While Bush and Congress fight, people needing Social Security disability die

This is a topic that hits close to home for me. More than 30 years ago my mother became disabled following a series of heart attacks, more than one stroke, and ultimately surgery for lung cancer. When she first applied for Social Security disability she was denied.

She had paid into the system for decades, and was clearly disabled, but we were told the government routinely denied people the first time they applied, and that she should try again. Her disability finally did come through, about six months before she died.

Denying people benefits is a strategy still being used today, as hundreds of thousands of people wait for an appeals judge to settle their case. Fast forward 30 years, and I am now watching my sister go though the same process.

The New York Times reports:

Steadily lengthening delays in the resolution of Social Security disability claims have left hundreds of thousands of people in a kind of purgatory, now waiting as long as three years for a decision.

Two-thirds of those who appeal an initial rejection eventually win their cases.

But in the meantime, more and more people have lost their homes, declared bankruptcy or even died while awaiting an appeals hearing, say lawyers representing claimants and officials of the Social Security Administration, which administers disability benefits for those judged unable to work or who face terminal illness.

The agency’s new plan to hire at least 150 new appeals judges to whittle down the backlog, which has soared to 755,000 from 311,000 in 2000, will require $100 million more than the president requested this year and still more in the future. The plan has been delayed by the standoff between Congress and the White House over domestic appropriations.

There are 1,025 judges currently at work, and the wait for an appeals hearing averages more than 500 days, compared with 258 in 2000. Without new hirings, federal officials predict even longer waits and more of the personal tragedies that can result from years of painful uncertainty.

I encourage you to read the personal stories in this report, and think about what might happen if you or someone you loved became disabled due to an illness or accident. Then contact your member of Congress and ask them to increase spending to the necessary level.

If they give you the song and dance about funding, and ask where you think the money is coming from, tell them to go ask Halliburton for the $12 billion they "misplaced" in Iraq. That should more than pay for it!