Getting approved for SSI disability can be an incredibly arduous and time-consuming process, one often met with a large amount of financial hardship and turmoil. Countless disabled Americans have to appear in court or request that authorities reassess their application through an appeal, and even though the SSI processes are a part of the federal system, the fact remains that it is significantly harder to seek approval in some states over others. This is even more readily apparent when the process of filing for SSI reaches the stage of court hearings.
American applicants are awarded benefits by judges around 46% of the time after they have reached the point of a hearing. This in mind, however, in states such as Alaska, the number one difficult state to receive benefits, the percentage is a mere 17%. It’s an added inconvenience for Alaskan citizens that there is only one office in the state where hearings are held in Anchorage.
The waiting time to get in front of a judge for a hearing also varies significantly from state to state. The average national waiting time for a hearing is 12 months, and in some states, it can be two to even four months longer than that. That is more than enough time for financial situations to change, or bad-luck to set in and further complicate the process of filing for SSI benefits. In the more densely populated regions on the east coast, the delays tend to be lengthier. Delaware has a waiting period that averages to 15 months, and Maryland has an average of 16. These may vary even further within the state based on how many hearings offices are in a particular area. If there is more than one office in a county, than the traffic of hearings in each office will be significantly lowered, which would, therefore, reduce the time it takes.
When filing for SSI, the percentage of how many cases are denied and dismissed needs to be considered in addition to the time it takes to get in front of a judge. You can have a quick waiting time to get to the hearing stage, but if you are in a state that has an approval rate of only 17%, then you are just sprinting down a dead-end road. Knowing the approval ratings and average wait times for your state is an excellent way to armor yourself in the fight against the difficult to maneuver the SSI process. With this in mind, having compiled three factors of what would make the process difficult,
- the time it takes to get in front of a judge, 2) the denial rate, and 3) the number of cases dismissed, I would say that there are three states that are the most difficult to receive benefits. In order from most to least difficult, they are 1.Alaska: They have a decently short average time to wait for a hearing, 8.5 months, but they have a dismissal rate of 29% of cases, an approval rate of only 17%, and a denial rate of 54%. In addition, the entire state only has one hearings office.
- Maryland: Although its denial rate is slightly less the time it takes to get in a courtroom in Maryland is a whopping 16 months. In addition, they dismiss 22% of cases, deny 45%, and only approve 33%. In addition to Maryland having the worst waiting time in the country, their other statistics aren’t worthy of bragging, making them a close 2ndin the list of worst states to seek SSI.
- Kansas: Although it is the lesser-evil of these three states, it is still not a state, you would want to deal with when trying to receive SSI benefits. Their dismissal rates it 20%, a lowly approval rate of 33%, and a denial rate of 47%.
With this in mind, you may consider finding some reliable legal representation when it comes time to take your case to court if you happen to find yourself in one of these states.