When SSA passed the one million mark in people waiting to have their Social Security disability hearings, many people took note. These included reporters at the Washington Post. Something about having that many people waiting seemed to signal that the delays were at their nadir. Well, forget about it. Now it is even worse. The average waiting time for a hearing is now an amazing 450 days. But fear not–SSA has a plan to get the backlog down to a manageable 500,000 cases (no one else but government workers thinks this way, really, that getting down to a half a million people waiting for a hearing is success.) Naturally, the plan has multiple parts that involve hiring more people and using more technology. Some of the changes might help, such as hiring 400 new judges. Others are window-dressing at best, like putting the files in better order to assist the judge in reviewing them. I guess I have been doing this too long, but all I can think when I hear about the plans to speed things up is: Yeah, right. I suspect that when the Washington Post looks at the backlog in October, 2016, it will be longer than it is now. Social Security will assuredly be standing by with an even spiffier new plan, this one sure to work.
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