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Dole Presses For Funds To Reduce Delays For Social Security Disability Benefit Appeals

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole recently joined 36 of her colleagues in calling for the Budget Committee to allocate a higher level of funding for administrative expenses within the Social Security Administration (SSA). Sufficient funding is needed to help the SSA reduce backlog and long delays in reviewing appeals for Social Security disability benefits. In addition, the funding would support a review program aimed at ensuring that only qualified individuals receive benefits. According to the president’s budget, these reviews would save $10 for each dollar spent.

In a letter to Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), chairman and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, Dole and her colleagues wrote that about half of delays result from huge backlogs of claims and hearings before administrative law judges. They argued that if the funding level for SSA’s administrative costs were not granted at a higher level than the president’s budget requested, the backlogs and delays would worsen.

Earlier this month, Dole wrote to the Commissioner of Social Security asking that he put a stop to long delays in scheduling hearings for North Carolinians who appeal a denial of Social Security disability benefits.

In a letter to Commissioner Michael J. Astrue, Dole wrote: “Those appealing a denial of Social Security disability benefits are experiencing outrageously long delays in the scheduling of hearings at the Offices of Disability Adjudication and Review. North Carolinians appealing a denial must in many cases wait nearly two years, and individuals who are ultimately granted benefits on appeal suffer substantial financial, emotional and even physical hardships during this delay. This situation concerns me deeply and is clearly unacceptable… We have a duty to expeditiously meet the needs of North Carolinians who have become disabled and are dependent on Social Security and Medicare benefits, and it is important to find a resolution to this continuing problem.” Read more at senate.gov