As the year comes to a close, I wanted to post some observations of the changing landscape for Social Security Disability claims.
1. Faster hearings. The number of applications for disability, and the wait times for decisions, continue to drop. With unemployment continuing at record lows, the SSA is resolving more cases than are being filed. In my region, the wait for a hearing has dropped from over two years to approximately six months. In fact, I recently had a judge tell me that his office is running out of cases to schedule. This is great news for claimants.
2. Fewer approvals. The approval rate continues to fall. Over the past 20 years, the SSDI approval rate has dropped from around 67 percent to approximately 46 percent. This has resulted from changes to the disability rules (including for MS claims), and a more technical review of claims. This is one more reason to be sure that your claim has medical support and is well built at the time of filing.
3. Continuing disability reviews have arrived. Although the SSA has always had the option of reviewing a disability claim in the years after approval, such reviews were not common, and would often occur many years after the claim was approved. A new push by the executive branch has increased funding for disability reviews, and now claimants are regularly being reevaluated for disability as little as one or two years post-approval. Although I have never -- knock on wood -- had an MS client thrown off of disability who didn't return to work, it is important that you promptly respond to any SSA requests for an update on your treatment, and that you continue your medically appropriate MS treatment even after being approved for disability.
4. Video hearings are here to stay. Many hearings are now being conducted by video teleconference, wherein the judge is located in another region, and sees the claimant for the hearing on a tv screen. The SSA is pushing claimants to have their hearings by video; a claimant has to opt out of a video hearing when they receive a warning notice approximately one month after requesting a hearing. I rarely allow my claimants to do video hearings, and would rather they have face-to-face interaction with a local judge.
5. Hearings are more technical. The SSA has slowly increased the requirements on claimants and their counsel for hearings, including requiring records to be provided in certain timeframes and individual judges requiring pre-hearing briefs. There are also now vocational witnesses in virtually all hearings, which is a major change over the past ten to fifteen years.
6. Wednesday afternoon hours are back. The SSA has been closed to the public on Wednesday afternoon for years, allowing staff to catch up on tasks. Starting very soon, however, you will be able to call your local office for questions on Wednesday afternoons, just like every other day.
Have you experienced any of these changes? Have your friends approved years ago described a different process than you are going through? Feel free to share in the comments!
1. Faster hearings. The number of applications for disability, and the wait times for decisions, continue to drop. With unemployment continuing at record lows, the SSA is resolving more cases than are being filed. In my region, the wait for a hearing has dropped from over two years to approximately six months. In fact, I recently had a judge tell me that his office is running out of cases to schedule. This is great news for claimants.
2. Fewer approvals. The approval rate continues to fall. Over the past 20 years, the SSDI approval rate has dropped from around 67 percent to approximately 46 percent. This has resulted from changes to the disability rules (including for MS claims), and a more technical review of claims. This is one more reason to be sure that your claim has medical support and is well built at the time of filing.
3. Continuing disability reviews have arrived. Although the SSA has always had the option of reviewing a disability claim in the years after approval, such reviews were not common, and would often occur many years after the claim was approved. A new push by the executive branch has increased funding for disability reviews, and now claimants are regularly being reevaluated for disability as little as one or two years post-approval. Although I have never -- knock on wood -- had an MS client thrown off of disability who didn't return to work, it is important that you promptly respond to any SSA requests for an update on your treatment, and that you continue your medically appropriate MS treatment even after being approved for disability.
4. Video hearings are here to stay. Many hearings are now being conducted by video teleconference, wherein the judge is located in another region, and sees the claimant for the hearing on a tv screen. The SSA is pushing claimants to have their hearings by video; a claimant has to opt out of a video hearing when they receive a warning notice approximately one month after requesting a hearing. I rarely allow my claimants to do video hearings, and would rather they have face-to-face interaction with a local judge.
5. Hearings are more technical. The SSA has slowly increased the requirements on claimants and their counsel for hearings, including requiring records to be provided in certain timeframes and individual judges requiring pre-hearing briefs. There are also now vocational witnesses in virtually all hearings, which is a major change over the past ten to fifteen years.
6. Wednesday afternoon hours are back. The SSA has been closed to the public on Wednesday afternoon for years, allowing staff to catch up on tasks. Starting very soon, however, you will be able to call your local office for questions on Wednesday afternoons, just like every other day.
Have you experienced any of these changes? Have your friends approved years ago described a different process than you are going through? Feel free to share in the comments!
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