The Biggest Misconceptions about Social Security Disability

The biggest misconceptions I hear about Social Security cases are:
“If my doctor agrees I can’t work, surely I will receive benefits”, or “I’m disabled because I can’t return to my old job”, or “It shouldn’t take long to find out if I qualify for disability”.

The truth is that that it doesn’t really matter what your doctor thinks; it’s what he can prove. You must be unable to do any work, not just your old jobs. And it’s going to take up to 2 years if you have to go before a judge.

I believe the biggest mistake made by people applying for disability is that they fail to go to a doctor to obtain the proof they need. The problem is that most people who are disabled can’t afford ongoing medical care.

Because of these mistakes and misconceptions, I have written the book, ‘The Truth About Your Social Security Disability Claim’. This book gives guidance from the first application to the final decision. The book can be downloaded from our home page, or they can call our 1-800 hotline number and request a hard copy. Both of these are free.

How To Apply for Social Security Disability (SSDI) or SSI Benefits

Harold Cameron: A lot of people have been messaging me about applying for Social Security disability benefits, either SSI or SSDI, and I’ve had some questions, so I’m going use another message here, if you will, another video to try to help maybe keep it real simple for you as to the process in what the requirements are for you to be eligible for Social Security, that’s SSI or Social Security Disability Income benefits.

SSI is a needs-based disability payments program. In other words, you haven’t paid in enough money because of work, you have no assets and limited means, you would then apply to what’s called SSI. If you have an extensive work history and you have paid into Social Security, then your application will be for SSDI, Social Security Disability Income, that’s based on work history and earnings and Social Security benefits paid in.

So what do you do? The first thing you do is, of course, you get a diagnosis that you’re disabled from a medical doctor or medical practitioner. Youget a very clear medical diagnosis and opinion that you’re disabled. Once you get that opinion that you’re disabled, you can do a couple of things. One, you can go online to www.ssa.gov and you can apply online for your benefits and they’re going to ask you questions about your work history, your education. They’re going to ask you questions about your disability and how it affects you, your diagnosis. They’re going to ask you like what hospitals and clinics and doctors you’ve seen, so they’re going to ask you a lot of different types of questions that relate to your disability and how your disability affects your ability to work, but they’re also going to be asking you about your past history; medical records, clinical records, tests, and all that type of stuff.

So you’re going to want to get together and make a list of the doctor’s you’ve seen, the medications you’re on, the hospitals, the tests, and all that type of information. If you don’t do the application online, you can call your local Social Security Administration Office. You call your local Social Security Administration Office or their 800 number and you schedule an appointment and they can do an intake over the phone if you can’t get into the office, so they’ll schedule a phone appointment with you and then they’ll ask you some basic questions you’ll be able to answer and they’ll need like your birth certificate and they’ll need some other documentation as well based on work history and those types of things. They’ll need your medical records. Read more

What is your current age?

Social Security to Open New Teleservice Center in Jackson, TN

Center Will Help Agency Handle Calls from Boomer Wave

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that the agency plans to open a new teleservice center (TSC) in Jackson, Tennessee, which will be the first new call center opened by Social Security in more than a decade. The Jackson TSC will employ about 175 people once it is fully operational.

“Social Security is facing an unprecedented wave of people needing our services as baby boomers retire,” Commissioner Astrue said. “Response times have been improving significantly, and the new Jackson TSC will help us provide even more timely service to the 60 million Americans who call our toll-free number each year.”

Social Security currently has 35 TSCs operating in locations all across the country. All TSCs take calls from throughout the U.S. and provide service via Social Security’s national toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). Live service is available from 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Automated service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

More than two-thirds of the calls to Social Security’s 800 number come from the Eastern and Central time zones. Jackson was chosen as the site for a new TSC because of the additional capacity needed in these time zones to handle calls. In addition, with four colleges and universities in Jackson and several others within a short commute, the Jackson area will provide Social Security with a highly-skilled and well-educated workforce.

“Social Security consistently ranks as one of the top federal agencies to work for,” noted Commissioner Astrue. “With President Obama having called a new generation of Americans to public service, I am confident that Social Security will become the employer of choice in Jackson.”

Social Security will be working closely with the General Services Administration to facilitate the process for opening the new TSC. The process provides for open competition and normally takes 18 to 24 months to complete.

SSI or SSDI?

Hi, this is Don Jorgensen again with MySocialSecurityAttorney.com and this… today’s topic is going to be Social Security Disability Benefits, SSDI vs. SSI, what’s best for me?

Now, in order to understand Social Security, or SSI vs. SSDI, let me take a step back. Social Security, everyone knows or most people know about Social Security retirement. What most people don’t know is that there’s a whole other area of Social Security which is for disability. It’s a safety net for society and that safety net is broken up into two different parts. One is SSI Disability and one is Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.

Now, what’s the difference? From a disability standpoint, they’re exactly the same. In other words, the proof required for SSI is the same as SSDI, but the non-medical proof is what they’re different or where they differ.

Let’s start with SSDI or Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. Now, again, we’re not talking about the medical proof, we’ll talk about it in a minute. It’s the non-medical proof that we’re talking about. Read more

Social Security Disability Denied? Tell your story!

Have you applied for and been denied for Social Security Disability? Tell your story to the world by posting your comment.

Just yesterday we read a heartbreaking SS disability story by PASMdude, and there are surely other people out there who want to tell their story of being denied or having to struggle to get their Social Security Disability benefits.

Tell us your story below for the benefit of all our readers!

$250 Social Security Stimulus Check Received in 2009?

It’s mid-June 2009 and many of our readers have received their $250 Social Security Stimulus Check.

What about you? Did you receive your stimulus check? Or are you still waiting?

If you did get your Social Security recovery payment, what did you do with it? Paid some bills, went shopping, set it aside for a rainy day?

Chris Simcox speaks on Social Security, Health Care and Veterans Benefits

Chris Simcox, candidate for U.S. Senate, Arizona, speaks on Social Security, Health Care and Veterans Benefits

Interviewer: Now, what do you think about the proposal of Barack Obama about national health care?

Chris Simcox: It is just another opportunity for Obama to nationalize private industry in this country. Federal government has no business getting involved in health care beyond what they already have done and again, we’d go back to… just make Medicare and Medicaid work. Let’s make the state programs work. Let’s keep Obama out of it.

The private sector will deal with health care. Whatever we do, we keep the government out of it and we provide incentives for people to save for their own health care and their savings cannot be taxed and to provide perhaps incentives for business, which they already have as private enterprise. It’s their choice whether they want to provide health care to their employees or not. Read more

Social Security Disability Nighmare

PASMdude relates his horrifying story of trying to get on Social Security disability.

PASMdude: Since I am on Social Security disability I’ve been asked basically how the process works. It is very, very difficult and there’s a huge bureaucracy that has manuals this thick, on how to deny you and you can almost be certain that you’re going to get denied the first time. You’re probably going to be denied the second time. You’ll probably actually have to see a judge to actually get your disability.

They normally just try to find any technical reason they can to deny you and they hope you will eventually give up. But, anyway, during this process you cannot work. So you have to have somebody that is willing to support you for a year to a year and a half while you’re trying to get disability or you’re just screwed. You’re probably not going to be able to get it. Another thing is you’re going to have to have worked twenty quarters out of a certain number of years to be eligible. So if you are a housewife that hasn’t worked much, you’re probably really just out of luck.

Some of the technicalities they use to disqualify you are… the main one that I remember is failure to have documented medically what’s wrong with you. For instance, I was just covered… I mean, I was just one huge gaping sore and I just two pictures of me laying there, you know, with a 103 degree fever and they turned me down for my skin disease, because I had not documented that I had been to a doctor consistently for 12 months and the treatments had not worked. So this is the kind of rationality that they will try to use to deny you. I once ran across the official manual - I wish I could find it but I can’t - that shows the criteria you need to get disability, and it’s a huge pain, believe me. You may have trouble getting disability even if you deserve it, I don’t think you have to worry very much about somebody faking it, it’s pretty much impossible. Read more

The Social Security Mess

Tom Lewis provides his insightful comments on the Social Security Mess.

Tom Lewis: So, the issue I want to discuss tonight is Social Security. I just started a new job in addition to my current job. So I’m a 1099 employee at my second job with a private contractor in real estate. I’m not making a lot of money but I’m doing well. So I just thought about paying off some debt and what not. But, before I went through this money I wanted to figure out how much I should set aside for taxes, what am I going to be hit with when next April comes. Everything I looked at pointed to about 25% or maybe some more. 25% is a lot, especially let’s say you take $1000 that’s $250 taken off, that’s a lot. That means basically 25% of the time you’re working for the government, but that’s not what I looked into there.

What I did look into and saw was 6.2% of that 25% was going to Social Security and 11% is going to Medicare. I don’t really care about that right now, that’s another issue for another day. But, then I said, ‘Okay, if start working at the age of 22 and worked up to the age of 65, how much will I pay into Social Security over that time period?’ And I figured the math that I did raised over a year and the final number came to $180,000 which would be paid out. And, by the way, if you want to see this chart email me, I’d be happy to share my data with you. Read more

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• Information & News

  • The Biggest Misconceptions about Social Security Disability
  • How To Apply for Social Security Disability (SSDI) or SSI Benefits
  • What is your current age?
  • Social Security to Open New Teleservice Center in Jackson, TN
  • SSI or SSDI?
  • Social Security Disability Denied? Tell your story!
  • $250 Social Security Stimulus Check Received in 2009?
  • Chris Simcox speaks on Social Security, Health Care and Veterans Benefits
  • Social Security Disability Nighmare
  • The Social Security Mess
  • Social Security Can Ensure Paid Family and Medical Leave
  • How I Would Save Social Security
  • Social Security Disability Law in Alabama
  • Social Security Benefits #1 Myth: Everyone Gets Denied
  • Entitlements, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid
  • $250 Economic Recovery Payments for Social Security and SSI Recipients
  • Social Security Disability Lawyers
  • Working with Disabilities: Stories of Arkansans Who Work
  • Worried about Social Security and your retirement?
  • What happens to your Social Security number when you die?
  • When Will Social Security Run Out Of Money?
  • The Social Security Scam
  • Social Security $250 Stimulus Check
  • Social Security Number Fraud and Identity Theft Prevention Act
  • “Just like you and I, Social Security is going to change”
  • Forced Into Slavery to Pay For Somebody’s Elses Retirement?
  • Obama’s Blueprint for Change on Social Security and Medicare
  • Social Security is one of the best places to work in the Federal Government
  • “Send money to everyone. Bribe the entire country.”
  • Why Social Security doesn’t work for young people

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