SSA expects an increase in disability claims in the second half of fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2022.44 In particular, SSA expects to close nearly 300,000 additional claims in fiscal year 2021 and more than 700,000 additional claims in fiscal year 2022 compared to fiscal year 2020.45 Although SSA received nearly 190,000 fewer disability claims than expected in fiscal year 2020, the agency expects that: “many of these people will apply for benefits when we emerge from the pandemic,” noting that some people may not have been able to get the help they needed to apply earlier in the pandemic.46 (SSA discusses SSI vs. The SSDI applications in these projections are not separated.) In addition, the extent of the disabling chronic illness experienced by people with “COVID for a long time” is not yet fully understood, but could lead to a new population seeking ISS due to their inability to work. The total number of work points you need to qualify will then depend on your age. Younger workers generally need less than their older counterparts. Rules usually follow this pattern: disability is something that many Americans, especially younger ones, think can only affect the lives of others. Tragically, thousands of young people are seriously injured or killed, often as a result of traumatic events. Many serious conditions, such as cancer or mental illness, can affect young and old. The sobering fact for 20-year-olds is that more than 1 in 4 of them are disabled before reaching retirement age. As a result, they may have to rely on Social Security disability benefits for income support. Our disability benefits are an important source of financial support for those who need it most. A significant portion of the initial decisions denying eligibility for the ISS are set aside in the appeal (Figure 6). However, the total “allowance rate” granted to ISS benefits in cases with medical findings (with the exception of those rejected for “technical” reasons such as income or wealth) at all levels of arbitration in 2018 was 45%.32 However, the rate of SSI premiums varies depending on the level of arbitration. Thirty-five percent of applications with medical findings were approved during the first phase of the claim.33 Of the cases involving medical decisions that were rejected and challenged at the initial claim, very few (11%) received benefits at the first level of appeal (reconsideration).34 Nearly 40% of cases involving medical findings made at both the initial and initial claim level.
Reconsideration were rejected and challenged, but ultimately obtained benefits granted at a hearing of an administrative judge (ALJ) or a higher appellate body.35 The appeal process can be time-consuming and can be difficult for people without counsel to navigate on their own. For example, the average wait time between an application for an ALJ hearing (the second appellate proceeding) and a hearing date ranged from five months to more than 16 months, depending on the location of the hearing office in March 2021.36 The pandemic has resulted in additional challenges that were not present during other economic downturns. For example, the need for social distancing measures has closed SSA offices to the public since mid-March 2020. Then, starting in 2014, annual registrations at the ISS decreased slightly each year. 2014 is the first year that the ACA`s Medicaid expansion went into effect, and the extent to which the availability of this new Medicaid pathway may have affected the decline in SSI enrollment is unclear.