1. Audit report reveals extent of Social Security Administration's bureaucratic quagmire while conditions of disability claimants "may worsen."  

The Inspector General's (IG) audit determined the average overall processing time for disability claims to be completed, from the date of application to the date that benefits were paid or denied.

It took the Social Security Administration (SSA) an average of 131 days to completely process an initial claim.  The shortest period was 16 days, while the longest was about a year.

It took SSA an average of 279 days, on average, to completely process a reconsidered claim-ranging from about 4 to 16 months.

A claimant may request a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) if he or she is dissatisfied with the reconsideration determination.  It took SSA an average of 811 days to completely process a disability claim through the hearing level-ranging from about 6 months to just over 4 years.

In addition, a claimant may request that the Appeals Council (AC) review his or her case if dissatisfied with the ALJ's decision.  It took SSA 1,053 days on average, to completely process a disability claim through the AC level-ranging from about a year to just under 10 years.

Furthermore, a claimant may file a suit with a federal district court if he or she is dissatisfied with SSA's decision.  The court then upholds or reverses SSA's decision or remands the case to SSA for a new decision. If it does not find in favor of the claimant, he or she can continue to appeal to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and ultimately to the Supreme Court of the United States.

It took 1,720 days, on average, to completely process a disability claim through the federal courts-ranging from about 2½ years to about 14 years.

The IG's report noted that during the processing time, which may amount to years, "a claimant's condition may worsen."  And it warned that this "is especially important in light of the increasing number of baby-boomers entering their ‘disability prone' years."

 The complete audit report is available online at http://www.ssa.gov/oig/ADOBEPDF/A-01-08-18011.pdf

2.  The Obama Administration may be responsive to input on Social Security matters.  Last August, Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, criticized both Senator McCain and Senator Obama for their support of increased payroll taxes, stating:

"Every penny raised in payroll taxes beyond what is necessary to pay current benefits is spent by the federal government on everything from space ships to paper clips.  In turn, the Social Security Trust Fund gets non-negotiable IOUs.

"Increasing payroll taxes now would provide more money for big spending programs not related to Social Security, while creating greater problems as to how seniors would receive their checks in the future."

Within a matter of a few days, Obama had modified his position, stating that payroll taxes would not have to be increased until 2017 when they would no longer raise enough to pay full benefits. 

This incident may indicate a willingness of the new President to listen to conservatives on some issues during his term in office.