Approximately 3.8 percent of the nearly 2.5 million residents living in the State of Oregon receive disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA). To qualify for Social Security disability benefits in Oregon, you need to meet the SSA's established guidelines for disability, work credits, and or income.
The truth is, while the initial application process does only take a few months to complete, very few Oregon Social Security Disability applicants are actually awarded benefits during the initial stage of the application process.
For many Oregon Social Security Disability applicants, the process of obtaining benefits is anything but quick and easy. It will take an applicant approximately four months to complete the initial stage of the application process and another four months to complete the request for reconsideration. This means that most applicants are already eight months into the waiting game before they are able to request a hearing before an administrative law judge. Depending on which part of Oregon you live in, it will take another 456 to 679 days to obtain this disability hearing.
The long wait times are the result of the backlog of disability applicants waiting for their day in court. The area that you live in determine which Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) office handles your disability case. The backlog being managed by that particular office is what determines how long you must wait for a disability hearing.
Eugene, OR ODAR
211 E. 7th Avenue
Suite 201
Eugene, Oregon 97401
Telephone: (866) 964-7044
Fax: (541) 465-6415
The ODAR office located in Eugene, Oregon takes this office an average of 456 days to schedule a hearing and is responsible for scheduling hearings for the applicants who submitted applications in:
- Chiloquin, OR
- Christmas Valley, OR
- The I-5 Corridor from Salem, OR to Weed, CA
- Klamath Falls, OR
- La Pine, OR
- Lakeview, OR
- Madras, OR
- Medford, OR
- the Oregon Coast from Depoe Bay to Gold Beach, OR
- Prineville, OR
- Redmond, OR
- Salem, OR
- Sisters, OR
Portland, OR ODAR
333 SW 1ST Avenue
Robert Duncan Plaza, 4th Floor
Portland, Oregon 97204
Telephone: (866) 964-6291
Fax: (503) 326-3062
It takes this office an average of 679 days to schedule a disability hearing. The Portland ODAR office is responsible for managing the disability hearings for the Social Security field offices in:
- Astoria, OR
- Beaverton, OR
- La Grande, OR
- Pendleton, OR
- Portland Downtown, OR
- Portland East, OR
- Portland South, OR
- The Dalles, OR
Disability Determination Services (DDS): Oregon
Once the initial application has been filed at your local SSA office, the info is sent to the DDS office in Oregon. The DDS will then make a determination on your initial claim based on information you submitted in your exhibit file.
