Appealed my SSDI denial and it took 14 months to get a hearing

I filed for disability back in early 2022 for my back problems and got denied first time like everyone says. So I appealed and waited for a hearing date thinking it would be maybe 6 months tops. Nope, it took 14 months just to get in front of a judge here in Fresno. The whole process from initial filing to approval ended up being 22 months total. Did anyone else's appeal take way longer than the SSA website estimated? I'm curious what other people's timelines looked like.

2 comments

2 Comments

ivan8211d ago

Did you ever get an explanation for why it took that long? Because mine was pretty much the same. I filed in late 2021 for rheumatoid arthritis and got denied fast. The appeal took 16 months to get a hearing in my area. The SSA website says most people get a hearing in 8-12 months but that's a joke. I think a lot of it depends on which judge you get and how backed up the local office is. My lawyer said the Fresno office is one of the worst in California for wait times.

pat_hall8711d ago

Ivan, you mentioned the Fresno office being backed up and that matches what I read in a news article about SSA hearing delays. It said some offices have twice the wait time of others because of staffing shortages and how many cases each judge gets. So it sounds like a lot of it is just bad luck with where you live and which judge you end up with.