This is a news story from a Colorado TV station.  If the video doesn’t play this is a news story about a Colorado woman with chronic back problems, sciatica, diabetes with neuropathy and other severe impairments who became homeless while waiting for Social Security to make a decision on her application for benefits.  She waited over a year and a half before receiving a denial notice.

Her attorney was interviewed by the reported and commented that the attorney’s office was having a huge problem getting documents to SSA.  They submitted the same documents – presumably medical records – six times because SSA kept losing the submissions and seemed unable to associate these records with this claimant’s file.

As the claimant’s lawyer noted, delays in disability determinations has skyrocketed over the past few years.  I see this same problem, not  just in Colorado, but in Social Security offices all over the country.

Ten years ago, a disability applicant could expect to wait three or four months for a decision on his/her application.  Now, wait times of nine to twelve months are common, with delays of fifteen to eighteen months not atypical.

As Ms. Flores, the claimant profiled in this news report comments, she is not a number.  She is a real person with a long work history who cannot work because of severe medical issues.  She is suffering homelessness, hunger and lack of access to medical care because Social Security is so dysfunctional.

Social Security refused to make a spokesperson available to the reporter but issued a statement acknowledging wait times for answers on disability claims “are far too long across the Social Security Administration” and blames insufficient funding, staffing shortages, long training requirements for new employees and computer problems.

So what should a disability claimant do?  Many of my clients find themselves with no other option but to try to return to work.  Under SSA rules in 2023, gross earnings of $1,470 per month (gross income) constitutes “substantial gainful activity.”  A claimant who is able to work at SGA levels is presumed not disabled.  But $1,470 per month is equal to $17,640 per year, which is not enough for even basic housing and food.

Further, if a disability claimant is unable to work for the two to three years it takes for his/her case to be processed there is a good chance that this claimant won’t have health insurance or the resources to pay for medical care.

When this disability applicant finally gets his day in court, he/she has to explain to a judge (in a 45 minute hearing) why there are on-going earnings but no medical records for the last two years.

The sad reality is that if you truly cannot work, you are going to need financial and housing help from friends and family just to survive the disability delays.  I have been representing clients in Social Security disability cases for over thirty years and the backlog has never been this bad.

Thanks to attorney Charles Hall and his excellent blog about Social Security disability news for originally posting about this news story.