U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s state director met in Columbus on Wednesday with regional officials from the Social Security Administration to discuss how to reduce the local backlog of appeals for disability benefits, following a Dayton Daily News story on processing delays.

 

In a July 30 article, the Daily News reported that the Social Security Administration’s Dayton hearing office in the last two fiscal years was the second slowest in the nation for processing appeals for benefits. Even though the office has improved wait times — this year it has not ranked among the 20 slowest in the country — Brown said more must be done to reduce the delays further. He said wait times may shrink if more hospitals transitioned to electronic medical records and more members of the public were aware of and utilized video-hearing options.

 

“This is important because these are life and death situations for people who have lost jobs and are unable to go to work and need an answer from their government about whether they qualify for Social Security disability,” Brown, D-Ohio, said in an interview. “We want these done as quickly as possible.”

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