Get Help From a Congressperson to Expedite Your Disability Claim

Though it is never guaranteed to help, sometimes asking for a politician's help on a Social Security or SSI disability benefit claim can aid in getting your disability claim expedited. The purpose of making an inquiry is to determine why a disability claim is taking so long to process, not for the politician to help you get approved.

By contacting a congressperson or senator's office, you can start a congressional inquiry into why a particular SSD or SSI case is taking so long. Such inquiries (which simply involve a telephone call or the writing of a letter) are made by a congressperson's staff members. On occasion, a congressional inquiry can have the immediate effect of speeding up an ALJ disability hearing or resolving a problem on a disability claim.

How do you go about initiating such an inquiry? Determine who it is that represents you in the Senate or House (at the federal level, not the state level), and obtain his or her office phone number either via the phone book or through an Internet search. Call the office and explain that you have applied for Social Security disability and have been waiting for a disability hearing date for a long time. If you have only recently submitted a Request for Hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, you may want to wait to contact your congressperson or senator.