Delays plague disability
Most initial N.C. cases denied; 27,390 still unresolved
FRED KELLY
frkelly@charlotteobserver.com
Terrie Sloan, like thousands of Carolinians, has waited years to learn whether she will get Social Security disability benefits.
Her case is bleak: She says she can't work because of chronic pain. She's about to lose her home to foreclosure.
"Creditors are calling every moment of the day," Sloan said. "I watch my whole life dissolving with each new call or letter."
Sloan first applied five years ago for monthly payments -- typically about $947 for recipients -- but likely will wait up to 24 months for a judge to decide whether she is eligible.
Similar delays nationwide have prompted a congressional hearing today in Washington.
The problem is acute in North Carolina, where:
• There is a backlog of 27,390 cases, including nearly 9,000 at the Charlotte regional office.
• Roughly two-thirds of initial applications are denied, fueling years-long waits for court hearings.
• Applicants whose appeals are processed in Charlotte wait an average of 607 days for a judge's ruling, more than three months longer than the national average.
North Carolina and federal officials have pledged to speed the process with reforms such as switching from paper to computerized record-keeping and training for social workers who aid homeless applicants. South Carolina has 22,653 pending cases.
But experts project delays will grow dramatically worse. Under President Bush's proposed budget for 2008, federal staffing shortages are expected to cause the nationwide backlog to jump from roughly 717,000 to nearly 1.4 million.
Rigged system?
Attorneys and advocacy groups claim the government has stacked the odds against applicants.The Social Security Administration contracts with state agencies, who decide who is "totally and permanently disabled."
The agencies deny more than 60 percent of initial applications, on average. In North Carolina, about two-thirds of denied applications are rejected on the grounds the applicant can perform other work..
But critics say the decisions are often wrong. Consider: When administrative law judges review appeals in North Carolina, more than 70 percent are approved.
Charles Hall, a Raleigh attorney and former head of a national advocacy group for applicants, said government workers are under pressure to deny claims.
"If they (approved) more cases, we would have 21/2 to 3 times more people on benefits," Hall said. "That's 21/2 to 3 times more money."
Hall said applications listing certain ailments, such as bipolar disorder, are routinely turned down.
"There are cases I know will be turned down at the initial level, but approved by an administrative law judge," he said. "The problem is it takes three years."
State officials deny any bias.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services processes more than 130,000 cases a year.
A quality assurance review by the federal government shows 96 percent of cases reviewed last year were judged correctly by state workers, said Rhonda Currie, state disability administrator.
"We take the stance that the person is disabled until proven otherwise," she said. "We apply the rules."
Sloan's story
It was 2001 when Sloan noticed something was wrong: She kept fainting.
Once a travel executive, she said her employer asked her to quit her $45,000-a-year job when she kept passing out at her desk.
Doctors later told her the incidents were caused by a brain cyst.
Now, Sloan, 49, suffers from at least a dozen conditions that cause chronic pain, falling and depression, including ulcers, a history of breast cancer and degenerative arthritis. In a 2005 written statement, a physician concluded that Sloan cannot work.
Yet, she said, she has been denied Social Security disability benefits twice.
A January letter from the Social Security Administration reads that "medical evidence shows your condition is not severe enough to be considered disabling." The letter acknowledges she cannot perform her past job, but says she is capable of less demanding work.
Sloan has lived in her east Charlotte house for 19 years, but said she does not have the money to pay her mortgage.
She receives food stamps and Medicaid, but those benefits don't cover basics such as toothpaste, laundry detergent and toilet paper. Creditors, she said, ring her phone at least 20 times a day.
"I'm afraid to answer the phone because I can't handle the intimidation," Sloan said. "I worry constantly about what I am going to do."
