Qualifying for Social Security Disability Benefits
Applying for Social Security disability benefits can be complicated and typically involves a variety of paperwork and perhaps interviews or hearings. This lady offers several useful suggestion.
Lady: Social Security Disability Insurance or SSDI is a benefits program that provides monthly disability income to those who’ve become seriously disabled and unable to work. Benefits are typically available only in cases involving severe continuing disabling conditions.
In order to qualify for Social Security Disability benefits you must be disabled to the point that you can no longer do the type of work that you did before, you cannot adapt to another type of work and your disability is likely to last for at least one year or even result in death.
In some cases, a disabled person’s dependent spouse and/or children under the age of 18 may also be eligible for benefits based on his or her work and income history. The amount of SSDI that you are entitled to receive on a monthly basis depends on your work and income history.
The application process can sometimes be complicated and typically involves a variety of paperwork and perhaps interviews or hearings. For more information about qualifying for Social Security disability benefits contact an attorney in your area today.
Disability Plans Explained
Partner Victor Fusco of Fusco, Brandenstein and Rada explains Social Security Disability at a September 2009 Scleroderma Foundation conference.
Victor Fusco: I’m going to focus on Social Security because Social Security is not the only disability benefits law. And sometimes what we try to do is tie in other benefits to the Social Security.
Social Security Disability
Most of you know about Social Security, that’s a benefit that you pay for when you work. You’re paying FICO tax, part of that tax funds a disability policy. The first thing I want everybody in this room to understand is that it’s not a handout. Social Security Disability is not a handout; you paid for it and you paid a lot money for it, okay?
Supplemental Security Disability
Supplemental Security Disability is a secondary program which pays a supplemental benefit if your Social Security benefit is really low, or if it’s zero. And it might be zero if you’ve never worked. Say you’ve been a homemaker for many years and the breadwinner dies and you’re not eligible for widow’s benefits, which we’ll talk about, because you’re too young.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
You might be eligible for supplemental security income. Children are eligible for Supplemental Security Income. That’s typically called SSI, please don’t confuse it with Social Security Disability. People get the two confused and they’re quite different. What is similar is the disability standard. The benefit and the other criteria are very different; we’ll get into that a little bit.
Workers’ Compensation
Another thing is Workers’ Compensation. Why do I mention it here today? Well, it’s interesting that Workers’ Compensation, which really just implies to on-the-job injuries, also applies to a condition which is aggravated or exacerbated by a work related accident or work related conditions. So sometimes we look to see if we can make a Workers’ Compensation claim if there was something in the work environment that may have not necessarily caused, but activated or aggravated underlying disease such as scleroderma. And by coming to these conferences I learn that there are some things that happen in the workplace that can incite aggravation of scleroderma. So whether it’s scleroderma or any other type of disease, we always try to look for what type of work did you do to see if there is a connection and another benefit that we can look for in addition to Social Security.
Veterans’ Disability
Veterans’ disability – there are a lot of presumptions for veterans on the Veterans’ Disability law, and a lot of them have to do with a lot of veterans who served in, say, Vietnam, and were subject to exposure to various chemicals and things of that nature. So there are a lot of veterans who are missing the boat because they don’t think they are entitled to anything, who may be entitled to Veterans’ Disability or they’re getting something service connected but don’t realize they can get more than what they’re getting.
Disability Pensions
So that’s part of the mosaic on disability. Another thing is disability pensions. Just at the break someone told me about their mother who has worked for the postal service and is looking for a disability pension. A lot of public employees – federal, state and local – have various disability pension programs, a lot of which depends upon what tier of the pension system they’re in, where they work. But most public employees are entitled to some sort of disability pension. A lot of union employees are entitled to a disability pension from their job. The union plans frequently are predicated on receipt of Social Security disability – you got to go for both.
Private & Group Disability Plans
And finally, private and group long term disability plans. Typically these are found in larger companies, more often than not in white collar jobs, but today we’re starting to see them in some of the higher paying blue collar jobs. What a long term disability plan does if it is a group plan, is it will pay maybe 50%, 60%, 70% of salary, it may or may not be taxable depending on who paid for the benefits. If you paid for the benefit through your employer, when you get that benefit check it’s not taxable. If the employer paid then it is taxable. It usually sits on top of Social Security disability. So if you’re making $60,000 a year and that benefit is paying, say, $30,000 a year, you may be getting $20,000 in Social Security; it will pay you the difference, you’ll get the $10,000.
Private disability plans or disability plans that you buy from your insurance companies, your broker, can provide for a number of things. They can provide for two years of benefits, they can provide benefits if you can’t do your occupation, benefits if you can’t do any occupation. You need to be careful when you buy, you need to be well educated so you know what it is you’re getting and what you will entitled to if you can’t work.
Denied for Disability? Stay Positive and Let the People at Social Security Do Their Job
Here’s another great video in our Social Security Disability series. Harold Cameron of Haroldsays tells us what to do when experiencing a delayed response to an appeal for getting on Social Security disability. Most importantly: Remain patient and positive! There’s a huge backlog, but the people at Social Security are working very hard for you. And the best thing is this: Your money starts accumulating on the day you originally applied, and you’ll get it all once you get approved!
Well, greetings YouTube subscribers, followers, and friends. Harold Cameron here, chief of helping people at Haroldsays and consumer advocate here.
I got a question from someone on YouTube regarding their Social Security disability claim. They filed all the paperwork, went through the process and they were denied. And they got a lawyer and it’s been a few months and the lawyer has all the medical documentation and paperwork and they were a little frustrated because they hadn’t heard anything. They were wondering why weren’t they getting a phone call or some kind of action from their lawyer.
Well, the good news is if the attorney is a Social Security benefits lawyer, that is, they represent people who are trying to get a Social Security claim… they’re doing their job. Here’s the problem: there is a backlog of cases before administrative law judges – they’re called ALJs – there’s a backlog of cases of appeals that, in some cases, extend as far as 12 to 18 months. So what that means is from the time you filed your appeal, it could be up to 18 months before you will have a hearing. So don’t get discouraged from the standpoint of ‘your attorney is not doing his or her job.’ They can’t move any faster than the wheels of progress grind at the Social Security Administration in the division where they do the hearings.
So, what do you do? Well, who was it that said, “Let them eat cake”? It was Marie Antoinette, I think, or somebody, when the little people didn’t have any bread and it was in France and she living high on the hog and so what do the little people do? “Let them eat cake”. Well, there was no cake. That’s kind of the attitude of some people in political circles: “Well, they’re little people, poor people. You will always have the poor with you, you can’t help everybody.”
Now this is not the attitude of the people I’ve worked with in Social Security Administration and the law judges. It’s not their attitude. It’s not the attitude of a most of the lawyers that I’ve ever communicated with. The problem is not the people; the problem is the system. And the problem is that there are just not enough judges to handle the backlog of cases and get them processed quickly.
Because this isn’t merely and simply looking at one or two sheets of paper and making a decision. Oh no, no. There are files and files and records that they have to go through. So, it’s a long process. It’s a difficult process. It you don’t have any money or any income, apply for state benefits while you’re waiting, apply for food stamps, apply for energy assistance; whatever benefits you can.
And I’ll share one other very, very important thing with you that always, always, always is important, no matter what challenge you’re facing, no matter what experience you’re going through, and as hard as it is, don’t fret and anguish over what you haven’t got. Rather, be appreciative and grateful for what you do have, express gratitude for what you do have. Express gratitude whenever and wherever you can. Express positive thoughts, say positive things, watch funny movies, listen to positive music. In other words, do everything that you humanly can to encourage your brain and your heart to hold on, to think positive and to be grateful and to express gratitude and you will be surprised. You will be surprised, pleasantly so, at the results.
I know. I know from first hand and personal experience. So although the road may be long and the challenge may seem formidable, though the foe may seem as though Goliath, hang in there. Fight the fight. Be positive, be grateful and appreciative and be persistent. And in so doing if your cause is just and right, in time I know your battle will be won.
If you have any questions or thoughts for me feel free to reach out to me and I’ll be delighted to respond to you as I can. Thanks for watching and I do hope that you enjoy a positively terrific day today. Thank you and bye for now. And remember – I forgot – love wins. I’m out.
Denied for Social Security Disability? Watch this video…
Bob shares his experience with getting on Social Security disability. His advice: 1) Most people are denied the first time they apply, 2) always appeal, and 3) after the first appeal, get a lawyer.
Bob: Hi everybody. Bob here with another version of “What The Heck?” This is episode 8. Today we’re going to talk about Social Security, and specifically about disability. If you think the regular Social Security system is screwed up, you haven’t seen anything yet. I’m going from experience here. I’ve been dealing with these people for 19 years, so I know something about this.
Okay, I’m going to give you the exact situation we’ve been in. My wife, Mary, suffered from several brain tumors 19 years ago. They removed four of them with no problems. The fifth one did damage coming out. It actually killed her and they had to bring her back. She suffers from short term memory loss, she has some severe balance problems, she has some vision problems, and she has a decent case of Bell’s palsy as well. And she had a lot of radiation therapy, a lot of chemo therapy. And when all this happened, the insurance company pulled pre-existing clause. Fortunately, the hospital actually sued the insurance company on our behalf, and they won. So they got paid. We made a deal with the hospital that as long as we testified on their behalf, they would never come after us, which is good because that was over a million dollars’ worth. My wife was in the hospital for several months. She actually was in a coma undergoing surgery on our first anniversary. But we’re going to go back to Social Security disability.
We originally filed for Social Security disability not too long after this all happened. About a month later we get an appointment to go see a doctor. Okay, they’re going to evaluate her. He just asked a couple of questions, took one look at her and said, “Okay, thank you” and then we left and we got a denial notice in the mail. Okay, we accepted it and went on with our merry way. I felt, “Hey, I was working, I had insurance, so what the hell. It didn’t really matter”.
So, about two years later my wife gets into a traumatic brain injury program, and there is a social worker there. I can’t, for the life of me, remember her name. I think Mary probably would remember it. But she asked us why Mary wasn’t getting Social Security disability, and we told her she was denied. She asked, “How many times did you appeal it?” I asked, “Appeal it? You can appeal them? I had no idea”. So she put all the paper work together, she had all the doctor’s paperwork from the TVI programs she was in, we pushed it through, and we got her disability.
Now, remember we got denied in our first attempt? Turns out that’s standard operating procedure. They do that to eliminate the people who are doing it fraudulently. Unless you are in a coma, you will get denied; plain and simple. Your first attempt will be denied. Always appeal, that’s the one lesson we learnt: always appeal. Because if you win your appeal, however long it takes, you’re still accumulating money. You see, your money accumulation starts the day you apply.
So if it takes 2 months to get to you, they owe you 2 months’ back checks. With us, it was 2 and a half years. They had to send us 2 and a half years of back checks. They sent to us all in one check. It was like $10,000 at the time. No, it wasn’t $10,000, it was like $8,000 at the time. But we got about 2 years’ worth of back checks. That was quite nice; that brought me a car. But always appeal it, and if your first appeal doesn’t go through for some reason, get a lawyer. A lawyer costs you nothing. Appeals lawyers for Social Security disability make a set amount. They’re paid by the government, win or lose. Let me say that again – Social Security disability lawyers, win or lose, are paid for by the government. Not paid for by you, although they are your attorney, they are your advocate; they are paid by the government. And it’s not as an employee of the government, it’s the government pays their fee, win or lose. So they’re obviously going to be on your side, because they want you to win. That’s why these people do it. And you see the advertisements on TV every once in a while that say, “Oh, we went all the way up to Alaska to help this guy”. Yeah, because you’re billing the federal government. They get paid a fee. And it’s different for every lawyer, they submit a bill to the federal government, the federal government decides “we’re going to pay you this much,” and they take it. But after the first appeal if you’re still not getting it, get a lawyer.
Now, you’re going to be re-evaluated every 3 years. What they do is they tell you that you have to go to this doctor at this point in time if you want to keep getting your benefits. No matter what, you’ll still keep getting it up until the day they say you’re denied. But it’s called a re-evaluation and usually it’s just a formality. Once you get a number of years in, like we have, I believe after 12 years or 15 years they don’t even bother re-evaluating anymore. We should have had 2 evaluations that we haven’t had. So it might be after 12 years. We should have had re-evaluation last year and we didn’t, and then we should have had a re-evaluation 4 years ago, and we didn’t. So I think they just give up after that.
That’s Social Security disability in a nutshell. Remember these two rules: 1) always appeal and 2) after the first appeal, get a lawyer. And you’ll do fine. To be totally honest, though, on the first appeal you’ll probably get it. Unless you utterly do not deserve it anyway, you’ll probably get it. Because that first denial is just to get rid of the frauds. That’s all.
My name is Bob, this has been “What The Heck?” and if you have opinions different than mine, or if you agree with mine – whichever – please go ahead and comment. I’d love to see your comments and you may just be the one to change my mind. You all have a great day now.
Social Security Holds Compassionate Allowances Hearing on Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today hosted the agency’s fourth public hearing on Compassionate Allowances. Commissioner Astrue was joined by Marie A. Bernard, M.D., Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, and other Social Security officials. They heard testimony from some of the nation’s leading experts on early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias about possible methods for identifying and implementing Compassionate Allowances for people with early-onset Alzheimer’s.
“This year, through Compassionate Allowances and our Quick Disability Determination process, over 100,000 Americans with severe disabilities will be approved for Social Security disability benefits in a matter of days rather than the months and years it can sometimes take,” said Commissioner Astrue. “We are now looking to add more diseases and impairments to these expedited processes. With today’s hearing, we are expanding our focus from specific rare diseases and cancers to look at subgroups of much broader conditions. Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease is a rapidly progressive and debilitating disease of the brain that affects individuals between the ages of 50 and 65 and clearly deserves our consideration.”
In October 2008, Social Security launched Compassionate Allowances to expedite the processing of disability claims for applicants with medical conditions so severe that their conditions by definition meet Social Security’s standards. To learn more and to view a web cast and pdf testimonies of today’s hearing, go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances/hearings0729alt.htm.
“With the aging of the baby-boomers, we are beginning to see more, younger working Americans diagnosed with this devastating disease,” Commissioner Astrue said. “I want to thank the Alzheimer’s Association and their staff, particularly Harry Johns, President and CEO. Their help has been invaluable and many of the witnesses are here at their suggestion. Together, we hope to identify the most severe cases that can be included in our Compassionate Allowances process.”
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.
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!
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
Social Security Disability Law in Alabama
J. Stuart McAtee describes what Social Security Disability law is and helps you understand your rights.
J. Stuart McAtee: One of the areas our firm handles is Social Security disability. A lot of disabled workers in America today are unaware that they qualify for Social Security disability benefits, and also we’re one of the few firms around that handles supplemental security income benefits, which is SSI.
Normally a person who is disabled or thinks they’re disabled applies online or in person down at the Social Security Administration and if they’ve been denied, which a high percentage are denied, they have an appeals time which our firm handles and at that point the attorney can be involved.
We have a full time staff here at Lewis, Feldman, Lehane McAtee, LLC dedicated to nothing but Social Security disability claims. And sometimes people need to remember that they may think they are disabled but they might now have a physical disability, but for Social Security disability purposes you can qualify for mental disability in addition to physical disabilities.
So, if you have been denied and think you have any questions or want to appeal your denial, feel free to contact us. We’ll make sure that we leave no stone unturned.
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