Social Security Administration Seeks to Force Video Hearings

Proposed rules from November 2018 seek to prevent claimants from objecting “remote” hearings by telephone or video teleconference. Previously, rules allowed claimants to object to remote hearings and then appear in person before an Administrative Law Judge. Instead, new rules proposed by the Social Security Administration would prevent claimants from objecting. This could mean that the hearing could be heard by a judge not only in a different state, but by a judge hundreds of miles away in a “national hearing center.” This also means that claimants who want to face their judge would not have that opportunity.