Many in Maryland have probably noticed some of the uproar about the Social Security Disability Insurance system.

Recent media reports have publicized the fact that many people who are in need of Social Security disability benefits are being denied them, while those who do not deserve benefits are sometimes approved.

The Social Security Administration announced this week that an independent federal study is going to review the disability system, in hopes of fixing that disparity.

The main area that will be studied is the judging process. This is because it has come to light that oftentimes the likelihood of having your disability case approved hinges on which particular judge looks at your file. Administrative-law judges who review disability cases have a large discretion in deciding whether a case merits benefits - this means they can interpret a case in a wide range of ways.

A news report illustrates this fact in its comparison of a Houston judge who awarded benefits in 13 percent of his cases last year, and a judge in Kingsport, Tenn., who awarded benefits 99 percent of the time.

In addition to this discrepancy, the study will examine why federal courts so often overturn Social Security judge decisions to deny benefits on appeals. Federal courts either found errors or overturned 51 percent of the Social Security appeals that they dealt with last year.

The Social Security Disability Insurance program, which dates back to the 1950s, could run out of funding by 2017 if changes are not made, experts say. This year, the program is projected to pay $130 billion in benefits to more than 10 million Americans.

A draft of the study is scheduled to be presented late this summer, and the final recommendations to overhaul the appeals system are due in November.

Source: Wall Street Journal, "Disability-Benefits System Faces Review," Damien Paletta, Dec. 15, 2011