

backlog and improve service go to

www.socialsecurity.gov/hearingsbacklog.pdf.

J. Astrue is Commissioner of Social Security. He lives in

Belmont.