State and federal officials argue it's a misperception. But how long you wait depends on where you live - and in Utah the wait is longer than most.

The average time it takes for Social Security to approve or deny a new Utah disability claim is 107 days, compared with 92 days regionally and 94 days nationally.

And in the six states in the Denver region, Utah and Colorado have the lowest approval rates for first-time applicants at 28 percent. This is significant because appeals can delay assistance by months, sometimes years.

"People get denied at such a high rate and they get discouraged. The word on the street is you get denied at least once, so what's the point?" says Fraser Nelson, director of the Disability Law Center.

Why Utah's approval rate is so low is unknown, but efforts are under way to avoid rejections based on technical errors.

Social Security pays disability benefits to people who cannot work because they have a medical condition that is expected to last at least one year or result in death.

Doug Smith, a Social Security spokesman in Denver, says the analysis involves the overall health, age and educational level of an applicant.

"We have to evaluate a person's past job experience and educational level to determine whether he or she can work. People in Utah and Colorado tend to be more educated," making them more employable, said Smith.

Allan D. Ainsworth, executive director of the Fourth Street Clinic serving the homeless, said he used to think Social Security was purposely designed to be plodding and onerous to avoid paying claims.

But he has since come to believe there aren't enough medical and mental health experts willing or capable to help Utahns navigate the disability maze.

The initial application isn't more or less complicated than other forms for government aid. But appeals often require scrupulous medical evidence and expensive legal representation.

Claims workers don't generally consider it their job to offer clients advice. Last year, 66 full-time employees at the Utah Disability Determination Service were tasked with weighing 9,117 new claims, some of them fault-ridden and fraudulent.

Those rejected can appeal, and many eventually succeed. But delays in getting the monthly checks can lead to bankruptcy and homelessness. Time is short for someone with a life-threatening or debilitating illness who faces eviction from his home because he can't work.

Smith says, "It's not productive for us to close out a case for incomplete or missing evidence. That's why we need community partners and family to help."

Two Utah groups that serve the physically and mentally disabled are working on programs aimed at avoiding technical errors that bog down approvals.

In the coming months, the Disability Law Center plans to host "Social Security nights" where citizens can go for one-on-one help.

"People who are denied the first time for a technical issue can wait a year, sometimes two years, to be accepted. They get benefits paid retroactively, but that's not going to help them keep their homes and keep their families fed," said Janis Tetro, an advocate at the center.

Also, Social Security has agreed to train Utah homeless providers on how to expedite applications as part of the state's 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness.

By federal definition, the chronically homeless suffer a debilitating mental illness. But their approval rates are among the lowest, because they're mobile and hard to pin to deadlines, said Don Ketcham, an executive officer at Social Security.

To combat the problem, Social Security has agreed to teach a team of three social workers precisely what evidence is needed to get a claim approved. Claims submitted by the team will be flagged for feedback. Once the team demonstrates that it can accurately predict valid claims, they will be allowed to fast-track them.

Advocates don't expect overnight improvement. But the Utah experiments should prove or disprove Social Security's contention that forms are filled out incorrectly, said Fraser. "I'm not sure that's true. But we're doing our part."

kstewart@sltrib.com