Fixing the Social Security Disability System for Children with Disabilities and Others

The Tuscaloosa News in Alabama has weighed in on the Social Security Disability backlog.

In an editorial, the newspaper decried the backlog and urged the federal government to appropriate money to address the problem.

“Over the past decade, the backlog of Social Security Administration cases awaiting hearings has more than doubled - even as the agency has lost 10 percent of its administrative law judges.Congress and President Bush have provided money to help cut the backlog. But the aid, though welcome, is inadequate; and hundreds of thousands of Americans are having to wait unconscionably long times for their disability hearings. An article in Tuesday's edition of The Tuscaloosa News told the story of one of these people who spent 18 months navigating the SSA maze before she finally received the benefits due her. And she was one of the more fortunate local claimants. Recent statistics from the Birmingham SSA appeals office show a backlog of 14,266 cases with an average waiting time of almost 20 months.There also was a substantial backlog at the state's three other Office of Disability Adjudication and Review offices in Florence, Mobile and Montgomery.”