Republicans Call Out Social Security Over Backlog, Fax Machines

Republican lawmakers put a spotlight on the Social Security Administration's (SSA) backlog for disability claims Thursday, pointing a finger at how the federal administration has trailed behind other government offices in terms of modernization.

Wait times for disability claims are at an all-time high in 2023. Representative Drew Ferguson, chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, said during his opening remarks at a committee hearing Thursday that over 1 million Americans are currently waiting on the SSA to process their disability claims, and on average, claims take roughly 220 days to be decided.

During the subcommittee's hearing Thursday, Utah Representative Blake Moore pointed out ways that the SSA has failed to adopt technology into its processing efforts as other government agencies have done. Moore noted a recent example of his experience at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Utah, which the Republican lawmaker said has "embraced technology and [has] used it to dramatically improve customer service."

"I represent a huge IRS processing facility in Ogden, Utah, and that's the No. 1 thing I hear from constituents and from the folks that I serve that work at that facility," Moore said. "There is a desire and a need to embrace as much technology as possible, because it's out there."

Moore also prompted questions about the SSA's policy on accepting disability claim applications by fax, a process that was in place during restrictions under the COVID-19 pandemic but was changed in August of this year. Applications can still be made online through the SSA website, and Linda Kerr-Davis, assistant deputy commissioner of operations at the SSA who testified in front of the Social Security subcommittee Thursday, said that the administration will still accept fax applications as "leads" for disability claims.

"I would argue that we need to be moving past fax machines, too," Moore continued. "If it's there, let's take advantage of it, and let's continue to embrace whatever we can."

Ferguson chimed in before moving on from Moore's questions, saying, "I do think it's just a sad state of affairs when we're talking about whether or not we should cut on a fax machine."

"We might as well strap these notes onto carrier pigeons and send them as well," Ferguson added.

The SSA has attributed its backlog to staffing shortages and other challenges that, according to Kerr-Davis, are "ultimately tied to funding challenges." The administration has also taken steps to address the wait times for disability claims, including increasing immediate processing capacity for claims, improving recruitment and implementing new information technology, Kerr-Davis told the Social Security subcommittee during her opening statements Thursday.

But Ferguson raised questions about how the SSA has spent its funding in recent years to alleviate the backlog. In fiscal year 2023, Congress approved over $14.1 billion in administrative funding, a $785 million increase from the $13.3 billion approved in fiscal year 2022.

"While the SSA claims that it is working to address the backlog, its policy and resource priorities say otherwise," Ferguson said during his opening statements Thursday, stating the agency has invested over $100 million on outreach efforts that have increased the number of initial disability claims filed.

"Let me put this in plain English: the SSA is unable to keep up with the claims it has but is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get more claims, dollars that should instead be going to provide claimants with faster decisions," the chairman continued. "Meanwhile, the SSA is sitting on solutions that would modernize and streamline the claims process."

When contacted by Newsweek for comment, the SSA press office replied with a statement.

"Technology helps make the decision-making process more efficient. It increases the collection of electronic medical evidence, improves communications with the public, expands our decision support tools and quickly identifies claims with diseases and other medical conditions that, by definition, meet Social Security's standards for disability benefits for expedited processing," the statement said.

The SSA noted they have implemented a national case-processing system, which "replaced 52 independently operated DDS legacy systems." The statement said the new system is more "uniform" and "allows for the movement of cases between States, so we can better manage our workloads."

"We are using Intelligent Medical Language Analysis Generation (IMAGEN), a decision-support tool, to ensure accuracy and improve efficiency with reviewing lengthy medical reports," the SSA statement added. "In April 2023, we released an IMAGEN report tool, which identifies pending claims that contain evidence that shows a high probability of meeting or equaling a medical listing. This tool enables States to more quickly identify potential allowances or presumptive disability determinations, reducing wait times."

Update 10/27/23 7:24 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from the SSA, as well as corrected dollar amounts for administrative funding approved by Congress.