About one year ago, CBS News did an interview with the Commissioner of Social Security, Michael Astrue. CBS wanted to know why so many applicants waited so long to get a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge.
Commissioner Astrue says the right things and seems to be dedicated to decreasing the time it takes to get a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. However, the backlogs of applicants waiting for a hearing and the time it takes to schedule a hearing have not significantly changed.The thing that disappointed me most about what the Commissioner said came during his discussion of the over one million people who applied, were turned down, and did not appeal. He seemed to suggest that those people never should have applied in the first place. It almost looks he never thought before that the people who gave up did so because they were frustrated with the process and were actually deserving applicants.
This article was written by Chip Permar
