By Jeffrey Freedman
Article appeared in The Buffalo News on September 25, 2024
Last December, the Social Security Administration got a new commissioner in Martin O’Malley. The former governor of Maryland was appointed to address poor customer service, including the almost two-year wait for decisions on Social Security Disability (SSDI) claims.
A recent article published in the AARP Bulletin quoted O’Malley as saying SSDI is, “the biggest fire-breathing dragon we confront right now.” In 2023, claims processing was so slow, his actuaries estimated 30,000 people died waiting for a decision.
Including all five levels of consideration — initial application, reconsideration, hearing before an administrative law judge, review by appeals council, and review by a federal court — as of February 2024, there was a backlog of 5.2 million SSDI cases. This represents an all-time high. Nationwide, the average wait time for a final decision remains at 23 months. In the Buffalo area, it is typically more than two years.
The agency attributes the backlog and processing times to Congress underfunding it for the past decade, resulting in a 25-year low-staffing level. With fewer staffers and a growing number of baby boomers reaching the age where they can no longer work due to injuries or illness, it was inevitable customer service would suffer. The agency’s technology has also not kept up with the times — but that is changing.
Since O’Malley’s appointment, the Social Security Administration has implemented new technology to help early identification of SSDI cases likely to be approved. On the staffing side, new systems permit those making initial disability determinations to get critical information from medical records quickly. By utilizing e-signatures and the uploading of medical and work history files, the SSA has significantly cut the amount of snail mail it receives and the time staffers spend processing it.
When O’Malley took control, the agency was under a hiring and overtime freeze but is now hiring 1,200 workers in field and disability determination offices. O’Malley compares it to a large insurance company that operates under an overhead budget of only 1.2% and provides coverage to 181 million Americans, and benefits to about 67 million. The overhead for similar large insurers, he says, averages 19-23% — making SSA extremely cost-effective.
It took a decade to get into this hole, and it will take time to get out but O’Malley is moving in the right direction. He should continue the work he has started, and Congress should fully fund the needs of the Social Security Administration.
