Social Security Disability Law: News and Facts

A consultative examination is a medical or psychological exam that the Disability Determination Service (DDS) will request an individual undergo. A consultative exam essentially allows the individual applying for Social Security to provide more information and context for their disability claim. These exams are especially important in cases where the individual does not have a lot of medical treatment or records supporting their disability claim.  If the SSA requires you to have a consultative exam, you need to make your best effort to go to the appointment on time. If you cannot make the appointment, try to reschedule as soon as possible. It will help your case if you go to the consultative exam prepared to answer the medical provider’s questions. You should prepare a list of your medical condition(s) and treatments you have and are taking for it. -Be  completely honest-do not exaggerate your symptoms but explain how they affect your daily life. Do not hide anything, such as ...

Social Security offers two main sources of benefits: disability and retirement benefits. Each has different requirements. The SSA allows you to file for retirement benefits as early as age 62, or wait and receive your full benefit amount when you reach full retirement age. Depending on what year you were born, this may vary from 65 to 67 years old. For most people, it does not make sense to file for early retirement benefits at age 62 if you are already receiving SSDI because of a disability. Your disability payments equal your full retirement amount, and those who opt for early retirement receive reduced benefits. You can not collect social security retirement and social security disability at the same time.  There is one exception that allows qualified individuals to draw both retirement and SSDI benefits at the same time, but this is rare and still does not allow them to collect more than their full retirement benefit. This occurs when someone opts for early retirement between a...

One question I hear pretty much across the board is “how am I supposed to financially survive waiting for a hearing date?”  It could take several months or even years before the Social Security Administration decides whether you are owed benefits.  Unfortunately, I do not have a good answer to that question. Most people rely upon friends and family for financial support. Some individuals qualify for public assistance benefits such as Medicaid, food stamps, and housing assistance. The Social Security program does not provide for advances on your claim. If your income and assets are limited, you may qualify for other government support while you wait for your SSDI or SSI benefits. Some options may include: TANF Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) is a federal program that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services administers. It provides monetary assistance to low-income families with children for a limited duration. SNAP The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Progra...

There are two types of disability: one is a private disability, and the other is Social Security Disability (SSD). Private disability is an option your employer may provide to you, although it is not required. You could also purchase your own private disability for short and/or long term disability. Generally, private disability includes both short-term (up to 3 months), and long-term (anywhere from two years to indefinite) disability benefits. The other type of disability is SSD insurance (SSDI). The SSDI program is a mandatory government insurance program set in place to help individuals with both monetary and health insurance benefits while they are out of work. This program differs from private disability in that you need to show you have been disabled for a 12-month time frame or you will be disabled for at least 12-months.  Also, you need to show that you are incapable of not only performing your past work, but also any other type of work in the national economy. You can appl...

I believe this is one of the most important things done in your social security case. If you make your past work to easy, it is possible social security will use it against you to beat you. I believe that you must have this reviewed by a lawyer prior to you turning it in.  DDS uses the Work History Report (SSA-3369) when additional information is needed to determine if the applicant is able to perform past relevant work or other work. This detailed report supplements information provided in the Adult Disability Report (SSA-3368) about the applicant’s past five jobs, and helps DDS see what types of work skills the applicant may possess. The Work History Report is important to your claim because it gives you the opportunity to provide a thorough description of your past work.  It is critical that the Social Security Administration (SSA) knows your work record. And, what kind of work you did in the past. Social Security considers all work activity you performed in the fifteen y...

Social Security Disability is a federal program to assist individuals who suffer from long-term disabilities that will keep them from working for 12 months or longer. This program is funded through payroll taxes that everyone sees on their pay stubs.  Applying for SSDI as a COVID long-hauler is a bit of a complex topic at this point. Due to the associated symptoms of long COVID, it is reasonable to connect having the disease and qualifying for disability benefits. However, every case is individually considered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) before approval, and there are plenty of cases that are later approved after being initially denied.  Long COVID, or long-haul COVID, is a term to describe a syndrome where symptoms continue months after a coronavirus infection. Researchers think that 10% to 30% of patients who had COVID infections might suffer from long COVID, or "post-COVID syndrome," whether their initial illness was serious or not. Some researchers define ...

 To apply for SSD, you may file an online application, call the local Social Security Administration (SSA) office, or complete a paper application. While applying for the program may appear easy, proving you are disabled is not. SSA has multiple statutory regulations it must follow when making a disability determination. It is highly recommended that if you are serious about trying to obtain Social Security Disability or SSI you seek assistance from a qualified lawyer.  When you first submit your SSDI application either online, by phone, or in person, the application will be forwarded to Disability Determination Services (DDS), which are federally-funded, state-run agencies. DDS will assign a claims examiner to your case. Following the receipt of your application, you or your attorney will receive a phone call and additional paperwork to complete. This will let you know that the process is moving forward. Personal Information & Family Details: The beginning of the SSDI app...

When you apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) it is real important to think  about the  date of disability you are claiming. If the judge approves your case your date of disability will be used for determining your back due money, monthly payment and when you become eligible for Medicare. If you are found disabled, under the SSDI program there is a five-month wait period before you may begin receiving benefits. For example, if you are found disabled as of January 1, 2021 you would not be eligible to begin receiving benefits until July, 2021, which is five full calendar months from your disability date. These regulations are different for the SSI program, which you can begin receiving benefits at any point after your initial filing date. So if you file for disability benefits January 1, 2021  with a disability date of June 1, 2020, you will only be eligible to receive benefits from your filing date of January 1, 2021. The other benefits is Medicare health ...

  Press Release | Press Office | SSA Today the acting commissoner of Social Security announced 12 new Compassionate Allowances conditions: Charlevoix Saguenay Spastic Ataxia (ARSACS), Choroid Plexus Carcinoma, CIC-rearranged Sarcoma, Congenital Zika Syndrome, Desmoplastic Mesothelioma, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy – Adult, Pericardial Mesothelioma, Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma, Renpenning Syndrome, SCN8A Related Epilepsy with Encephalopathy, SYNGAP1-related NSID, and Taybi-Linder Syndrome. Compassionate Allowances is an initiative that quickly identifies severe medical conditions and diseases that meet Social Security’s standards for disability benefits. There are a total of 254 conditions that fall under this category. 

 Personal Information & Family Details: The beginning of the SSDI application will ask for basic personal information and supporting documents about you and your spouse, former spouses, and any unmarried children under the age of 18 (or children between the ages of 18 and 19 who are enrolled in secondary school full-time). Here are the most important documents you’ll need: -Your original birth certificate* (or a certified copy) -If born outside of the United States, a certificate of citizenship or permanent resident card -Your marriage certificate or marriage license -Divorce decree for any previous marriages that lasted 10 years or more -Your Social Security card -The Social Security numbers, birthdates, and living arrangements of any qualifying dependents  -Banking information (i.e., your bank account number and routing number so you can enroll in direct deposit) *If you are unable to provide your birth certificate, the Social Security Administration may also accept cert...

Being married can have financial benefits when it comes to Social Security. There are many factors to think about before claiming Social Security benefits. Married people can use different strategies to increase their benefits by timing their claims with each other. Your marital status is important to the SSA because you may be entitled to higher payments based on your spouse’s occupation and income. Understanding the full range of benefits you’re eligible to receive will enable you to get the most from your monthly payments. Getting married may affect your disability benefits in a variety of ways. This is largely dependent on what type of benefits you receive—Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). If you receive SSI benefits, you likely already know that eligibility is determined based on your income and financial resources. Once you get married, the SSA will “deem” a portion of your spouse’s income to your record. Essentially, this means th...

By the time you are approved, months or even years may have passed since you first began the Social Security Disability application process. In many cases, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will issue you payments for the monthly benefits you would have received while your application was under review. This is often referred to as SSDI back pay. The vast majority of applicants who are approved for SSDI benefits will receive back pay for the period of time between the day they applied and when their application is accepted. How much back pay you will receive depends on how long it took you to be approved. Since many first-time disability applicants are denied and must go through the SSDI appeals process, this amount can add up over time. The only exception to this is those who get approved for disability benefits quickly. Often these are people with the most severe conditions, including those disabilities who qualify for compassionate allowance and people with terminal illnesses....

The vocational expert’s primary roles in the hearing are providing insight about the Claimant’s past relevant work as performed and as listed in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), providing information about the ability of hypothetical workers to perform jobs, as well as how many of those jobs exist in the national economy, and also providing information regarding transferable skills that Claimant might have acquired through their Past Relevant Work (PRW).   The Social Security disability evaluation changes when a claimant reaches age 50 and again when the claimant reaches age 55. If you are over the age of 50, limited to unskilled sedentary work, and the vocational expert testifies that you have no transferable skills and are unable to return to any of your past relevant work, then you win. There are similar situations where you win at age 55 or older. Your attorney should not ask the vocational expert any questions that try to exclude work at the sedentary level (i...

Undifferentiated connective tissue disease is a condition which affects your muscles and body organs in a number of ways. It is a disorder that has not yet developed to a point where doctors can easily identify the disease. Undifferentiated connective tissue disease describes people who have certain laboratory markers and clinical characteristics that suggest a systemic autoimmune disorder or connective tissue disease. However, these patients lack sufficient features for a well-defined connective tissue disease like lupus, scleroderma or rheumatoid arthritis. It is similar to mixed connective tissue disease but is not the same. With mixed connective tissue disease, patients have enough characteristics of more than one connective tissue disease to simultaneously meet the criteria for several of these disorders. In contrast to this, people with undifferentiated connective tissue disease do not have enough features of any one connective tissue disease to meet the established diagnostic cr...

If you suffer from mixed connective tissue disease that is so severe you are unable to work and earn a living, you may be eligible to be approved for disability benefits administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The process for filing for disability benefits with mixed connective tissue disease includes filing a claim with supporting evidence. If denied, you will need to file an appeal. Mixed connective tissue disease combines the symptoms of lupus, polymyositis, and scleroderma, but it could also have rheumatoid arthritis as well, which could lead to a debilitating overlapping disease. This can make it difficult to work, potentially qualifying you for disability benefits. Mixed connective tissue disease is a progressive disease and is reviewed using Listing 14.06 as undifferentiated and mixed connective tissue disease.  To be approved by the listing, you must show involvement of two or more organ systems or body systems with one of the organ systems involved modera...

I recently had a client get approved for social security disability because she had severe Gastroparesis. She was hospitalized every few months for days because she had severe nausea and  vomiting. We were able to win her case by showing the judge that the Claimant would miss more than a few days each month from work because she was hospitalized.  Gastroparesis is a condition in which the stomach muscles are weakened or do not function well, impairing the digestion process. As a result, the muscles are unable to contract to push food through the stomach and the is then unable to properly digest food. The term gastroparesis refers to a “partial paralysis” of the digestive functions, usually because of damage to the vagus nerve, which controls the stomach muscles. Gastroparesis can be caused by conditions like diabetes and Parkinson's, certain medications or drug use, and irregular eating habits. Chronic nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain are among the earliest signs of gast...

The Social Security definition of disability mandates that you must have a medically determinable mental or physical impairment and that the impairment has prevented you from performing work activity that earned SGA-level income for the past twelve months, or can be expected to prevent SGA for twelve months. After each claim is initiated and a disability interview has been conducted, claims representatives at social security offices gather the medical and work information for your disability claim and then send the claim to a state disability agency (DDS, or disability determination services) for a medical determination. Once your disability file is received at the state disability agency, or DDS, it is assigned to a disability examiner, who then sends for your medical records. Ordinarily, the wait for your medical records will constitute the bulk of the time that it takes to process your case. In some instances, your records will be gathered within a couple of weeks. Very often, howev...

The initial application is the beginning of the process. Whether you are applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or both, an initial application is needed. This can be done through an attorney’s assistance or on your own at www.ssa.gov. It may also be done by contacting Social Security at 800-772-1213. Social security has a checklist to gather information before applying: Checklist for Online Adult Disability Application (ssa.gov) SSDI benefits, of course, are based on "insured status, which is essentially based on a person's work history and how much they have paid into the system, i.e. work credits that have been earned over a number of years. SSI, on the other hand, is not based on insured status, but, rather, is intended for individuals 1) who have not worked long enough to qualify for SSDI, or 2) who have not worked enough or earned enough in recent years to remain qualified for SSDI, or 3) who do qualify for SSDI bu...

Connective tissue disease affects your body’s connective tissues, which are the substances that connect and hold the cells together. Fat and cartilage are examples of connective tissues. Connective tissues are found throughout the body, being vital to the body’s shape and functioning. There are many kinds of connective tissue disease, but they are most often grouped into two different kinds based on the cause. Some connective tissue diseases are genetic mutations that are inherited at birth, such as Marfan syndrome, which impacts the bones, eyes, lungs, and heart, or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which causes loose joints and skin. There is a much larger group of connective tissue diseases that have no known cause. Many connective tissue disorders care called autoimmune disorders. Systemic lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, dermatomyositis, and polymyositis are among those. Dermatomyositis has raised skin rashes on the trunk, the face, and knuckles while causing muscle weakness. Scler...