Disability Insurance

Rising numbers of applicants for disability benefits have increased workloads at the Social Security Administration (SSA) and lead to growing backlogs of claims. As a result, applicants are waiting longer to find out if they have been awarded benefits. Applicants wait almost 90 days to learn whether they have been awarded benefits, while persons who appeal their claims to SSA's administrative law judges wait more than a year. These long waits can impose substantial hardship on applicants, particularly those with limited incomes and no medical insurance. SSA has undertaken several short-term initiatives to address the backlog problem. It has also begun a long-term effort to redesign its disability determination process. GAO shares congressional concerns that these changes may sacrifice decisional accuracy for faster processing. SSA is also addressing its workload increases while dealing with substantial resource constraints. Nonetheless, SSA needs to focus more attention on terminating benefits for those who are no longer eligible and encouraging beneficiaries to return to work. SSA, now an independent agency, also needs to provide more data and advice to Congress on matters affecting disability insurance policy.