Social Security Disability

The Social Security Administration (SSA) runs the nation's largest programs providing cash benefits to people with severe long-term disabilities. The number of persons receiving either disability insurance or supplemental security income benefits has soared during the past decade. At the same time, SSA has struggled to deal with unprecedented growth in appeals of its disability decisions and the resulting backlog of cases awaiting hearing decisions. Processing delays stemming from a backlog of more than half a million appealed cases have created hardships for disability claimants, who often wait more than a year for final disability decisions. This report discusses (1) factors contributing to the growth in appealed cases, (2) SSA initiatives to reduce the backlog, and (3) steps that need to be taken in the long-term to make the disability appeals process more timely and efficient.

GAO found that: (1) the growth in OHA backlogs is a direct result of increased applications and appeals to OHA, as well as SSA inattention to long-standing problems; (2) these problems include multiple levels of claims development and decisionmaking, fragmented program accountability, decisional disparities between disability determination services and OHA adjudicators, and SSA failure to communicate its management authority over administrative law judges (ALJ); (3) SSA initiated short-and long-term efforts to manage its disability determination and appeals process in 1994; (4) the SSA Short-Term Disability Plan (STDP) should reduce OHA backlogs to a manageable level by December 1996; (5) STDP relies on the temporary reallocation of SSA resources and process changes to stem the flow of cases requiring ALJ hearings; (6) start-up delays and limited timeframes have affected SSA ability to reduce the number of backlogged cases; (7) SSA tracks and monitors STDP allowances to ensure decisional accuracy; (8) the SSA redesign plan is aimed at addressing systemic problems within the SSA disability program and reducing claims processing; (9) the redesign plan is still in its early stages, and does not address the types of management actions that are legally permissible for ALJ hearings; and (10) many ALJ believe that they are legally exempt from management control, and SSA is frustrated in its efforts to manage the appeals process and reduce the number of pending cases.