Lack of planning

Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Federal auditors say the Social Security Administration lacks a sufficient plan to address its backlog of hundreds of thousands of disability claims.

The claims are those submitted to the federal Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income programs by people who no longer can work because of severe physical or mental disabilities.

The report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, says 1.5 million claims remained unresolved at the end of 2006 and 576,000 of those were backlogged meaning they had exceeded the amount of time generally needed for resolution of claims.

As we noted in an editorial in December, the number of backlogged claims has continued to climb since the 2006 figure cited by the GAO, and the backlog now stands at 755,000.

Backlogs “have occurred at most stages of the claims process,” the GAO reports. Appeals of claims that were initially denied can result in some of the longest delays, with the average wait now about 500 days. Some people have waited three years for their claims to be resolved. Others have died before their cases were decided.

Social Security Administration officials have said that in order to hire enough staff to adequately process the backlog, the agency needs $100 million beyond the $275 million increase that Congress approved in December. Both amounts are more than President Bush has proposed in his 2008 budget, which calls for funding at the existing level.

The GAO, however, said that regardless of whether funding is increased, the agency needs to improve the poor communication that exists among the agency’s state offices, where initial claims are handled.

Social Security Administration officials also must improve the monitoring of claims as they enter the appeals process, the GAO says, and must adequately plan and execute programs to address the backlog something the agency has failed to do.

It is sad to think that Americans who are unable to work because of injury or illness are helplessly watching bills pile up and mortgages go into arrears while waiting years for the federal government to decide whether assistance will be granted. Congress must see to it that the GAO’s recommendations are carried out.