DISABILITY SURVIVAL GUIDE: NORTH ALABAMA EDITION

     Social Security disability (SSDI) is very difficult and takes a really long time to get.  The average new application in Alabama is now taking an average of 290 days to process.  Besides thousands of new claims and a shortage of workers, what else could be holding up your claim?     WHAT CAUSES THE "JAM" IN SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY? 1.  If you are undergoing medical treatment or waiting to have surgery, this may be holding up a decision. Social Security may have put your claim on hold to see if the surgery or new treatment will improve your health--maybe you won't be disabled when you recover from the surgery/treatment. 2.  You may have simply become lost in the shuffle.  I've found that claims may get shifted from one disability examiner to another, maybe two or three times before a decision is made.  Unfortunately, it's easy for someone to just loose track of your claim so it lays there unnoticed for a long time. ...

  In 2017 an agency of the US government, the General Accounting Office (GAO) performed a study on Social Security disability. Some topics examined were: Why is it so difficult to get SSDI? What factors are considered in new claims? What type of new claims are likely to be approved? The GAO reports found 3 things that affect a claimant's chance of approval: 1. Age 2. Type of Impairment 3. Representation According to the GAO, claimants with representatives were almost 3X as likely to be awarded benefits as those without representatives. This seems to make it very unwise to try for Social Security disability benefits without professional representation. The odds of approval are already very low. Go in without representation and your odds fall through the floor. Increase your chances by up to 300 percent just by getting representation.   The first 2 factors can't be changed. Your age is what it is. The type of impairment you have can't be changed. But factor # 3,...

The Social Security Administration will be unable to pay full benefits to disability and retirement recipients within about 12 years!  There are 2 Social Security trust funds from which benefits are paid.  One is the Old Age Pension trust fund and the other is the Disability Trust Fund.  Together, these funds had total reserves of about $2.85 trillion at the end of 2021.  However, the funds are paying out more than they take in. The reserves are estimated to be depleted in 2035. The trust funds get money from 3 sources: 90.1 percent comes from FICA taxes from payroll deductions and employer matches or from the SECA tax paid by self-employed workers. 3.5 percent is from income tax paid on Social Security benefits. 6.4 percent is from interest earned on Social Security's trust fund holdings. Here's the problem:  Baby boomers are living longer and collecting benefits longer.  Fewer younger workers are getting jobs and paying into the trust funds.  So, the...

Do you need a lawyer or advocate to file for Social Security disability? Yes.  Here's why. 70 PERCENT OF CLAIMS ARE DENIED.  A series of appeals are usually required.  Most claims will end up before a federal judge.   A federal judge presides over Social Security disability hearings.  You will need professional legal help during this proceeding.      You will only get one hearing.  So be prepared to make the most of it.        

Social Security will actually deny a disability claim if you fail to follow prescribed medical treatment.  It's the law.  20 Code of Federal Regulations § 404.1530 requires claimants to follow prescribed medical treatment. The rationale is:  if you took your medications, had the surgery, or did what your doctor recommended, you might get better and would no longer be disabled.  By failing to follow your doctor's advice you willfully refuse to try to get better. For example, if you claim to be disabled by elevated blood pressure but take no medication, it stands to reason that your blood pressure may be controlled with proper medication.  If you claim to be disabled by seizures, it is important that you give medication a chance to control the seizures.  If your impairment can be controlled with medicine or other medical remedies, then you are not disabled under Social Security regulations.  If you are applying for new Social Security disability benefits...

A "technical denial" is where Social Security automatically denies a claim without considering the medical or "disability" aspect of the claim.  A technical denial happens when there is an obvious reason that the claim cannot be approved; therefore, it is simply not processed.   What are the 3 most common reasons for a technical denial? 1.  LACK OF WORK CREDITS .  A claimant for Social Security disability must have sufficient work credits and payments into the Social Security trust fund.  As a general rule, most claimants must have worked at least 5 years out of the past 10 years.  This would give them a total of at least 20 work credits.  If an individual lacks the required work credits they have become "uninsured" under the Social Security Act and even if disabled, no benefit is available.  Some older claimants will need more credits; younger  claimants may require fewer. 2.   STILL WORKING AT SGA LEVEL.  A person who is still wo...

    When you have a "tough" judge Let's face it.  Administrative Law Judges are not created equal.  Or if they are, they don't stay that way. At the same hearing office, you may step into Courtroom 1 and have a hearing presided over by a judge who pays 70 percent of cases. (My dream)! Step into Courtroom 2 and get a judge who pays 16 percent of cases (Your worst nightmare)! A recent OIG report states that in a Dallas area hearing office, one of the judges grants 95% of claims, and another of the judges grants just 9% of claims. That's an 86-point spread . Social Security disability has well defined requirements and it should not be a lotto. The award rate for the typical Administrative Law Judge, however, is in the neighborhood of 50 percent nationwide. But if you are unfortunate enough to draw a judge who consistently pays very few claims--based on God-knows-what-- what can you do?  The first thing I suggest is:  Be sure you go to trial with a professi...

  SOCIAL SECURITY'S 5 YEAR RULE What is the five year rule with regard to Social Security disability? You must have worked 5 years out of the past 10 years to get a Social Security disability insurance payment (known as SSDI, or "Title 2" benefit). Social Security disability is a "worker's insurance plan." It is intended to cover workers who have enrolled in Social Security protection by paying for it with payroll deductions (FICA deductions). As long as an individual is working and paying FICA he or she remains covered by the government's disability program. When a person stops working their disability coverage eventually ceases to exist (usually after 4 or 5 years). The date when an individual's eligibility to file a new SSDI ceases is called the DLI, or Date Last Insured. After your DLI you are no longer insured by Social Security for a new disability claim.   Finding out when you DLI is (or was) is easy. Just call your local Social Security ...

GET YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY DOLLARS IN 2023 Social Security will pay more than 1,300,000,000 dollars to US citizens in 2023--about 1.4 trillion dollars! You may be able to claim your fair share. Aside from retirement benefits, hundreds of millions of dollars will be paid to disabled persons in 2023. How do you get on the payroll if you are disabled?  First, understand the rules and the process - both complicated. Second, don't accept a denial as final.  It seldom is.  The answer to a denial is an APPEAL.  Many people get denied twice before they win their benefits.  The application process is a "weeding out" process.  Social Security will assume that you are NOT disabled until you can prove that you are.  Decisions are often wrong, because the natural tendency by decision makers is denial.  Good, legitimate claims often get denied.  So appeal.  Don't file a new application, appeal the denial.  There's a big difference.  New applic...