Nearly 300,000 Americans waiting for Social Security disability appeal — average delay hits 9.5 months, leaving families in limbo

Why the backlog could get worse

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) provides financial assistance to Americans who can no longer support themselves because of a serious, long-lasting medical impairment. SSDI benefits are financed through the Social Security payroll tax (employees and employers each pay an SSDI tax of 0.9% up to a tax cap of $176,100 in 2025).

The Social Security Administration (SSA) receives 20,000 to 40,000 hearing requests monthly. This administrative appeals operation is “one of the largest administrative judicial systems in the world, according to the SSA, issuing more than half a million hearing and appeal dispositions each year.

The agency has been making progress toward reducing its backlog, hiring more staff between 2016 and 2018, which helped to drop hearings below 1 million. By September 2024, it reached a 30-year low in its backlogs with 261,574 pending disability hearings, according to SSA data.

Since then, however, that backlog has been creeping upwards. In February, the number of pending cases had reached 271,763 — fuelling concerns that progress is reversing course.

This is likely to be exacerbated as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration cuts back on federal spending, with a recent announcement to reduce the Social Security workforce by 12% and close six regional offices (from 10 down to four). There are also fears of field office closures.

Indeed, a study on disability programs found that when field offices close, the number of people who receive disability benefits falls by 16%. Staff shortages could also make matters worse.

In 2023, a trained disability examiner could resolve an average of 579 initial eligibility determinations per year. “The number of fully trained disability examiners who were not training others dropped from 6,627 in 2018 to 5,252 in 2023, and pending claims increased. More staffing cuts will likely prolong this trend, leading to even larger backlogs,” according to the Urban Institute.

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The financial and emotional toll of delays

More than 11 million disabled Americans under 65 rely on their benefits, either from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or both. For those waiting for a decision on their appeal, the emotional strain and financial hardship of escalating delays can be hard to bear.

“Disability can have devastating economic consequences. Not only can disability happen to anyone — especially with advancing age — but it greatly harms people’s economic circumstances. Their earnings, total family income, and spending on essentials like food and housing all fall significantly,” according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).

While waiting to hear if they’re eligible for benefits or if they’ve won their appeal, they may not have any income or health insurance. For anyone with a severe medical condition, the inability to access medical care could dramatically impact their health and wellbeing.

“Over a quarter of a million people are stuck waiting for a Social Security disability hearing, and the system is failing them,” Mary Ellen O’Connor, founder of O'Connor Law PLLC, told Newsweek. “The process isn’t just slow — it’s life-altering. People who have worked their whole lives, paying into the system for at least 20 quarters — often their entire careers — find themselves in a brutal waiting game with no income, no certainty, or no idea how they’ll survive.”

O’Connor told Newsweek that the initial application process takes about seven months, and if the claim is denied, claimants have to wait another seven months for reconsideration. If they’re once again rejected, they have to wait for a hearing before an administrative law judge. Even if they win their appeal, benefits won’t kick in until after a five-month waiting period.

In the meantime, that could leave claimants without an income. A years-long process could eat away at any savings they have, and some may lose their homes, cars and health insurance. Some may even return to work out of desperation, even if it means their medical condition will get worse.

Fixing this is no simple task, but cutting resources will likely only exacerbate the program’s issues. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that most other advanced countries spend more than the U.S. on disability benefits as a share of the economy.