In the twelve-month stretch from October 2022 through September 2023, 30,000 people died while waiting for federal disability determinations, according to Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley. Martha asked Harris what she would do as president for people, like herself, who are waiting for disability decisions while in desperate need of health insurance.
Delays in those decisions, driven in part by understaffing and a Covid-related rise in disability rates, have driven the typical wait time from four months in 2019 to seven months today, often coupled with the need to appeal an initial rejection, which can take years. The processing times represent a mounting crisis for the more than 1 million Americans who apply for disability in a given year.
I am medically qualified for disability but instead I have a job and work just enough hours to pay rent because that’s easier than jumping through all the hoops to get disability
Same. It’s insane some of these limits and stupid amounts of outdated red tape.
I probably should be as well, but I just don’t have the fight left in me anymore.
Maybe someone can explain to me why it’s easier to fight for someone else vs ourselves, 'cause it’s gd annoying as hell.