2021 Annual Report of the SSI Program

C. Historical Allowance Data

At the end of 2020, 86 percent of federally administered Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients were receiving benefits based on disability or blindness. Individuals file claims at a local Social Security office or over the telephone. We send claims requiring an evaluation of disability to the State disability determination services (DDS) for a disability decision.¹ Applicants may appeal unfavorable initial DDS decisions. In general, the appeals process proceeds as follows^{2 3}:

•	The State DDS conducts the first level of appeal — the reconsideration appeal step.

•	Claimants denied at the reconsideration level can then request a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ).

•	If dissatisfied with the hearing decision, claimants can request a review by the Appeals Council.

•	Those dissatisfied with the Appeals Council’s action can seek further relief through the Federal court system.

This process of application and appeal can span several years. However, before 1993, the only data available on the disability determination process resided in files compiled at each separate stage of the process and only captured various point-in-time snapshots. Only a longitudinal database of administrative records at all stages of appeal can provide a complete picture of the disability determination process. Beginning in 1993, and every year since, the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of Disability Policy constructed such a longitudinal database, the “Title XVI Disability Research File,” to assist our agency in understanding and managing this process. However, as there are inconsistencies in the data collected from all the respective levels of appeal, certain considerations are made during the build process. The following sections present some additional details and qualifications essential to a complete understanding of the resulting data. Following these technical notes, tables V.C1 and V.C2 present the latest available summary of results on disability determinations under Title XVI.

1. Technical Notes on the Disability Research File

Methods used to build the Title XVI Disability Research File — The “base” file for the Title XVI Disability Research File is the Supplemental Security Record, the main computerized file for administering the SSI program. We match the “base” file against records from various other administrative sources, including transactions from the disability determination (SSA-831) files, Structured Data Repository (SDR), Social Security number identification records and earnings data, and hearing and Appeals Council level data.

Creating the Title XVI Disability Research File is a cumbersome process; it involves about 200 steps and generally requires 2 to 4 months to complete. The process is complex because we assemble the file based on filing date cohorts, and many of the source files do not contain a filing date. The basic data sources provide information for the 3 most recent calendar year cohorts. Older calendar year cohorts reflect updated activity since the last time we built the file. Since the process is so time consuming, we update the research file only annually (usually beginning in July); research file data are not yet available for claims filed in 2020.

Methods used for estimating results (through January 2021) for claims filed in 2020 — Although decision counts are available for 2020 filers from many of the source files, those counts do not translate directly into the claims/appeals counts in the following tables because we consolidate multiple transactions and apply claims-based tolerance rules when we build the Title XVI Disability Research File.

To prepare preliminary estimates of results through January 2021 for 2020 filers, we started from the latest available transaction data, such as the SSA-831 data, and took into account recent years’ experience of the relationship between corresponding earlier transaction data and the resulting claims/appeals data in completed research files. We estimate hearing and Appeals Council appeals activity from a file that tracks individual claimants, rather than individual claims, which has resulted in a slight undercount of hearing and Appeals Council individual claims. Recent revocation of the agency’s subsequent application (i.e., an application filed while an earlier claim is pending at a review level) policy should largely eliminate the disparity between the number of claims and claimants.

While we believe that these methods are reasonable, we emphasize that the resulting estimates may not be completely reliable, especially because the estimates give results only through January 2021, whereas the final research files will reflect information through at least June 2021. Actual data for 2020 will replace these estimates in the 2022 Annual Report.

2. General Considerations

Some general points that apply to tables V.C1 and V.C2 are as follows:

•	Data for 1988-2019 filers are as of June 2020 for decisions at the DDS level. Results for those years’ filers include results at the hearing and Appeals Council levels and Federal courts through July 2020.

•

Data for 2020 filers are preliminary estimates as of January 2021, and reflect larger numbers of claims still pending. January 2021 data on number of appeals may be too low because larger numbers of claimants are still within the period allowed for filing an appeal (i.e., larger numbers of recently denied claimants who have not yet filed an appeal may appeal before the time limit runs out).

•	Remaining appeals will affect the results. Since we usually decide allowances more quickly than denials, we expect that the percent allowed will ultimately be lower when the processing of all cases is complete.

•

In certain pilot activities and under the revised process introduced October 1, 1999 in 10 States, individuals could appeal initial denials directly to the hearing level without a separate reconsideration step. As a result, the appeals of initial denials in these tables include cases that did not receive a decision at the reconsideration level.4

•	The tables do not show the cases appealed to the Office of the Federal Reviewing Official level under the DSI process separately, but we included these cases in the reconsideration counts.

•

In reports issued in 2010 and earlier, we counted allowances at the highest adjudicative level a filer reached. Beginning with data in the 2011 Annual Report for claims filed after 1999, we now count allowances at the earliest adjudicative level of allowance. For claims filed prior to 2000, we continue to count allowances at the highest adjudicative level reached.

 

 

Table V.C1.—Disabled Adult Claims: Disposition of Applications for SSI
Disability Benefits by Year of Filing^a and Level of Decision^b  

Calendar year of filing		Total claims filed	Initial decisions
			Pending	Allowances		Denials		Appeals of initial denials
				Number	Percent c	Number	Percentc	Number d	Percent e
1988		946,603	—	272,204	28.8	674,399	71.2	265,151	39.3
1989		969,218	—	292,044	30.1	677,174	69.9	274,823	40.6
1990		1,099,805	—	347,823	31.6	751,982	68.4	320,207	42.6
1991		1,288,331	—	415,336	32.2	872,995	67.8	383,669	43.9
1992		1,415,624	—	436,888	30.9	978,736	69.1	433,244	44.3
1993		1,503,278	—	416,300	27.7	1,086,978	72.3	485,166	44.6
1994		1,436,958	—	353,995	24.6	1,082,963	75.4	482,533	44.6
1995		1,318,416	—	323,084	24.5	995,332	75.5	439,166	44.1
1996		1,247,926	—	305,351	24.5	942,575	75.5	406,425	43.1
1997		1,110,898	—	292,839	26.4	818,059	73.6	357,973	43.8
1998		1,108,957	—	322,734	29.1	786,223	70.9	339,288	43.2
1999		1,105,109	—	326,734	29.6	778,375	70.4	340,114	43.7
2000		1,139,623	—	347,024	30.5	792,599	69.5	338,664	42.7
2001		1,216,040	—	368,981	30.3	847,059	69.7	360,793	42.6
2002		1,322,451	—	374,373	28.3	948,078	71.7	405,333	42.8
2003		1,403,003	—	382,013	27.2	1,020,990	72.8	431,548	42.3
2004		1,475,149	—	387,857	26.3	1,087,292	73.7	434,291	39.9
2005		1,470,300	—	373,582	25.4	1,096,718	74.6	420,445	38.3
2006		1,499,551	—	367,973	24.5	1,131,578	75.5	428,193	37.8
2007		1,506,654	—	376,632	25.0	1,130,022	75.0	436,462	38.6
2008		1,602,444	—	418,258	26.1	1,184,186	73.9	486,770	41.1
2009		1,831,721	—	465,276	25.4	1,366,445	74.6	571,418	41.8
2010		1,881,418	—	450,337	23.9	1,431,081	76.1	611,117	42.7
2011		1,842,499	—	425,626	23.1	1,416,873	76.9	626,128	44.2
2012		1,794,616	—	414,620	23.1	1,379,996	76.9	614,955	44.6
2013		1,633,124	—	382,749	23.4	1,250,375	76.6	574,503	45.9
2014		1,496,914	—	355,295	23.7	1,141,619	76.3	522,449	45.8
2015		1,411,989	—	334,641	23.7	1,077,348	76.3	462,663	42.9
2016		1,324,374	—	322,519	24.4	1,001,855	75.6	424,934	42.4
2017		1,267,913	—	309,629	24.4	958,284	75.6	391,461	40.9
2018		1,196,927	—	292,391	24.4	904,536	75.6	371,351	41.1
2019		1,205,758	97,232	271,296	24.5	837,230	75.5	307,688	36.8
2020		1,012,540	301,564	227,116	31.9	483,860	68.1	141,586	29.3
Calendar year of filing	Reconsiderationsf						Appeals beyond reconsideration g
	Pending	Allowances		Denials	Appeals of  reconsideration denials			Allowances
		Number	Percentc		Number h	Percente	Pending i	Number	Percent j	Denials k
1988	—	38,385	14.5	226,766	140,663	62.0	—	82,414	58.6	58,249
1989	—	43,505	15.8	231,318	146,082	63.2	—	90,169	61.7	55,913
1990	—	52,055	16.3	268,152	175,520	65.5	—	109,098	62.2	66,422
1991	—	59,157	15.4	324,512	221,816	68.4	—	139,698	63.0	82,118
1992	—	58,819	13.6	374,425	260,554	69.6	—	159,084	61.1	101,470
1993	—	57,938	11.9	427,228	294,801	69.0	—	170,402	57.8	124,399
1994	—	55,822	11.6	426,711	293,448	68.8	—	164,537	56.1	128,911
1995	—	51,697	11.8	387,469	264,270	68.2	—	143,582	54.3	120,688
1996	—	49,263	12.1	357,162	242,407	67.9	—	133,323	55.0	109,084
1997	—	47,573	13.4	306,561	213,969	69.8	—	121,619	55.8	96,189
1998	—	46,507	13.7	292,272	203,767	69.7	—	115,323	56.5	88,953
1999	—	40,375	12.5	283,475	199,371	70.3	—	117,431	54.5	98,204
2000	—	37,768	13.4	243,790	173,465	71.2	—	122,829	53.3	107,742
2001	—	37,388	13.2	246,613	174,286	70.7	—	133,018	53.0	118,060
2002	—	38,617	12.2	277,567	195,633	70.5	—	150,228	52.8	134,554
2003	—	39,086	11.5	300,283	210,228	70.0	—	159,464	52.7	142,943
2004	—	37,197	10.9	302,649	211,583	69.9	—	163,800	53.5	142,228
2005	—	34,753	10.6	293,829	205,752	70.0	—	163,212	54.8	134,403
2006	—	34,145	10.3	298,918	210,427	70.4	—	169,878	55.6	135,679
2007	—	35,893	10.6	304,060	214,678	70.6	—	170,932	54.9	140,255
2008	—	40,868	10.7	341,794	244,060	71.4	—	186,883	53.7	161,285
2009	—	43,507	9.7	406,284	293,512	72.2	—	205,087	49.4	210,052
2010	—	41,231	8.5	441,260	326,500	74.0	—	204,139	44.9	250,987
2011	—	42,102	8.5	451,375	338,218	74.9	—	195,622	41.5	275,247
2012	—	40,786	8.4	444,905	334,096	75.1	—	179,931	38.8	283,429
2013	—	37,169	8.2	415,114	320,876	77.3	3,933	164,952	37.6	274,211
2014	—	35,411	8.6	376,297	286,372	76.1	3,756	148,749	37.8	244,608
2015	—	34,105	9.4	330,081	245,199	74.3	5,519	125,368	37.1	212,789
2016	—	31,831	9.4	306,121	226,786	74.1	10,062	109,853	36.2	193,853
2017	—	29,221	9.2	287,008	210,064	73.2	28,760	93,334	36.4	163,202
2018	—	29,754	9.5	283,038	205,549	72.6	97,962	64,231	38.7	101,915
2019	57,850	22,667	9.6	213,320	141,991	66.6	131,176	9,293	37.7	15,373
2020	63,016	6,705	9.5	63,959	30,683	48.0	36,193	976	40.7	1,420
Calendar year of filing			Selected summary case information by decision status: Numbers of cases
			Total claims filed	Initial decisions pending	Total initial decisions	Allowances	Denials
							Appeal decision pending	No appeal pending
1988			946,603	—	946,603	393,003	—	553,600
1989			969,218	—	969,218	425,718	—	543,500
1990			1,099,805	—	1,099,805	508,976	—	590,829
1991			1,288,331	—	1,288,331	614,191	—	674,140
1992			1,415,624	—	1,415,624	654,791	—	760,833
1993			1,503,278	—	1,503,278	644,640	—	858,638
1994			1,436,958	—	1,436,958	574,354	—	862,604
1995			1,318,416	—	1,318,416	518,363	—	800,053
1996			1,247,926	—	1,247,926	487,937	—	759,989
1997			1,110,898	—	1,110,898	462,031	—	648,867
1998			1,108,957	—	1,108,957	484,564	—	624,393
1999			1,105,109	—	1,105,109	484,540	—	620,569
2000			1,139,623	—	1,139,623	507,621	—	632,002
2001			1,216,040	—	1,216,040	539,387	—	676,653
2002			1,322,451	—	1,322,451	563,218	—	759,233
2003			1,403,003	—	1,403,003	580,563	—	822,440
2004			1,475,149	—	1,475,149	588,854	—	886,295
2005			1,470,300	—	1,470,300	571,547	—	898,753
2006			1,499,551	—	1,499,551	571,996	—	927,555
2007			1,506,654	—	1,506,654	583,457	—	923,197
2008			1,602,444	—	1,602,444	646,009	—	956,435
2009			1,831,721	—	1,831,721	713,870	—	1,117,851
2010			1,881,418	—	1,881,418	695,707	—	1,185,711
2011			1,842,499	—	1,842,499	663,350	—	1,179,149
2012			1,794,616	—	1,794,616	635,337	—	1,159,279
2013			1,633,124	—	1,633,124	584,870	3,933	1,044,321
2014			1,496,914	—	1,496,914	539,455	3,756	953,703
2015			1,411,989	—	1,411,989	494,114	5,519	912,356
2016			1,324,374	—	1,324,374	464,203	10,062	850,109
2017			1,267,913	—	1,267,913	432,184	28,760	806,969
2018			1,196,927	—	1,196,927	386,376	97,962	712,589
2019			1,205,758	97,232	1,108,526	303,256	189,026	616,244
2020			1,012,540	301,564	710,976	234,797	99,209	376,970
Calendar year of filing		Selected summary case information by decision status
		Numbers as a percentage of total claims filed				Numbers as a percentage of total initial decisions
		Initial decision pending	Allowances	Denials		Allowances	Denials
				Appeal decision pending	No appeal pending		Appeal decision pending	No appeal pending
1988		—	41.5	—	58.5	41.5	—	58.5
1989		—	43.9	—	56.1	43.9	—	56.1
1990		—	46.3	—	53.7	46.3	—	53.7
1991		—	47.7	—	52.3	47.7	—	52.3
1992		—	46.3	—	53.7	46.3	—	53.7
1993		—	42.9	—	57.1	42.9	—	57.1
1994		—	40.0	—	60.0	40.0	—	60.0
1995		—	39.3	—	60.7	39.3	—	60.7
1996		—	39.1	—	60.9	39.1	—	60.9
1997		—	41.6	—	58.4	41.6	—	58.4
1998		—	43.7	—	56.3	43.7	—	56.3
1999		—	43.8	—	56.2	43.8	—	56.2
2000		—	44.5	—	55.5	44.5	—	55.5
2001		—	44.4	—	55.6	44.4	—	55.6
2002		—	42.6	—	57.4	42.6	—	57.4
2003		—	41.4	—	58.6	41.4	—	58.6
2004		—	39.9	—	60.1	39.9	—	60.1
2005		—	38.9	—	61.1	38.9	—	61.1
2006		—	38.1	—	61.9	38.1	—	61.9
2007		—	38.7	—	61.3	38.7	—	61.3
2008		—	40.3	—	59.7	40.3	—	59.7
2009		—	39.0	—	61.0	39.0	—	61.0
2010		—	37.0	—	63.0	37.0	—	63.0
2011		—	36.0	—	64.0	36.0	—	64.0
2012		—	35.4	—	64.6	35.4	—	64.6
2013		—	35.8	.2	63.9	35.8	.2	63.9
2014		—	36.0	.3	63.7	36.0	.3	63.7
2015		—	35.0	.4	64.6	35.0	.4	64.6
2016		—	35.1	.8	64.2	35.1	.8	64.2
2017		—	34.1	2.3	63.6	34.1	2.3	63.6
2018		—	32.3	8.2	59.5	32.3	8.2	59.5
2019		8.1	25.2	15.7	51.1	27.4	17.1	55.6
2020		29.8	23.2	9.8	37.2	33.0	14.0	53.0

---

a

Data for claims filed in 1988‑2019 reflect results as of June 2020 at the DDS level and as of July 2020 at the hearing and Appeals Council levels. The numbers of total claims filed for 2017-2019 are subject to change. Data for claims filed in 2020 are preliminary estimates as of January 2021. The ultimate numbers of allowances and denials are subject to change until all initial decisions have been completed and all appeals are final.

b

For claims filed in 2000 or later, we count allowances at the earliest adjudicative level of allowance. We count allowances for claims filed prior to 2000 at the highest adjudicative level reached.

c

Percentage of decisions at this level.

d

Includes certain cases that can be appealed directly to the hearing level.

e

Percentage of denials at this level appealed to next level.

f

Includes cases reviewed by the Office of the Federal Reviewing Official (OFedRO) during the period August 2006 through November 2008 as part of the DSI process.

g

Includes cases appealed to the hearing and Appeals Council levels and cases appealed to the Federal courts.

h

Number of persons appealing beyond the reconsideration level.

i

Includes cases remanded to SSA from the Federal courts.

j

Percentage of decisions at this level. For years in which decisions are still pending, the preliminary percentage shown is expected to ultimately be lower as all cases are processed. This occurs because allowances are generally processed more quickly than denials.

k

Includes denied claims where the final administrative action was a dismissal of an appeal request (e.g., the appeal was not filed timely or the applicant failed to appear at the scheduled hearing).

 

Table V.C2.—Disabled Child Claims: Disposition of Applications for SSI
Disability Benefits by Year of Filing^a and Level of Decision^b  

Calendar year of filing		Total claims filed	Initial decisions
			Pending	Allowances		Denials		Appeals of initial denials
				Number	Percent c	Number	Percentc	Number d	Percent e
1991		250,962	—	148,220	59.1	102,742	40.9	24,702	24.0
1992		372,971	—	189,079	50.7	183,892	49.3	49,297	26.8
1993		496,131	—	212,268	42.8	283,863	57.2	75,967	26.8
1994		525,013	—	172,219	32.8	352,794	67.2	92,093	26.1
1995		487,730	—	144,231	29.6	343,499	70.4	86,841	25.3
1996		453,473	—	127,416	28.1	326,057	71.9	75,013	23.0
1997		332,032	—	106,528	32.1	225,504	67.9	51,493	22.8
1998		335,732	—	123,249	36.7	212,483	63.3	50,110	23.6
1999		342,162	—	129,375	37.8	212,787	62.2	49,996	23.5
2000		349,285	—	138,262	39.6	211,023	60.4	48,156	22.8
2001		367,726	—	152,651	41.5	215,075	58.5	49,013	22.8
2002		402,116	—	165,220	41.1	236,896	58.9	55,863	23.6
2003		425,336	—	172,655	40.6	252,681	59.4	59,700	23.6
2004		435,562	—	174,514	40.1	261,048	59.9	58,534	22.4
2005		424,876	—	163,705	38.5	261,171	61.5	55,364	21.2
2006		432,747	—	160,959	37.2	271,788	62.8	58,609	21.6
2007		433,941	—	160,261	36.9	273,680	63.1	60,031	21.9
2008		449,451	—	171,593	38.2	277,858	61.8	66,058	23.8
2009		516,130	—	193,872	37.6	322,258	62.4	79,924	24.8
2010		517,642	—	186,513	36.0	331,129	64.0	82,422	24.9
2011		505,692	—	179,592	35.5	326,100	64.5	82,823	25.4
2012		491,691	—	174,882	35.6	316,809	64.4	80,028	25.3
2013		444,226	—	158,730	35.7	285,496	64.3	69,547	24.4
2014		416,653	—	155,077	37.2	261,576	62.8	60,206	23.0
2015		417,877	—	159,188	38.1	258,689	61.9	54,323	21.0
2016		392,637	—	156,986	40.0	235,651	60.0	49,364	20.9
2017		375,229	—	153,817	41.0	221,412	59.0	46,913	21.2
2018		359,371	—	152,138	42.3	207,233	57.7	42,465	20.5
2019		350,263	19,332	147,581	44.6	183,350	55.4	32,018	17.5
2020		274,464	72,137	110,672	54.7