RICHMOND, Va. — Over the past several months, CBS 6 has been sharing the stories of disabled Virginians frustrated by major delays in receiving crucial assistance from the federal government. Now, a shakeup is underway across the Social Security Administration as President Trump's administration looks to reduce the size of the workforce and address what it calls bureaucratic inefficiencies.
Some recipients who rely on the agency for assistance are questioning how the changes could impact disability determination services, as many state departments that are responsible for processing disability claims are already understaffed.
For Ed Heavener, he points to the two years he spent struggling to pay rent as he awaited action from the SSA. It took the administration 25 months to approve his disability benefits, leaving him in a vulnerable position financially and mentally.
“I will admit I almost committed suicide because it was getting to the point where I couldn't take it emotionally anymore," he said.
Heavener said he couldn't work after a heart attack in 2022, and he began relying on an oxygen tank to breathe.
But his initial disability claim was denied, so he hired a lawyer who identified many alleged errors in how the agency processed his case and filed an appeal.
“There were several mistakes. They did not get all of my medical information. They never once pulled my psych information," Heavener said.
After CBS 6 aired his story last summer, Heavener finally received his money.
“It mysteriously appeared in my bank account," he said.
His problem wasn't unique.
Dozens of people from Central Virginia and beyond reached out to CBS 6 to share similar stories of significant delays, an unresponsive government, and difficulties getting answers from customer service:
- “Sometimes it’s just like what do I even wake up for? Just to feel miserable and know that I have nothing?" - Lisa Harris
- “It’s just a waiting game, so I’m just like, how long are we supposed to wait?” - Tammie Tyler
- "It's really disappointing because I have paid into this system my whole life. I've always believed in it." - Jeffrey Silverman
- "Your case is pending, your case is pending. No updates, no nothing. It's completely frustrating" - James Moore
- "I honestly never thought this was going to take this long, but it grates on you" - Lowell Murray
In 2023, Virginians waited an average of 228 days for an initial decision on a disability application and an additional 221 days on a first appeal. Second, third, and fourth stage appeals could drag out the process further by years. An estimated 600 Virginians died while waiting for a disability determination in 2023, according to federal data.
Under President Biden's administration, former SSA Commissioner Martin O'Malley cited historic under funding and under staffing as the top contributors to wait times.
"All of these things ultimately come back to the big context of serving more customers than ever with fewer staff than ever," O'Malley said in a previous interview with CBS 6's parent company Scripps News.
Now, under the Trump Administration, SSA Acting Commissioner Lee Dudek is looking to further cut staff.
The agency has not yet identified the specific positions involved but said in an email to staff that "massive reorganizations" and "significant workforce reductions" are underway. The SSA is offering employees the option to be reassigned to "mission critical" positions and voluntarily resign or retire before the restructuring efforts take place.
Additionally, the SSA said it froze hiring for Disability Determination Services (DDS). The staff who work in these DDS departments are actually state employees but are funded by federal dollars and overseen by the SSA.
Betsy Civilette, a spokesperson for Virginia's DDS department, said the SSA has not given the state specific guidance as to how these changes will impact DDS employees.
"We are monitoring the federal budget situation closely and hopeful that any federal budget cuts do not negatively impact our staff or the Virginians who rely on our services," Civilette said.
As of August 2024, Virginia DDS had 40 vacancies out of 458 total positions.
Other DDS departments said their state services had not been altered by the SSA job cuts at this point, but they didn't rule out the possibility of future impacts.
James Werner, a spokesperson for North Carolina DDS said, "Federal workforce reductions could have a long-term negative impact on the availability of assistance services, including the rate of processing disability claims and disability benefit application wait times, which would have significant impacts to North Carolinians."
The SSA did not answer questions about how disability processing times may be affected by workforce reductions, but a spokesperson referred CBS 6 back to a press release which stated in part, “We have spent billions annually doing the same things the same way, leading to bureaucratic stagnation, inefficiency, and a lack of meaningful service improvements. It is time to change just that.”
A 2018 audit from the Virginia Inspector General's office warned at the time that a failure to address high staff turnover, a loss of experienced claims examiners, and an overwhelming workload for Virginia DDS employees could lead to an inability to provide citizens with the timely processing of their disability claims.
Heavener felt that inability years later when he applied for benefits.
Considering the lacking customer service and processing errors he experienced in his case, he agrees the federal government needs to address "bureaucratic stagnation" and "inefficiencies." But he worries cutting staff may exacerbate the already existing problems.
"If they want to fix this, they need to get out of their four walls and listen to who’s outside of those walls," he said. "Listen to my voice. Listen to their voice. Hear what they have to say, not what they the bureaucrats are saying to each other."
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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