People who have applied for Social Security Disability Insurance and been turned down twice are having to wait a record number of days to get a hearing in front of a judge and receive a decision.
The average wait time is 596 days or 19½ months, up from 545 days in September and only 353 days in 2012. The backlog of cases pending a hearing stands at about 1.1 million, up from 700,000 in 2010.
Those who ultimately win their case can get federal disability benefits, known as SSDI, dating back to five months after the date of their original claim. (Some can get benefits retroactive to their original claim, if they can prove they were disabled before they filed it.)
People who can’t work and have no other source of income while awaiting a hearing can face extreme financial hardship, even bankruptcy. Even if you are not disabled now, “this could happen to you one day,” said Mary Dale Walters, a senior vice president with Allsup, a company that helps people get these benefits. If you have been paying Social Security taxes and become disabled, you are entitled to the benefits.