Aid long delayed

By Alan Johnson, Catherine Candisky and Jonathan Riskind

hat Gerald E. Cartee really needs is a new heart.

His is wearing out, but it won't be replaced. Instead, he's seeking $700 a month in Social Security disability benefits to help him get by during whatever time he has left.

What Cartee is going to get, however, is a "tickle" on Dec. 30. That's when Social Security Administration bureaucrats will update, not resolve, his case, filed in July 2005.

"It's frustrating. God, it's frustrating," Cartee said. "You don't get anything out of them if you write or talk to them. It's like you're just another number."

Cartee, 57, of Worthington, worked as a medical records clerk until he became seriously ill about three years ago. He was shocked when his doctor told him he had had at least two silent heart attacks; he also has congestive heart failure, vascular disease, cirrhosis of the liver and hepatitis C.

But, according to Social Security, Cartee is not disabled and can still work at his old job. He appealed the original determination and is waiting for a hearing before an administrative law judge.

Returning to work is impossible, Cartee said. He can't even walk one block to his mailbox without shortness of breath and chest pains. His partner, Michael, bought him a small scooter to help him get around.

Dr. Paul Nanda of Columbus, his physician, concluded in a June 17 report that Cartee has, "as we already knew, significant heart failure."

The problem holding back Cartee and thousands of other Ohioans is the huge Social Security disability backlog. The problem is old and appears likely to persist.

Only eight of the nation's 142 Social Security offices -- including one in Dayton -- have longer waits than Columbus.

More than 761,000 claims were pending nationally as of June 27, up from about 745,000 a year ago, according to the Social Security Administration. Once a benefit rejection is appealed, the average national wait for a decision is just what it was a year ago: 510 days.

In Columbus, as in some other cities with many cases and especially long waits, the agency has focused on providing more hearing judges. Two more are starting in the Columbus office this year, said the office of Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

The number of cases pending in the Columbus office declined to 9,310 at the end of June from 10,731 a year ago. The average waiting time dropped, too, to 728 days from 771.

But the wait, as calculated by the government, starts after a reconsideration appeal is rejected. In Cartee's case, the clock started running in November 2006 -- 16 months after he asked for help.

Congress and the White House have begun increasing funding for the agency in recent years. Brown is one of the lawmakers pushing for an even bigger boost to help erase the backlog.

Brown and Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, are among lawmakers who want to add $240 million to the White House budget request. Too many people are waiting years to have their applications approved, some losing homes or custody of their children or even dying before benefits are awarded, said a letter sent last month by Brown, Voinovich and 50 other senators to the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Jeff and Janis Mickey would readily agree. The Orient couple waited 5 1/2 years to get final word that Mrs. Mickey's disability application had been approved; that came just 11 days ago. They are still waiting for the first monthly check of about $1,700.

Mrs. Mickey, formerly a customer service manager with Marriott foods, suffered a massive heart attack in November 2001 and had triple-bypass surgery. Over 10 months, she had nine serious heart procedures. Her transplanted arteries clogged quickly; now she has five stents in them.

All along, however, Social Security officials continued to say that Mrs. Mickey could work in a "sedentary job."

During the long wait for a disability decision, the Mickeys plunged $80,000 into debt. They began selling things, including most of Mr. Mickey's pipe collection.

They would have lost their home and car had it not been for generous family members. Mr. Mickey's checking account has not been in the black for five years. He is constantly digging into his $1,000 overdraft protection, then paying it back to get even. But he never gets even.

The situation is complicated by Mr. Mickey's health problems. He is disabled because of a polymyositis, a rare serious muscle disease that forced him to leave his job as a banker 12 years ago. He sometimes is bedridden for up to six weeks.

Although they knew each other in high school in Jewett and even appeared as love interests in a play, The Importance of Being Ernest, they did not get together as a couple until 31 years and two broken marriages later.

Now they are united in a fight against government red tape.

"It's repulsive," Mr. Mickey said. "They make you feel like a bum. I'm disgusted by the system."

"It was demoralizing for me," Mrs. Mickey added. "I thought many times, 'It's never going to happen.' "