Did you know that more than 10,000 people die every year while waiting for their disability benefits? That 5,000 every year are forced to file for bankruptcy while waiting for their cases to be resolved?
The consequences of the backlog in the disability program are real as more deaths in this vulnerable population are likely if Congress fails to do its job and fully fund and staff the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Here are the facts:
Since 2010, the number of Social Security beneficiaries has gone up by 25% while the number of employees has gone down by 14%. During the same time, SSA’s budget has shrunk by 17% considering inflation. Due to budget cuts, SSA has not been able to replace more than 10,000 employees who left, resulting in the lowest SSA staffing levels in 25 years.
Chronic understaffing has consequences:
- Since 2018, initial disability claims processing time has more than doubled. Processing went from 3.4 months in 2018 to 7.2 months as of July 2023.
- Since 2018, disability reconsideration processing time has increased by 78%. In FY 2018 it took on average 3.4 months compared to 6 months in FY 2022
- Since 2019, average wait times for calls to be answered on the 800 number have increased by 115%. They went from 20 minutes on average in FY 2019 to now 43 minutes in June 2023.
- There are now 4.2 million backlogged items pending at the Payment Centers.
- In FY 2022, it took 6 months on average for SSA and state Disability Determination Services (DDS) to process disability reconsideration requests.
- There are over a million claims pending at the state run disability determination services.
- SSA anticipates a 15.5-month wait time for a disability hearing for the 2023 fiscal year after an average wait time of 11 months in 2022.
“None of us think it is okay for applicants to wait six months for a decision on their disability application, but that is the level of service Congress, and the public, should expect absent sufficient resources,” AFGE SSA Council 220 President Jessica LaPointe testified at the Senate Special Committee on Aging’s field hearing in Phoenixville, Pa. on how to secure Social Security for future generations.
LaPointe said understaffing hurt morale as employees have to take on additional workload while having to maintain accuracy on a tight deadline. This leads to stress, burnout, and employees leaving the agency, exacerbating the understaffing situation.
According to a recent government-wide employee satisfaction survey, SSA is ranked dead last among large federal agencies, a sharp change from 2010 and 2011 when SSA was ranked second in the best places to work in the federal government.
“Without appropriating the funds to properly staff the agency and modernize our systems. Congress is setting us up to fail,” she added.