COVID 19’s IMPACT ON SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS CONTINUES

An Object Lesson for Those Touched Personally, Professionally and Medically by the Enduring Nature of COVID-19 Symptoms

Most people do not envision that their earning years will be cut short by illness, and they will be required to apply for Social Security disability benefits. Everyone is eligible to file for these benefits, but the amount they will receive, if they are awarded benefits, varies, based on certain requirements. If you receive long-term disability benefits (“LTD”) from an insurance company, through an employment-based or privately-paid policy, the insurance company will require you to apply for Social Security disability benefits. If you are awarded these benefits, that amount will partially offset the amount you receive from LTD benefits. Currently 8.2 million disabled workers are collecting Social Security benefits which average $1,277 a month.

COVID-19 related issues have increased the number of Social Security disability applicants, especially those with lasting symptoms (long haulers), including workers who were already working with medical problems, but were furloughed or terminated during the pandemic, and decided to apply for these benefits. The increase in applicants, plus the disruption in the workflow of government workers, has considerably delayed the entire Social Security disability process.

The Social Security disability application process has always been challenging, and is designed for people who suffer mental or physical conditions that have lasted, or are expected to last, at least 12 months. There are five decision-making levels to this process:

  • Initial Application
  • Reconsideration
  • Administrative Law Judge Hearing
  • Appeals Council
  • Federal Court

Currently, the standard waiting periods are three to five months to receive an initial decision.

If the initial application is denied, it can take four to six months to be reconsidered.  If the reconsideration request is denied, and a hearing is requested, it can take at least a year just to schedule a hearing, and considerably longer to actually attend a hearing, in person or virtually. The long delay in the process means that about 50,000 people declare bankruptcy or pass away before receiving their final decision each year.

Every year the Social Security Administration publishes a chart that shows the percentage of cases that have been awarded or denied benefits at the different levels of the SSD process. This is known at the Waterfall Chart. The 2021 Waterfall Chart states that:

  • At the Initial Application level, where 1,943,600 people applied, 34% of applicants were awarded benefits and 64% of applicants were denied benefits.
  • At the Reconsideration level, where a denied application is reviewed again by a different disability examiner, there were 503,700 applicants, 87% of whom were denied, and 13% of whom were awarded benefits.
  • Of the 301,000 applicants for an Administrative Law Judge hearing, 51% of the applications were approved, 42% were denied, and the remainder, were dismissed.
  • Of the approximately 150,000 denials, only about 78,000 continued to the Appeals Council level where a written argument is submitted, but a hearing does not take place. At this level 1% of the applications are granted benefits, but 11%, or about 8500 applicants, are granted a remand back to a hearing judge.
  • The last step of the appeal process – the Federal Court level- is reached by only about 17,000 applicants. reach. Although only 1% of applicants are awarded benefits at this level, 59% receive a remand back to a hearing judge.

THUS OUR OBJECT LESSON FOR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY APPLICANTS: KEEP APPEALING TO THE LAST LEVEL, AS STATISTICALLY THIS LEVEL REPRESENTS THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO WIN THE BENEFITS YOU DESERVE.

For nearly five decades, Faye Riva Cohen has provided personalized, creative, and zealous legal representation to clients in the areas of Employment and Labor Law, Civil Rights and Discrimination, Estate Planning and Litigation, Real Estate, and Family Law. She enjoys a well-earned reputation for successfully litigating multi-faceted, complex cases against large and powerful adversaries, often in David and Goliath situations. Please feel free to contact her at: 215-563-7776 or frc@fayerivacohen.com.