Filner: Federalize California SSDI Operation

That will delay payments of $11 million in disability benefits to about 40,000 residents, Astrue estimated.

“We see many clear signs of the deterioration in service,” Astrue said. “In spite of the hard work of the dedicated DDS employees, the number of initial claims currently pending in California rose about 37% higher over 2008 levels.”

Rep. Robert Filner, D-Calif., talked about reports that disability applicants are sent 30-page forms to complete, then face denials when the forms are not completed and returned within 20 days.

“This is inhumane and unacceptable treatment of our disabled, many of whom are children, the elderly, and veterans who have nobly served this country,” Filner said. “Some are mentally ill, homeless, or blind. The very nature of their disabilities prevents them from complying with the enormous tasks being demanded of them”

Before the California furloughs were implemented, disability claims were assigned to an analyst within 48 hours, but now, cases may wait 2 months before being assigned to an analyst, Filner said.

The 40,000-case backlog does not count “the cases that have been assigned to phantom staff in order to give the appearance that the cases are indeed being processed when they actually are not,” Filner said.

Federal law already lets the SSA federalize disability determination service employees if a state “substantially fails” to live up to its responsibilities to process claims, Filner said.

To help SSA officials, Filner has drafted a “Don’t Delay Services Act,” Filner said.

The draft act would cause disability determination system employee furloughs to trigger the provision that lets the SSA federalize the disability determination service, Filner said.