DISABILITY BENEFITS: DEALING WITH THE GOVERNMENT CAN BE A DOWNER

If you've never dealt with the US Government, you may be surprised to find how difficult they are to deal with.  I'm speaking particularly of the Social Security disability process--a function of the US government.

1.  It is slow.  Snail-like slow.  It takes months to get something done that you would think should take a few days.  Everything is backlogged.  You can wait on hold for 45 minutes on the phone.  They seldom return calls.  The same question can get two different answers on the same day.

2.  It is confusing.  SSDI is governed by thousands of pages of regulations--and they change frequently.  Add to that dozens of court cases that clarify, delete or change the rules.  And the process.  There's one way of doing things and you must know what it is.

3.  You may easily  become trapped by one of your mistakes, only to find that there is no good way out.  For example: You go before a judge unrepresented and lose.  You cannot simply hire an attorney and have another hearing.  Your one chance for a hearing has come and gone.  There is a slim chance (15 out of 100) that the Appeals Council might grant you a new hearing, but only if they find a legal error was made at the first one.  And it will take at least 12 months to get the Council to act.

4.  There are strict deadlines. Unfavorable decisions only allow 60 days to file an appeal.  Miss the deadline and no appeal is available to you.  Almost no excuse will be accepted.  Your best chance to be approved has slipped away.  Even more heartbreaking, you stop working for one reason or another.  A few years later you develop a severe medical impairment that disables you and file a new SSDI claim, only to find that you waited too long to file and your no longer have "insured status" with Social Security.

5.  Even if you win you may have trouble getting paid.  If every "i" isn't dotted, and every "t" is not crossed, there are problems in your future.  While it isn't always the case, I have seen claimants wait 4 to 6 months to get paid after they've been issued a favorable decision.

One administrative law judge before whom I recently appeared admonished my client:  "Now, this is going to take some time to get the decision out; after all, it is the government."

"After all, it is the government...."   Indeed.