Kansas leads the country in the number of residents having to wait to get Social Security disability insurance, according to rankings released Tuesday.Almost 15,000 people in Kansas are waiting for a decision.

When it comes to processing disability claims through Social Security, Kansas has the worst backlog in the country, an advocacy group says.

Almost 15,000 Kansans are in limbo, waiting for a decision on whether they qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance, according to a report released Tuesday from the American Association of People with Disabilities and Allsup Inc., a company that provides assistance in helping people get Social Security and Medicare benefits.

The two organizations looked at the number of people waiting for a decision on disability insurance versus those who already receive benefits. Kansas led the list for the largest backlog per capita. The state was followed by Washington, D.C., North Dakota, Michigan and Alabama.

More than 1.4 million Americans either are working through the application process or their requests are being reconsidered or appealed.

“We are talking about people with significant disabilities who paid into the system throughout their working lives, who have a right to a fair and efficient process when they need the benefits,” said Andrew Imparato, president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities. “Right now, I think it would be hard to describe what people are experiencing as a fair and efficient process.”

As of May, Kansas had an average wait of 580 days for hearing an appeal.

Jim Allsup, CEO and President of Allsup Inc., said Social Security offices in Kansas faced the same difficulties as others across the nation: fewer staff members dealing with more claims.

“I think if you went in and you dissected the state of Kansas, what you are going to find is probably a larger loss of staff in relationship to the work loads than the other states,” Allsup said.

Formidable odds

Allsup is head of an Illinois-based company that helps shepherd people through the government’s decision-making process for disability benefits. The company receives a percentage – usually 25 percent, but not more than $5,300 – of the amount of money awarded to applicants in retroactive benefits.

If approved, disability payments are based on how long the applicants work, how old they are and how much they earned. The average monthly payment Allsup obtains for its clients is $978. Depending on the person’s financial status, disability insurance also includes Medicaid or Medicare.

Nationally, more than 60 percent of all Social Security disability claims initially are denied.

Social Security spokesman John Garlinger, who is based in Kansas City, said the backlog has been growing for some time.

Across the country, there has been a lack of judges to hear appeal cases, Garlinger said. And as baby boomers age, they become more prone to developing a disability.

Also, Social Security offices are being asked to take on new responsibilities, such as verification of Social Security numbers and assistance with Medicare Part D.

And the agency is receiving on average $150 million less per year than what is recommended in the president’s budget, Garlinger said.

“We have less people to look at more cases with less money to work with and other work loads increasing,” Garlinger said. “That is a tough row to hoe.”

Cutting the waits

During testimony to the Senate Finance Committee in May, Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue laid out a “road map” for improving the backlog, Garlinger said.

Among those changes are upgrading to better electronic systems, improving the business process and finding ways to fast-track targeted cases.

In the region that includes the Kansas City metropolitan area and stretches to Lawrence, Garlinger said, about a dozen new staff members have been hired in the past 18 months.

Imparato said Congress – as both the entity that funds Social Security and writes legislation – is in a position to make changes.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, stated in an e-mail Tuesday that the existing backlog is “anything but effective and efficient.”

Her office tracks how many complaints constituents have with federal agencies. And right now, her office is working on twice as many Social Security issues than any other kind of concern.

“This is a real problem, and I’m troubled to find that it’s a bigger problem in Kansas than in other states,” Boyda stated in her e-mail.