DISABILITY SURVIVAL GUIDE: NORTH ALABAMA EDITION

While you are not required to have a lawyer or representative by Social Security, having one gives you many advantages.   A 2017 study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that claimants with a professional representative are almost 3 times as likely to get benefits.   An attorney/representative can review your application to prevent errors that can cause a denial or a delay.   Your representative may help gather important medical evidence to support your claim and increase the odds of early approval. Since three-fourths of new claims are denied, your attorney/representative can help you through the appeal process, which requires a knowledge of Social Security's rules, regulations and procedures. If you must go before a judge for a hearing (most claimants do)--your representative can prepare you for your hearing, prepare evidence suitable for the judge--and appear with you at your hearing as your legal representation.  The judge will usually ...

 Congratulations on being approved for Social Security disability (SSDI).  Many people ask, what happens next?  In the first step, Social Security found that you are medically disabled.  Next, they will verify your citizenship/resident status, be sure you have not returned to work and that you meet all non-medical requirements. Your payment will then be sent to a payment processing center where your amount of past due benefits will be determined.  This will depend largely on your onset date--the date on which Social Security determined that you first became disabled. If you have dependent claims (minor children), you should call your local Social Security office to file a claim for them as soon as possible after being notified that your primary claim is approved.  Generally, the primary claim is processed first, then the dependents' claims process later.  But you should contact the local Social Security office to file your dependent's claims. How...

WHAT IS SOCIAL SECURITY'S APPEAL COUNCIL?  HOW DOES IT WORK?  WHY WOULD YOU EVER USE IT? The Appeals Council ("AC") is a branch of the Social Security Administration that reviews decisions made by administrative law judges.  If you go to a hearing and the judge denies your Social Security benefits, the next appeal is with the Appeals Council ("AC").  It is a group of appeal judges headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia. This review is the final administrative appeal with Social Security.  It may only be used after an administrative law judge (ALJ) has heard and denied your case. What are your chances with the AC appeal?   Only 1% of cases at the Social Security Appeals Council are approved —worse than any other level of appeal. Another 9% of cases get sent back ("remanded") to the hearing level for the ALJ to take further action or hold a new hearing.  The ALJ may deny your case again, of course.  So, the odds are terrible. Here's what most cla...

Here are some of the mistakes people make that get their Social Security disability denied:  1.  You don't have enough work credits or "quarters of coverage."  These credits are obtained by working job s which deduct FICA tax from your ages and match your contributions.  Self-employed individuals can also pay their FICA at the time they file their federal income tax returns.  These payments support  disability claims.  Without them, you are not an "insured person" under the Social Security Act. 2.  Your medical impairment will not last for at least 12 straight months.   There is no short-term disability with the Social Security Administration (SSA).  Any condition that has lasted fewer than 12 straight months, is expected to last fewer than 12 months, OR to end in death cannot be approved.  This is called the "duration requirement." 3.  Filing a disability claim while you are still working.   This results in an automatic...

    Persons living with a disability may feel the need to be active, to have purpose.  So, a disabled person may volunteer for community service--at a school, a hospital or other community organization.  By definition, volunteer work is unpaid. However, volunteer work could cause the Social Security Administration (SSA) to terminate disability benefits in some cases.   The Social Security Administration defines work as"performing tasks for pay or profit or doing work that is usually performed for pay or profit – even if no payment is received or no profit is realized." The general standard Social Security uses to determine if an activity constitutes work is Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA).  In 2023, you are performing "substantial gainful activity" if you earn wages of at least $1,470 per month (gross).  If you perform volunteer work while receiving SSDI, the SSA may decide that volunteer work constitutes SGA, even if you are not paid--...

  How Does Social Security Disability (SSDI) Work? Think of Social Security as a federal insurance policy issued by the US Government. That's exactly what it is. Participation is mandatory for most workers. Most people aren't allowed to opt out. You pay into Social Security by mandatory payroll deductions called "FICA" on your pay stubs (and your employer matches your contributions). When you have worked long enough to collect the minimum number of "work credits," you become insured against disability, as defined in the regulations. Note: Not everyone is covered by SSDI. Only those who have worked long enough (and recently enough) to be "insured" under the Social Security Act are covered. It's a program for workers . Once you determine that you have this "insurance," you may file a claim for disability benefits with the Social Security Administration. Here is what Social Security says about their decision-making: We consider ...

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is one of the slowest organizations on earth!  It can take 12 to 36 months to get a simple disability claim processed. But why is the SSA so pathologically slow?  Here are some of the reasons. 1.  It was designed to be slow. Its founders didn't want a process where benefits could be awarded easily or too precariously. It was meant to crawl, not run.  It's a tortoise, not a cheetah! 2.  It is under funded.  Congress doesn't appropriate enough money to provide for Social Security's staffing and support.  Fewer workers are expected to do more and more work. 3.  There doesn't seem to be much accountability or supervision. While most SSA staffers work hard, there are definite problems with accountability.  It's easy for a case to fall through the cracks. 4. There's a lack of leadership at the top of the SSA.  There is no permanent Commissioner of Social Security.  President Biden appointed Dr. ...

GETTING SSDI BENEFITS FOR CHRONIC PAIN   I've read hundreds of medical records in which the patient is diagnosed with "Chronic Pain Syndrome," or something like that. The question is:  Can chronic pain be a disability for purposes of Social Security? The answer is, Yes.  But only under certain circumstances. Pain is a subjective complaint.  There are no lab tests, imaging studies or other tests that diagnose or prove you have pain.  The pain is coming from somewhere and that must be discovered medically. Under Social Security regulations, you must have a "medically determinable impairment."  That means one that is demonstrated by objective medical findings--such as lab tests, imaging studies or other medically accepted findings. So, how can you be approved for chronic pain?   First, there needs to be a medical explanation for what's causing the pain.   For instance, let's say you have a herniated disc in your back with nerve root impingement....

 Some people get Social Security disability benefits; others get denied.  It often seems like a puzzle-- trying to figure out how one person was approved and another person was rejected.   In 2017 an agency of the US government, the Government Accountability 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 report finds 3 things that most affect a claimant's chance of approval: 1. Age 2. Type of Impairment 3. Representation Acc ording 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 low. Go in without representation and your odds fall through the basement! The...

Of all the questions we are asked and try to answer, the most basic is:  How do I get Social Security Disability?" If I had to answer that question in one word, that word would be persistence. You get benefits by the willingness to accept denial a time or two without quitting the fight.  Almost 80 percent of all SSDI claims will be denied before before finally being approved.  In short, Social Security has an aggressive weeding out process that frankly is meant to deny most applications early in the process.  You must expect this, but you do not accept it.  You file appeals. Social Security appeals are delicate legal maneuvers best understood by experts.  When you get to the appeal level, you are in a legal battle that's based on federal law, regulations and court precedents.  Appeals are highly technical procedures where retelling your disability story won't be enough.  You must prove that you were wrongly denied--using hard evidence and Social ...