Hawaii ranks first in nation in processing disability claims

The American Association of People with Disabilities on Aug. 1 released state rankings based on the growing backlog in the federal Social Security Disability Insurance program. Hawaii received the best ranking with a backlog of only 1.89 percent, or 362 out of 19,203 cases

More than 1.4 million Americans are currently struggling through the SSDI application, reconsideration and appeals processes, according to figure recently released. Most disability ajudications and appeals take at least two years to complete.

Those receiving the worst disability backlog rankings are Kansas, District of Columbia, North Dakota, Michigan and Alabama. Virginia, Arizona, Massachusetts, Nevada and Hawaii receive the best disability rankings. Separate backlog figures are not available for Alaska, Idaho, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. Click here for the complete list of rankings.

“Congress and the Social Security Administration desperately need to work together to deploy additional resources to address this urgent and growing problem that affects the financial well being of disabled citizens and their families,” said Andrew J. Imparato, AAPD president and CEO.

According to the Social Security Administration, the average processing time at the hearing level for disability cases has increased from 308 days in 2001 to 524 days in 2007. A key reason for this growth is the shrinking SSA field staff, largely due to retirement. The Social Security Administration was 30 percent smaller in 2002 than 20 years before.

From August 2005 to January 2007, about 2,000 field office employees left SSA without being replaced. Meanwhile, since 1990, the number of disabled workers drawing SSDI benefits has more than doubled, from 3 million to 6.8 million, as the aging baby boom generation begins to put far greater demands on the agency’s resources.

The rankings were created by comparing the number of backlogged disability applications to the number of disabled beneficiaries in each state. Both figures, which became publicly available only in the last few weeks, are from year-end 2006.