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Social Security Enshrines Remote Options for Disability Hearings.
Pandemic accommodations made permanent as SSA seeks to reduce wait times.
By Sharon Jayson, AARP. Published October 14, 2024.
Before 2020, people turned down for Social Security disability benefits basically had one option to have their cases heard on appeal: going to a Social Security Administration (SSA) facility to appear before an administrative law judge.
When COVID-19 struck and SSA offices nationwide shut down, the agency had to pivot to remote hearings โ initially by phone, and later with an option for online teleconferencing. Now, the SSA is making that pandemic workaround a permanent part of its procedures, establishing remote hearings as a standard option for disability claimants.
https://www.aarp.org/retirement/social-security/info-2024/remote-disability-hearings.html