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.

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.

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.

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.

“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 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.

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.

SSDI, if you as an employee have been working fulltime for five out of the last 10 years, then your employer has been paying into the Social Security for you and what’s been happening is you’ve been purchasing essentially an insurance policy in the event you become disabled, and now that you’re disabled, now that you can’t work, that’s when that insurance policy is due and you can collect on it.

Here’s the catch, once you stop working, your insurance policy only continues for five years. Once that five years is up, you no longer are insured.

SSDI offers monthly income based on how much money you paid into the system. It could be anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars all the way up to, you know, more than $2,000 depending on how much you’re paying over the last, you know, five to ten years of your career.

You also can be eligible for Medicare. Now, with Medicare, you have to be found disabled for two years before you would receive the medical insurance portion of SSDI. Other than that, you know, those are the main things you receive, the monthly income and the medical insurance. But if you’re like most people, what you really want is good medical insurance and enough money to survive each month. That’s what SSDI will offer you. So if you’ve paid into this system, then you would qualify non-medically.

Now, step away from that for a minute. What is SSI? SSI stands for Supplemental Security Income. It’s just that, it’s a supplement and so if you have income coming in from somewhere else, then the amount of money SSI pays would be an offset, in other words, you would receive that much less from SSI. So let’s just say, for example, you’re receiving child support of $500 a month, well, that would be $500 less per month you’ll receive in the event you’ll receive SSI because it’s a supplement.

Okay, but how do you qualify for SSI? For SSI, it’s a need-based program and if you have no income or very little income and your assets, your wealth is less than $2,000 for an individual or, if you’re married, less than $3,000, then you probably qualify for SSI benefits on a non-medical.

So what’s better for you, SSI or SSDI? Well, when you go down to Social Security Administration to apply, if you qualify for SSDI, then they’re going to apply you… they’re going to do an application for SSDI. If you qualify for SSI, they’ll give you an application for that. If you qualify for both, they’re going to apply you for both.

So you don’t really have to make that determination, but the problem comes when you have assets and you have maybe a little bit of income and you make your application, then the person with Social Security will only apply you for SSDI, but then if your situation changes while you’re waiting for the decision and now you have no income, you’ve sold everything, then now you would qualify for SSI if you applied.

If your situation changes, in other words, then you need to make sure and go down to Social Security Administration and make sure they have an SSI claim pending for you also and you can have both claims going at the same time. You can have one denied and one approved, that’s not uncommon, but the big difference is with SSDI, you’ll receive monthly income based on the amount of money you put into the system and after two years of being disabled, you’ll receive Medicare.

Now, SSI, you’ll receive your monthly income and Medi-Cal, which is California’s version of Medicaid. Now, if you’re living outside of California, then if you’re receiving SSDI, you would receive your monthly income and Medicare, but if you’re SSI, you’ll receive your monthly income and Medicaid.

I know there’s little distinction, but California does some of its own programs, but those are the big differences with SSI vs. SSDI. If you have any further questions, please visit our website at www.mysocialsecurityattorney.com or you can look at the side information panel, you can get our website and our phone number. We’re happy to answer any questions and that we’re here for you. We really do want to help you directly or indirectly.

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!

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.

If you think that you are going to end being disabled, the first thing you need to do is you need to start documenting it. You need to go to the doctor once a month for this problem and just keep going and try everything that they throw at you, try every medicine and make sure you have documented that you have done everything you can do for your condition under the supervision of a physician and that has not worked. That’s the first thing that I would suggest.

You’ll go through a lot of interviews, they’ll probably send you to some doctors and they’ll evaluate you and that will all end up in your record. But still, even if you have x-rays, like I had of my hands and my back, my hip, they still asked, “Did you go to a doctor for 12 months and try everything they had to make your back okay?” Well, no I didn’t, so I was denied there. I ended up having to go before a judge and practically beg. I was fortunate enough that the lady that applied for my disability for me really believed in me and she represented me in court for no charge and she worked for Social Security. So apparently they took her at face value that I really should be on disability. And now it’s up for review again and I’m really nervous about that because they’re going to go through this entire process again, trying to find some way to kick me off.

They sent me a huge package of papers. I filled them out and sent them off, got another package of papers from a totally different place asking almost exactly the same questions that I got to get mailed off and I’ll probably end up getting kicked off, or probably have to file an appeal, or probably have go to before a judge again or something like that. Or else pay an attorney more money than I can afford to represent me. But anyway, the process is pretty crazy. I wouldn’t rely on it if I were you because, like I said, first of all you have to have somebody that’s willing to support you because you will not be able to work during the process when you are being considered. So somebody asked me if they should get disability insurance at work and yea, I think I would consider that.

My sister did not have any quarters to qualify for Social Security disability. She’s actually out on her company’s disability which pays her for like, you know, five years or something. She has no idea what she is going to do after that. Believe me, it’s a complicated process and I hope that you never have to go through it, but if you really think you’re going to have to end up having to apply for disability, you’re going to need some parents or somebody that’s going to support you for the time it takes go get approved. And you’re going to need tons of medical records and document every fucking thing. Go to the doctor every goddamn day if you need to. Go to the ER, but make sure that when you do come up you have more medical records that they’re even willing to look for.

That will be my advice to anyone that thinks they might become disabled.

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.

Kenneth LaVan: “The number 1 myth about receiving Social Security disability benefits is that everyone who applies gets denied. Now, the reason that is a myth and it’s not correct is that, obviously, everyone who applies who applies does not get denied.

Many doctors, nurses and other people that I have given presentations in front of, they seem to have that perception though, because all the people that they have tried to help get approval for Social Security disability benefits have been denied.

Now, the statistics show that about 20% to 40% of the initial applications get approved depending on the geographic region that you live in. And then at the hearing level anywhere from 50% to 75% will apply for a hearing and go in front of an administrative law judge might get approved. And once again that depends on your geographic region.

What I would suggest is if that you have a doctor that wants to help you with your disability claim, ask him to give you evaluations and explain why you’re disabled rather than just state that you are “disabled”.

The evaluations may say something like, “This person has problems sitting or standing for prolonged periods of time”, or “they have problems reaching and grasping with their hands”, ‘or “they may need to take unscheduled breaks throughout the day”.

All of these types of limitations will affect the jobs that you may be able to do and may enable you to receive Social Security disability benefits.”

Adam Neidenberg: At LaVan and Neidenberg we take cases to the federal district court if the administrative law judge makes errors in law. For example, if the administrative law judge determines that an individual is unable to perform the full range of light work and does not have a vocational expert at the hearing, that is error in law.

The Social Security Administration defines the full range of light work as being able to lift 20 pounds occasionally, 10 pounds frequently. That individual has to be able to stand for up to 6 hours in an 8 hour day. That individual has to be able to sit for up to 2 hours in an 8 hour day. And that individual has to be able to occasionally perform all aspects of postural limitations. If the A.L.J. determines that the individual cannot do that do, and does not have a vocational expert at the hearing, that is a reversible error because there are reductions in the number of jobs that exist at the light level without being able to perform the full range of light-work. That case will automatically be rebranded, that is an error in law.

Man’s Voice: Jared Johnson was born with multiple birth defects in a small town in Minnesota. His hometown was not wheelchair accessible at that time. After attending college and playing wheelchair basketball, he was recruited by the Arkansas Rolling Razorbacks, which he now coaches.

Jared also works at the Social Security Administration and knows first hand how a person with disabilities can be employed and not lose his or her benefits.

Mr. Jared Johnson: I think disability is only a barrier when you as an individual that’s disabled let it be a barrier. If you pursue a career or something that physically you’re not going to be able to do, then obviously your chair is going to be a barrier. But if you pursue careers that a person that’s physically disabled can do, then, you know, you just have to be able to prove to yourself and to people that are trying to hire you that you are the best candidate for that position and then when you get that position, you know, do the best you can to pursue your career.

Mr. Eric McKisick: When I look at Jared, he is an employee here at first. He’s a member of this team and he makes our office better. It is not, to look at Jared, as an individual with disability. We just don’t do it that way. When I see him, I see him perfectly capable individual who may have some shortcomings, and that is he can’t reach as far as I can, but he certainly can grasp, fortunately, everything we have thrown out to him throughout his career.

Mr. Jared Johnson: In my life, I’m really in a lucky situation because I’m able and I have the ability to work. With some people, they just can’t work and they don’t have the ability. They can’t either be on their feet or they can’t sit for long periods of time. Some people just don’t have the ability to work.

I really believe that if you have the ability to work and you push yourself in that direction that you want a better life, you want to be socially active, you want to have a career and have the opportunities to increase your financial success, that Social Security and the Department of Human Services has programs to help you and I think that is the part that needs to be sent out.

People with disabilities need to understand that there are programs that can help you. You just have to be willing and work hard enough to get through with the right person, talk to the right representatives, go to the offices and talk to them about what you can do, what you can do to get back on your feet and how they can help you.

Vocational Rehabilitation has excellent services that can train you to work if you’re able to do that. The Department of Human Services had programs that will help you keep your Medicaid, that you don’t have to lose your health insurance. There are programs available. You have to take some initiative in your own life to improve your situation and I think that’s where people with disabilities need to have the understanding. If you want to do it, there are programs out there available that can assist you. You just have to be the one to step up and get it done.

One of the things I try to do as the coach of the Arkansas Rolling Razorbacks is I try to encourage my players to seek out those work incentives, those options, and those things to help them get back on their feet. I always believe… I mean, everyone of my players are ones I recruited; a kid out of Jonesborough, Arkansas and he was got hurt in a car accident coming home from work and he was going to Jonesborough University down at Arkansas in Jonesborough and he said he’s not going back to school and he said I’m done. You know, he got hurt when he fell asleep at night coming home.

I said, “Well, if you want to play basketball, you have to go back to school.” He said, “I’m not going back to school,” and he came down to practice a couple of times. He saw what we do with those people and saw everybody that’s in a chair overcoming, doing things that they need to do and then realized that, you know, this is what I want and I want to have a life. I want to get married. I want to have kids. I want to do these things.

Our organization does that. We really promote within. We get these people on board. We go out and give speeches at the hospitals, but this kid graduated. He graduated from college and his mom called me in December and she said, “You’re not going to believe it, but my boy is graduating today and we owe it to you,” and I said, “Well, you don’t owe it to me. He did it. He did all of the course work and all of that.”

But we pushed him in the right direction and that’s what we try to do. We try to show people that just because you’ve been in it, just because you’ve had an accident or you’re in a chair, it doesn’t mean your life is over, that you can do things. You know, you can have a life. You can have a family. You can have friends, social life, and things like that.

And I think that it means a lot for people to be a part of their own Razorbacks because it’s the people who are already in the chair, they know what it’s like if you have to go on a bathroom rotation. You know, their whole lives are changed and our organization educates them that you can get on a plane, you can get it done.

Ken Hess: This one is a specialized question for some of our clients where we encourage clients who are on disability to try to return to work. Try to get into that special job where they might be able to work in spite of their condition. If they are able to work and their benefits have to be stopped because they no longer meet the requirements for receiving disability, they get quite a bit of time to work themselves off of Social Security and if they are on SSI their benefit starts to be reduced as their income goes up. So, we do have the ability for putting people back on, if their condition is the same, if they lose their job, and if it’s within five years of last having received Social Security.

So, we do have that provision, clients can contact us. We would start benefits, but we would have to verify that they meet all the requirements for being expedited back into payment.

Allsup, an organization which represents thousands of people in the obtaining of Social Security Disability Insurance procedure, says some people with disabilities are waiting as long as four years for their Social Security disability benefits. And the situation seems to get worse every day.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has a difficult time dealing with the rising number of applications. The SSA Office of Inspector General announced that some people wait one year wait for a review of a case at the initial level, 16 months for level 2, the reconsideration level, and four years for level 3, the hearing.

With more than 765,000 people waiting, the SSA plans to hire more staff in order to deal with those waiting for a hearing. Jim Allsup, CEO of Allsup, said his organization will continue to help people with disabilities receive benefits as quickly as possible.

HAROLD: Well greetings YouTube subscribers and YouTube friends, I want to talk to you briefly about a policy that the Social Security Administration implemented that I think you need to know about, especially if you’re filing for Social Security disability and have been denied and you are going to have a hearing before an administrative law judge.

The wait time from the time that you’re denied your claim to the time that you appear before an administrative law judge can be a year, up to two years, I mean it’s a long time.

And many of you, many people who are trying to get their disability benefits, are struggling with this process and struggling waiting for the hearing.

If you have compelling new medical documentation, compelling medical information, something to share that’s new or that’s different from when you originally applied, or you want to have another review of your disability claim before it goes to a hearing, there is something called an on-the-record appeal and decision.

It’s called on-the-record appeal and decision. Now, according to Social Security policy, this should be done without the claimant or without a claimant’s attorney asking for this.

And I have a wonderful, wonderful positive feeling about the good folks at the Social Security Administration and with the folks that work at the DDD and the DDS offices across the country, the state offices where these decisions are made.

So I have no beef with the Social Security Administration. However, I’m a kind of person that even though it ought to be “automatic,” I’m still going to ask anyway.

So if you had a Social Security disability claim processed and denied and you’re waiting for a hearing, ask for an on-the-record decision. If you have an attorney, they should ask for it, or you can request it.

Even if you don’t need to, there’s no harm, no foul in asking. It might serve by way of a reminder that “hey, I’ve got some new information. I have some compelling information.”

Let me share a quick story with you about someone I was helping and he’d been denied and I had heard his medical history and I thought, “why had you been denied? What’s going on?”

And he told his doctor, and as a matter of fact, he had been even denied by a hearing judge, an administrative law judge and was now taking his appeal to Baltimore. He told me his doctor temporarily disabled him and did not declare on his paperwork that he was permanently disabled. He could not work and his disability would last for longer than a year and will result in his death.

I said, “Now, there’s a reason you’re being denied.” I said, “You’ve got to sit down with your doctor and find out if this is permanent, and if it is, the doctor has to put that in writing and if the doctor puts that in writing, you’ve got to get that new information to the Social Security Administration for review.”

But that would be an example of compelling medical information that you would want to get before you have an actual hearing before an administrative law judge, and this is part of the policy that was initiated in March 2008 by the Social Security Administration. So it’s called an on-the-record decision.

If you’d like more information about it, you can go to the Social Security Administration website. You can contact the Social Security Administration headquarters. You can contact your State Department of Determination for Disability Services.

But if you can’t find the right person to communicate with regarding this and you or your attorney doesn’t know or can’t help you, in other words, you need more information and you don’t know where to go, e-mail me at harold at bepositiveday.com, or go to my blog www.haroldsays.typepad.com, and actually there is a post about this on-the-record appeal and decision, but I’ll be glad to provide you with any information and help that I can.

Well, I hope this helps you and if you are applying for disability, don’t give up. Please don’t quit if you’re a legitimately, legitimately, permanently disabled and cannot do substantial, gainful activity and cannot do a job, five days a week, eight hours a day, and you just cannot work, hang in there, appeal your claim, if you need to. Do whatever you needed to do, but don’t give up, and be sure, of course, to reach out to me if you need help.

And if you have been denied and are going before an administrative law judge for a hearing, certainly, certainly you want to get a good attorney to represent you.

If you need more information, reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you. Remember, love wins, and I hope you’re enjoying an absolutely, terrifically, positive day today, and I hope your week is a wonderful one.

Again, thanks and bye for now.

JUDGE JUDY: What do want disability for?

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: Learning disability. When I’m out on a job, I can’t properly be as quick as normal people can. That’s when all this bicker backer started. I’m slow.

JUDGE JUDY: But you just worked and you want money. You can’t do that. How much money do you collect from Social Security?

JUDGE JUDY: $762, your Honor.

JUDGE JUDY: A month?

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: Yes.

JUDGE JUDY: And how long have you been collecting $762?

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: Since June 13th of 2003. That’s when all this bicker backer started.

JUDGE JUDY: How old are you?

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: 28.

JUDGE JUDY: What did you do before that?

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: Before I got on Social Security?

JUDGE JUDY: Yes.

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: I had jobs.

JUDGE JUDY: Doing what?

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: I worked at Burger King, and I worked for a temp agency. I worked for them for quite a while.

JUDGE JUDY: And you worked him in semi-construction, whipping up carpet, doing manual labor, right?

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: Yes, your Honor.

JUDGE JUDY: Does your Social Security disability permit you to make money on the side?

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: They don’t care. If you get it in a check –

JUDGE JUDY: They don’t care?

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: If you get it in a check, then they take it from your Social Security check for what you make.

JUDGE JUDY: But if you get it in cash?

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: If you get it in cash, then they’re not worried about it.

(LAUGHTER)

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: I had… I had…

JUDGE JUDY: No, it’s not that they’re not worried about it. If you get it in cash, they don’t know about it.

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: That’s when all this bicker backer started.

SPEAKER: Judge Judy continues in a moment.

HERMAN DORKVANDER: Hello, friends. I’m Doctor Herman Dorkvander. If you’re tired of working 8 to 5 like the rest of us, the Claim Institute can help you get off your feet today. Our non-certified medical staff will help you discover disease you never thought existed, but the end result is that you must go on permanent disability until medical science can find a cure.

SPEAKER: Judge Judy continues.

JUDGE JUDY: Well, you want Social Security disability as well?

AMANDA CASEY: Yes, I am.

JUDGE JUDY: For what reason?

AMANDA CASEY: I got learning disability and I don’t even work.

JUDGE JUDY: And what?

AMANDA CASEY: I don’t even work.

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: Or bicker backer was starting to occur.

JUDGE JUDY: Do you take any medication?

AMANDA CASEY: No.

AMANDA CASEY: You are not permitted to work. It’s against the law for you to work for cash. Why are you collecting Social Security disability? As far as I can hear from what you’re telling me, sir, you are smart enough to know that you get paid in cash.

You get paid in cash from him, you get paid in cash for these friends who you helped move furniture for, so you’re doing a lot of favors for a lot of friends in the hope of supplementing your Social Security disability.

Do we understand each other? I think that you are smart enough to understand that, right?

CHRISTOPHER CASEY: Yes, your Honor.

JUDGE JUDY: Yeah, sure you are.

The goal of the program is to reduce the wait time for approval for the most vulnerable members of society from months down to days. The current list of disabilities and illness which are covered by the program consists of 25 cancers and 25 diseases. The list is not all inclusive and is expected to grow overtime. For example the SSA has been conducting hearings on stroke and other brain injuries, indicating they are considering this area for inclusion in the Compassionate Allowances initiative.

It appears that Compassionate Allowances is being developed as a replacement for or enhancement of the Quick Disability Determination program (QDD). The QDD was originally created to make the approval process faster for disabled people using readily available information about the applicant and computer generated models about their disability.

List of Conditions (current as of 3/11/2009)

Acute Leukemia
Adrenal Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Alexander Disease (ALX) – Neonatal and Infantile
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Anaplastic Adrenal Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Astrocytoma – Grade III and IV
Bladder Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
Bone Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
Breast Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
Canavan Disease (CD)
Cerebro Oculo Facio Skeletal (COFS) Syndrome
Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) – Blast Phase
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) – Adult
Ependymoblastoma (Child Brain Tumor)
Esophageal Cancer
Farber’s Disease (FD) – Infantile
Friedreichs Ataxia (FRDA)
Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Picks Disease -Type A – Adult
Gallbladder Cancer
Gaucher Disease (GD) – Type 2
Glioblastoma Multiforme (Brain Tumor)
Head and Neck Cancers – with distant metastasis or inoperable or uresectable
Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy (INAD)
Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC)
Kidney Cancer – inoperable or unresectable
Krabbe Disease (KD) – Infantile
Large Intestine Cancer – with distant metastasis or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome (LNS)
Liver Cancer
Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL)
Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD) – Late Infantile
Niemann-Pick Disease (NPD) – Type A
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer – with metastases to or beyond the hilar nodes or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Ornithine Transcarbamylase (OTC) Deficiency
Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) – Type II
Ovarian Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
Pancreatic Cancer
Peritoneal Mesothelioma
Pleural Mesothelioma
Pompe Disease – Infantile
Rett (RTT) Syndrome
Salivary Tumors
Sandhoff Disease
Small Cell Cancer (of the Large Intestine, Ovary, Prostate, or Uterus)
Small Cell Lung Cancer
Small Intestine Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) – Types 0 And 1
Stomach Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
Thyroid Cancer
Ureter Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent

People with disabilities are one of the groups that need Social Security the most. Many of them are poor. But it has become quite difficult for these individuals to get Social Security benefits. To qualify for benefits, those with a disability must first obtain proof of their disability as well as proof that they are unable to work. Many people with disabilities who apply for Social Security benefits are at the poverty level and cannot afford to support themselves without government assistance. However, if Social Security overpays them, they are asked to repay that money. If they are unable to do so, an overpayment begins to accrue.

If you are unable to pay back this overpayment, the money owed will continue to add up until you are asked to repay a lump sum. A lot of disabled people are denied Social Security benefits, because they are too able-bodied. If you can walk, you may run into this problem. At the same time, you may be unable to work, because no one is willing to hire you. Even still, you may not qualify for benefits.

On the same token, the middle class suffers as well. A lot of people in the middle class need Social Security benefits, but are denied for one reason or another. If you are unable to work, you probably need money. If Social Security says your spouse makes too much money, you may be disqualified from receiving benefits. In some cases, you may not be eligible for benefits at all, if you are married.

It is quite easy for some people to receive benefits. Welfare mothers with several children generally do not have a hard time qualifying for benefits and may begin receiving them right away. However, for disabled people to receive benefits, they must wait months, even as much as years, for Social Security to approve their claim. And even then they may be disqualified for one reason or another.

What if you receive Social Security benefits but also decide to work to earn some extra money? You will be asked to report your earnings information to the SS administration. As a result, Social Security will reduce your benefits amount, because you are making money from a source outside of the organization. The more you work, the less you get.

Some people say that every US citizen should get all the money they need. It costs the government almost nothing to print new money, and they have been doing it for their own needs for many decades, so why should this essential ingredient of everyday life be denied to average citizens for the most spurious and bureaucratic of reasons?

February 2009 is the much awaited date when Social Security will collaborate with a number of healthcare providers such as Kaiser Permanente, Med Virginia and the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance to modify the procedure of a person requesting for their disability claims. This innovative method is anticipated to be a faster way of redeeming funds since it is said to do the job in minutes rather than in several months.

This alliance with various healthcare providers is a part of the Federal Government’s motivation to create a network for nationwide health information with the objective to digitally link up purchasers, contributors and those who supports the importance of not only health but healthcare as well.

The SSA’s Senior Adviser, Debbie Somers, said that nowadays the handling of a disability claim usually takes 2 to 3 months and it takes that long because waiting for the medical records to be released takes quite some time.

The Industry Standard interviewed Jeff Odell, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Med Virginia, and according to him this new process “is truly revolutionary.” He also said that the old course of action is a lengthy and painstaking process and that with this new electronic system, the work can be cut in seconds instead of having to wait for weeks. “We are confident that more providers will want to take this same approach,” Odell said. “Doing so helps their patients by expediting the disability determination process while lowering the administrative burden.”

Hopefully it will lighten the load of not only those who process the papers and the records but those who are anticipating their SS payments as well. Change is good but efficiency and satisfaction is always better.

The Social Security Administration tells that the calculations to determine how much you are entitled to are, and I quote, “complicated.” And we trust these people with our money…why? They say that the amount of your benefits are determined by an elaborate formula based entirely on the raw mean (average) of the yearly earnings that you reported from the time you began working.

Just in case this is not difficult enough to understand, the SSA claims that they calculate your average earnings on a different scale based on your age. If you turn 62, or should you have become disabled on or before 12/31/1978, then the Social Security Administration averages the dollar value of your previous earnings, and then bases the value of the monthly benefits that you are awarded on this amount.

Now, should you reach age 62 or become disabled any time after 1/1/1979, then the SSA divides your earnings up into two specific categories. These categories are determined by the year you earned your wages that you are looking to claim on. The first category includes all wages that you earned before 1951. These wages are credited with the true dollar value up to a certain amount per year. The second category includes all wages earned from the year 1951 on. These years have annual limits placed on earning credits – regardless of how much you have acquired during this time.

The Social Security Administration has a strict set of rules to determine if a claimant meets the criteria of disability. To be entitled for Social Security disability benefits, you must establish through your lawyer or attorney, proof of your “disability”, as defined under the law. The Federal Social Security Disability Act requires that you are not able to engage in “substantial and gainful activity” due to reasons that have a medical or mental impact upon you. Do you qualify?

The first thing you need to know about attempting to claim disability under Social Security is that it is granted based on your inability to work because of any outstanding medical condition that is disabling you. To be considered disabled by the Social Security Administration you must be entirely unable do the work you previously did. It is at the dicretion of the SSA if you would have been able to adjust or not to your previous employment, or any other form of work because of your medical condition.

Another factor when being considered is that your disability must either last, or is expected to last a year for you to qualify. This is also true if your medical condition is believed to be leading to your death.

You can not claim disability benefits unless you are fully disabled in the eyes of the SSA. This means that you are not partially disabled or you are disabled for a short period of time. As long as all of these qualifications are met… well then you need to meet even more qualifications. These are outlined in the document “Disability Benefits” (This is document number 05-10029 put out by the SSA.) The SSA strongly suggests that you read over this document to better understand their decision process.

However, you should be clear about one thing: Social Security is not the same as welfare. One determining factor in whether social security benefits are paid to an individual or his family is whether that person has previously contributed something to the system. If your case is not 100% clear cut, or even if it is, an experienced lawyer can help you get the best deal.

Lawyers that specialize in social security disability claims are standing by to help you interpret your situation and inform you of your legal rights pertaining to social security denials and appeals. Generally speaking, social security disability lawyers and attorneys are very knowledgeable. They can help you ensure that you follow all the rules.

But are they honest?

In a word, yes. The vast majority of Social Security disability lawyers is very honest and ethical. They are highly experienced professionals who specialize in handling Social Security disability claims and appeals. They have a vast knowledge of the Social Security laws. So don’t worry, approach a Social Security lawyer so he can provide you with helpful legal assistance in filing a social security disability claim.

The Social Security Administration strictly governs what lawyers may charge you. Any fee you pay to a Social Security lawyer must be approved by the Social Security Administration.

So give it a try, contact a Social Security lawyer today!