It means essentially nothing when your account at Social Security tells you that they’re 30% or 70% or whatever finished reviewing your case. When I first heard they were doing this, I couldn’t believe it. I figured the client who told me about it must have been confused. It’s completely off the wall. It turned out to be true. I’ve mentioned this to Social Security employees and they have also been astounded. That’s just not the way things work. You can’t predict things with anywhere near that degree of precision and a computer certainly can’t.

My guess is that they’re taking an average time span for the review of a Social Security disability claim and comparing the length of time that a case has been pending to that but things are on no timetable. One case may take four times as long as another case. Even their averages are misleading. There are some disability claims filed by people with terminal cancer. The agency races to approve those cases immediately because they’re highly sympathetic cases but also because getting them out the door quickly makes their averages look better.

No, I’m sorry but you can’t rely upon what you see on your Social Security account about how far along your disability claim is.

If you’re in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347