It will be three years in July since I initially applied for disability and 29 months waiting on a hearing - I am in this backlog.


Social Security Boss Visits Ohio Over Backlog

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

The new head of the U.S. Social Security Administration came to Ohio on Monday to explain how he hopes to help hundreds of thousands of Americans who wait -- sometimes years -- to find out if they qualify for disability benefits.

"I want to fix this thing on my watch," Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue, who was sworn in Feb. 12, told a gathering of about 30 people in Columbus.

The meeting was called by Ohio's Sen. George Voinovich, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia. The Republican senator says he is committed to making sure Social Security has what it needs to handle the huge backlog.

Nationally, more than 730,000 Americans have disability cases pending, according to Voinovich's office. Of those, 40,000 are in Ohio, with more than 13,000 in the Cleveland office.

"We've got to update the system, and we've got to improve the situation," Voinovich said during Monday's hour-long meeting. "It's frustrating thousands of Americans."

It's a problem that has grown over the years and one Voinovich has tried to tackle in the past.

In 2004, he brought the previous Social Security commissioner to Cleveland, where she promised to reduce the backlog, too. Her plan didn't work.

The list of those waiting to get an appeals hearing in the Cleveland office, which handles cases from throughout Northeast Ohio, grew from 8,800 in 2004to 12,600 in February to more than 13,600 now.

Astrue said he hopes to reduce waits across the country by adding 168 administrative law judges to the 1,082 who hear appeals now; increasing the number of cases heard electronically; and fast-tracking more applications -- especially some cancer cases -- so they can be approved in days instead of months.

"There's no one magic bullet," he said, explaining that he'll have a list of 50 to 75 fixes ready for a Senate Finance Committee meeting this month. Voinovich said the solutions should work this time.

Astrue "seems to have the management background and the commitment and the understanding to come up with a strategic plan that's necessary to deal with the problem," he said. He also said Congress shares in the blame because it hasn't given Social Security the money it needs. He'll do what he can, he said, to persuade his colleagues to change that.

"The Social Security Administration and the administration of the Congress need to work together, because frankly, as I said before, the system is broken.

"We're not talking about numbers, we're talking about God's children."