DISABILITY SURVIVAL GUIDE: NORTH ALABAMA EDITION

                                           TIPS FOR SOCIAL SECURITY'S CONSULTATIVE EXAM                                     By Charles W. Forsythe     The Forsythe Firm     Huntsville, AL In the process of a disability application, Social Security may send the claimant for a "Consultative Exam" (CE).  This is an examination performed by a doctor who does exams for Social Security for a fee.  The fee is paid by Social Security. You might be asked to have a physical CE or a "mental status exam."  In this article, I want to discuss the Physical CE. SHOULD Y...

  I just came across a new term (to me).  It's Annoyance Economy .  I looked up the meaning of the term.  Annoyance economy refers to business practices that intentionally waste time and money to benefit a company:  robocalls, difficulty cancelling subscriptions, unnecessary or excessive paperwork, massive delays, etc. For example,  you call your insurance company about a nixed claim, get routed through a phone tree, wait on hold 40 minutes, explain your problem to a chatbot that can't help, then start over with a human agent who asks for the same information again. By the time you hang up, you've burned an hour on what should've been a two-minute fix—and you might have to call again. The Annoyance Economy wastes $165 billion per year. And that's just counting costs in the private business sector.  If you add government annoyance, the cost is incalculable. I work with the Social Security Administration every day as a claimant's representative.  M...

WHY THE 60 DAY RULE IN SSDI IS SO IMPORTANT  By Charles W. Forsythe at The Forsythe Firm Let's face it, very few Social Security disability claims get approved without an appeal  (Fewer than 3 out of 10). Any unfavorable Social Security decision has a very limited time for appeal.  If you wait more than 65 days, your appeal won't be accepted and you must start over by filing a new claim.  The results of this include: a longer than necessary delay (up to 18 more months) a reduction of potential past due pay a longer wait for Medicare insurance eligibility Loss of some benefits you may never be able to recover It is almost never wise to file a new SSDI claim vs. appealing an unfavorable decision.   Some points you must know about a Social Security appeal : An appeal is not starting over; it continues your claim on a new level. An appeal protects your rights, including all your back pay, from the original claim. An appeal is your BEST chance to get approved an...