Featured, Local News
Disability payments can take years to be approved
Posted on Oct 15, 2009 by Meredith Hines-Dochterman.
Heather Hix of Iowa City, a former registered nurse, was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 1999. She applied for Social Security disability payments in 2003 but was not approved until this year. Hix wishes she could take her dog, Evan, for long walks, but her condition prevents that. She also loved horseback riding but had to sell her horse and saddle to pay her bills while she battled for disability payments. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)
Heather Hix paid off her home equity line of credit in September, followed by a $6,000 credit card bill. Up next were a pile of promissory notes and attorney fees.
“It was the best,” Hix, 56, said. “I found myself saying ‘Yippee!’ a lot.”
Hix was celebrating the end of a six-year fight to collect Social Security disability payments, a process that nearly bankrupted the Iowa City resident.
She is now one of the 83,000-plus Iowans who receive disability payments from the federal government. The average monthly benefit is about $1,000 and goes to people unable to work.
It can take weeks, months, even years for people to be approved for the payments.
“It really is tragic,” said Mary Hoefer, an Iowa City attorney retained by Hix who specializes in Social Security disability and workers’ compensation cases. “People lose their savings. They have their electricity turned off. They become homeless.”
Thousands of Americans sit in a backlog of disability claims. In Iowa, the average wait is 541 days for an appeal hearing. A hearing comes after a claim has been denied twice.
“It weighs on people,” said Jeffrey Berg, a Cedar Rapids attorney who practices Social Security law. “They don’t have the distraction of going to work to take their mind off it.”
Some people get frustrated and abandon the process. Others wait. Some die waiting.
Hix’s claim went all the way to federal court.
Hix was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 1999. She had to quit working as a registered nurse at Mercy Iowa City in spring 2003.
She applied for disability benefits that year and was denied. She appealed and was denied again. She had a hearing. Denied. She started the process from scratch.
Hix lived in constant fear and stress. She emptied her savings account and cashed in her annuity pension. She sold personal effects, including the horse she had owned for 15 years. She racked up credit card debt and sought loans from family and friends.
“It was humiliating,” Hix said. “You are raised to be honest. You work hard, you pay into the system and then you get a form that says denied. They don’t believe you are sick.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic fatigue syndrome is a debilitating disorder characterized by profound fatigue. An estimated 1 million to 4 million Americans suffer from the syndrome, and at least a quarter are unemployed or on disability.
In May 2007, Social Security announced plans to eliminate the backlog of hearing requests. Additional funding led to the hiring of more administrative law judges and support staff to process more hearings. Then the economy collapsed.
“You have people who are marginal, barely able to work,” attorney Berg said. “When the economy goes bad, they are the first to go.”
Disability claims rose 17 percent this year. The federal program expects to receive 350,000 initial disability claims in 2010. That number doesn’t include the increased number of baby boomers at the prime age for disabilities.
“People need to be aware of the process,” Hix said. “They think, ‘It’s there if I need it,’ but how long can you live on your resources while you wait?”
georgejones
15. Oct, 2009
Its really a messed up process. Shamefull really. They had a show on Tv where they showed how people are routinely turned down whether or not they should recieve benifits. They make you jump through hoops and some people who should not get it recieve payments, and then others who really need it get turned down for some technical issue. They dont even have a doctor examine you. If your own doctor doesnt fill out the paperwork right you are ruined, and most doctors wont admit they made a mistake.
georgejones
15. Oct, 2009
Its really a messed up process. Shamefull really. They had a show on Tv where they showed how people are routinely turned down whether or not they should recieve benifits. They make you jump through hoops and some people who should not get it recieve payments, and then others who really need it get turned down for some technical issue. They dont even have a doctor examine you. If your own doctor doesnt fill out the paperwork right you are ruined, and most doctors wont admit they made a mistake. And some lawyers (no name) wont take a case unless its easy payout for them.
OwenHarper
16. Oct, 2009
That's why there are people like Jeffery Berg who specialize in Social Security law to help people through the process. These lawyers are only paid when the client is awarded disability payments, a percentage of the amount awarded after working on the case for years. Of course they are going to be selective about who they represent, you cannot make a living working on a case for years without being paid.
lrh1
16. Oct, 2009
And who thinks that getting the government more involved in everybody's health care will not become a disaster? Stories like this will only become the norm as people die waiting for help……
ctiger
16. Oct, 2009
They're doing it now, with the help of the insurance companies.
OwenHarper
16. Oct, 2009
The problem is not that the government is involved in the process. The problem is that people are so distrustful of others and fearful that someone will take advantage of the system that the process is made intentionally difficult in order to ensure only those who really need disability payments are receiving them.
If it weren't difficult and people who do not need disability payments were getting them, I can only imagine the outrage at the waste of money because of government involvement. There's just no making people like you happy.
glorose
16. Oct, 2009
Its terrible trying to collect SSDI. I have been trying for 3 1/2 years already.
There have been times when I was literally in intensive care with odds of surviving the night in the single digits (less then 5% of surviving the night) and I would get a letter or phone call from the worker handling my case informing me that yet again Social Security had determined I was not disabled but able to work..
Most of them Family or Friends intercepted for me. So I did not actually see until after I the doctors decided there was a chance I might live.
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[...] Disability payments can take years to be approved (The Gazette) Heather Hix paid off her home equity line of credit in September, followed by a $6,000 credit card bill. Up next were a pile of promissory notes and attorney fees. “It was the best,” Hix, 56, said. “I found myself saying ‘Yippee!’ a lot.” Hix was celebrating the end of a six-year fight to collect Social Security […] [...]