Outcomes of Applications for Disability Benefits




Final outcome of disabled-worker applications, 1995-2004
The final award rate for disabled-worker applicants has varied over time,
averaging more than 47 percent for claims filed from 1995 through 2004. The
percentage of applicants awarded benefits at the initial claims level
averaged 31 percent over the same period and ranged from a high of about 35
percent to a low of 25 percent. The percentage of applicants awarded at the
reconsideration and hearing levels are relatively constant, averaging 4 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Denied disability claims have averaged
about 49 percent.


SOURCE: Tables 58-63.
NOTES: Awards are calculated as medical allowances minus subsequent
technical denials. Technical denials include both nonmedical decision
technical denials and medical decisions that were subsequently denied for
technical reasons.
The proportion of claims awarded at each level of the process is likely to
change as a result of the Prototype Process being tested in 10 states. Under
this test, the reconsideration step of the appeals process was eliminated
for applications filed October 1, 1999, or later. Elimination of the
reconsideration level in these states is likely to result in a decrease in
the overall proportion of claims awarded at this step.