Disability Claim Representation
Shoot for April, pray for June.
Sounds like the title of a blues tune, a novel–or maybe a poem by Maya Angelou.
Instead, it’s the mantra of a woman dying of cancer, forced to wait for disability benefits.
Worse, it’s not even a case of some crazy, isolated bureaucratic screw-up.
Five month minimum delay
Like hundreds of thousands of others in the U.S., Heather Russell has to endure a minimum, mandated period of at least five months before receiving payments that have already been approved. In fact, if she starts receiving the payments in May (which will help with medical expenses), she’ll be ahead of the game compared to the thousands of people who get denied and then win on appeal–after months, even years of bureaucratic wrangling.
Of course, that’s if the Stage IV cancer patient is still alive.
According to a March 17 post at Fosters.com (from Fosters Daily Democrat), the 47-year-old Russell is fighting to live long enough to attend two weddings, one for a cousin, one for a niece. She was diagnosed in May 2009, and now “[t]umors are ravaging her lungs, brain, pelvis, neck and adrenal gland, but her spirit — along with her sense of humor and love of nature, family and friends—remains whole.
“She has to wait until about May 19 to receive her first Social Security disability insurance check—despite being approved for aid in January and being found to have become disabled under administration rules on Nov. 1, 2009.
“The delay isn’t unique to Heather. The rule has been on the books since 1956.”
The article quotes Kia Green, a spokeswoman for the Social Security Administration, explaining that the intent of legislators ” ‘was to ensure that we do not pay benefits to people who do not have a long-term disability’—people who, for instance, might go back to work after getting the benefit . . . .”
Russell has been scraping by with payments for a partial disability from a shipyard injury and from some benefits resulting from working at Home Depot in a restricted capacity. In October, she had to give up the Home Depot position. Her parents are able to help some, but they live “month to month” on their Social Security.
Senator told no waiver
In February, according to the Foster’s piece, Russell “wrote Sen. Judd Gregg hoping he could have the rule waived, ‘so that I may receive the approved benefits as soon as possible, and thus maintain a reasonable quality of lifestyle during my continuing battle with this disease.’
“Gregg got on the case, but he was told the same thing. The Social Security disability program ‘has always had a waiting period in which benefits are never paid,’ Robert White, assistant district manager of the Portsmouth office, wrote the senator.”
Since then, according to an April 10 update at Fosters, Rusell has been getting help from the office of Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), whose “office is working with Heather’s family so the agency changes the month it deemed her to become disabled from November to May,” said Russell’s father.
“If that happens, she would begin receiving payments and they would be retroactive by several months, he said.”
Representative co-sponsors legislation
Beyond trying to help Russell, Shea-Porter is also “co-sponsoring the Social Security Fairness for the Terminally Act of 2009. The bill is meant to end the waiting period, and Shea-Porter signed on in November after being contacted by a constituent.
“The bill was introduced by Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Ohio, in March and is currently before the House Committee on Ways and Means. It considers someone terminally ill if their life expectancy is six months or less.”
Even if the bill passes, however, it won’t help the hundreds of thousands of disabled who, according to a recent study by a private, non-attorney firm that helps people file for SSDI benefits.
Progress made, but backlog affects thousands nationwide
Despite finding that “the Social Security Administration has made solid progress in reducing the wait for hearings across the country,” the analysis described in this PR finds that “where someone lives plays a significant role in how long he or she will have to wait to receive their SSDI benefits, further exacerbating the health and financial repercussions for individuals and their families.
“Nationwide, nearly 700,000 Americans are waiting an average of 14 ½ months to receive hearings before the judges who determine their eligibility for benefits. Since hearings are held when an SSDI decision is appealed, many people have already waited 12 or more months following their application, denial and, for many, reconsideration. By the time they reach the hearing, it’s not unusual for applicants to have waited two to four years for an SSDI decision.”
Click here to check the ranking of any state.
The Kentucky Post says, “It’s a national problem, but worst in Ohio.”
Study shows worst, best areas
Indeed, according to the Allsup study the next nine worst areas after Ohio are: Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, the District of Columbia and Alabama. Singled out as the ten “lowest wait times are Delaware, Maine, Texas, Louisiana, West Virginia, Utah, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Connecticut and Hawaii.”
The problem is so bad, according to the Post that “[m]any people have to tap lifelong savings before they can get to a judge. Some lose their homes or have to declare bankruptcy. Allsup says some pass away before they can ever get their hearings.”
[Editor's Note: Ms. Russell died April 27; for an update, please click here.]
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Tags: best states SSDI delays, hundreds of thousands affected, mandated delays, Maya Angelou, social security administration, Social Security Disability Insurance, SSDI, study shows worst states, United States