What Is Social Security Disability?
Social Security Disability is a government program designed to provide financial help to people who become disabled and unable to work. Every worker who has a job covered by Social Security pays taxes into the program to fund benefits for those who qualify. It is not a handout because you have paid for it out of every paycheck you have ever earned.
How To Qualify For Social Security Disability
Getting social security disability benefits is not as easy as just signing up. You have to meet a fairly complex set of criteria. First, you have to become disabled at or before age 65. After that point, you would qualify for social security retirement rather than disability. However, the older you are, the easier it becomes to meet the eligibility criteria.
Second, you have to have worked at least five out of the last ten years. When you work, you earn social security credits. You can earn up to four a year. While you might need more than 20 credits overall in order to qualify, if you have worked most of your life, then you will meet that criteria easily. The hard part is showing that you meet the recent work criteria by showing that you have worked 5 out of the last 10 years. That means you have 20 credits over the last 10 years. If you do not meet this requirement, you can still apply for a needs-based disability benefit called SSI.
Third, you have to prove that you have a severe mental or physical condition that significantly affects your ability to work. Severe means what you think it means. Generally, you will need to show medical evidence of a significant injury or disease that renders you completely unable to work. Back pain isn’t good enough. An MRI showing herniated lumbar discs with nerve damage affecting your legs and feet is more like it.
Fourth, your inability to work has to last at least 12 months in a row. If you haven’t yet been off work for a year, you can also qualify if your doctor can show that you are expected to be off work for a year.
Fifth, you are going to have to show that you cannot perform the jobs you have had over the last 15 years. This is your recent work history. If you have had the same job for that whole time, that’s not too difficult. If you worked at a desk job 14 years ago, but for the last 5 years you have been working in construction, you have to prove that you can’t do either one of those jobs.
Finally, you have to prove that you can’t work at all given your age, education, language skills and background. The older you are, the more limited you are in work options. The more educated you are, the more options you will have for employment.
How To Apply For Social Security Disability
You can go to your local Social Security Office, or even give them a call, to start your application. If you want someone else to do it for you, MLF Legal provides this service to our clients.
The application process is a long questionnaire about your background, work history, medical problems and where you have been getting medical treatment. Before getting started, make a list of every doctor or medical facility you have been to over the past 3 years or so, as well as all of your medications and dosages.
Doesn’t Everybody Get Denied When They Apply For Social Security Disability Benefits?
That is mostly true. Some of the more obvious cases will get approved immediately. These are usually either people at least 55 years old, or people with horrible health conditions like an incurable Cancer. Unfortunately, about 65% of people get denied when they first file an application. These people will have to file an appeal and will likely end up going to a hearing to have a judge rule on their case.
Appealing A Social Security Disability Denial
In most states, when you are denied benefits after filing a social security disability application, you can file an appeal called a ‘request for reconsideration.” This step gets a different reviewer involved to start over and take a new look at your case. This appeal usually results in about a 13% success rate. That’s not very good.
After a request for reconsideration, the next appeal is a request for a hearing with a judge. This is your chance to actually talk to the person making the decision on your case to explain how your health is limiting your work ability. You get to talk about your medical treatment and your functional limitations. Of course, how you say it and present yourself can make a difference. This is where having a trained lawyer on your side can really help. At this stage, there is almost a 65% success rate. That’s a big difference from the application and reconsideration stages. Persistence pays in this process.
Returning To Work After A Disability
Just because you qualify for social security disability does not mean that you have to stay on disability forever. You have to be disabled for a year to qualify for benefits, but if you recover after that time, go back to work and tell Social Security you don’t need benefits any more.
There are even times when you can work and get disability benefits at the same time. This is a factor of your earning ability and earning caps established by the Social Security Administration.
Many times, people who have been involved in an accident or work injury will be off work for at least a year and then they return to work. We see a lot of these people either fail to file for social security benefits or abandon their claims when they return to work. If you never file for benefits you can’t get benefits. If you have been off work for a year due to a disability and then return to work earning full wages, you can still pursue disability benefits for the time period you were off work. This is called a “closed period” of disability.
How To Improve Your Chances Of Getting Approved For Social Security Disability
There are several things you can do to increase your chances at getting approved. The first thing that comes to mind is making sure you fill out a complete application at the beginning of your claim. If you leave a doctor’s name off of your application, then the Social Security Administration will never see the records from that doctor.
One of the major mistakes people make is that they fail to regularly see a doctor. If you do not see a doctor at regular intervals, then there will not be very much evidence about your ongoing medical problems and their affect on your work ability. No evidence = no disability.
Related to the need to see a doctor regularly is the need to get an actual diagnosis. If you have not had your health problems diagnosed, then the decision makers on your benefit application are not going to consider it to be real or severe. It is shocking to see people who come into our office who have filed an application, but they haven’t even been to a doctor yet. You have to prove what your medical conditions are and how they affect you with medical evidence.
Make sure all of your medical records get to the Social Security Administration for review. If you went to the trouble of seeing a doctor, getting diagnosed, and receiving treatment, don’t fail to get that evidence to the people making the decision on your case.
Don’t give up. The further you go in this process, the better your chances. Get a lawyer to handle all of the procedural and legal mumbo jumbo for you. That will increase your odds too because they do the work they are trained to do, and they can’t get paid unless they win – so what do you think they are going to try to do?
If you have any questions about social security disability, feel free to give us a call at 1-972-678-0100 or 1-817-664-0100. We do not charge a fee for initial consultations.