I AM DISABLED - BUT DENIED? WHAT CAN I DO?

Fewer than 3 out of 10 initial applications for Social Security disability are approved.  Many truly disabled and deserving individuals are denied for any number of reasons.  The only solution is a timely appeal.

 In Alabama (and 9 other states), you may file a request for a hearing immediately upon being denied.  You only have 60 days, however, in which to request a hearing in writing.  A hearing refers to a personal appearance before a federal administrative law judge.  This judge is not bound by any previous Social Security decision and can evaluate all the evidence, including new evidence that you submit, and make a new decision.

 National award rates by administrative law judges were down during the final quarter of 2011--to 49 percent.  In Alabama and Tennessee, the award rates average closer to 60 percent.  Award (approval) rates vary from hearing office to hearing office and from judge to judge. In one of the hearing office where I represent clients, the judge with the highest rate issues 68 percent favorable decisions; the judge with the lowest rate approves 48 percent - a 20 point spread within the same hearing office.

 The average time to process a hearing is around 350 days.  That is measured from the time the appeal is filed until the decision is issued.

 For persons living in Tennessee, there is a required step between denial and hearing.  That step is called "reconsideration."  If a case is denied, you have to give the same stage agency an opportunity to "reconsider" their decision before you may ask for a hearing.  Less than 10 percent of denials are changed at reconsideration.  A total of 40 states have the "reconsideration" phase as a requirement before you can ask for a hearing by a federal administrative law judge. Reconsideration usually takes about 3 to 4 months.  Pardon me for being blunt in saying, the reconsideration process is, in my humble opinion, a waste of time.  I am glad that in Alabama we don't have to contend with it (except in the rare case where the claimant filed a claim in one of the other 40 states, then moved to Alabama).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GETTING MONEY FROM SSDI

SSDI stands for Social Security Disability Insurance .  When you first began working, the Government deducted a percentage of your wages, called a FICA tax.  This continued as long as you worked, in most cases.  This money was matched by your employer and set aside in a government trust fund to help you if you later became disabled and could not work. SSDI is a type of government sponsored insurance program, usually called "Social Security disability insurance."  To get benefits out of SSDI, you must prove  that you have a medical disability so severe that you cannot work any full-time job; that this disability has lasted, or is expected to last, for at least 12 consecutive months. That sounds simple but Social Security has made it rather difficult to prove that you are disabled.  One reason is that their definition of 'disability' is so strict.  You usually must prove that you cannot perform even simple, unskilled work at the sedentary (sitting) leve
Read more

POST HEARING EVIDENCE

Many people assume that a Social Security disability case is over when the hearing has been held.  This isn't always the case.  Often there is post hearing work that should be done to achieve the best chance of a favorable decision. Everyone at a disability hearing works under pressure.  This includes the claimant, the representative, the vocational expert and even the administrative law judge.  Hearings are generally limited to less than one hour.  The judge will ask questions that place the claimant under stress to answer correctly.  The representative or attorney will be asked to respond to procedural issues or points of law that place him or her under pressure.  The judge must constantly conduct the hearing so that it follows Social Security laws, rules and regulations.  Further, the judge must form accurate hypothetical questions for the vocational expert based on the medical and vocational evidence in the file and upon the claimant's testimony.  The vocational expert th
Read more

PARTIALLY FAVORABLE DECISIONS ON DISABILITY

You attended a hearing on your Social Security disability claim.  A few weeks later, you receive a Notice of Decision in the mail that says you have received a Partially Favorable decision.  Does this mean that you are only partially disabled, not fully disabled? ANSWER:  No.  Social Security does not make awards for partial disability.  You are either disabled or not disabled.  There is no such category as "partially disabled" within Social Security law. A "partially favorable" decision means that the administrative law judge has found you to be disabled.  However, he or she has changed some material fact in your application.  Most often, this change involves the established onset date--the date you were found to have become disabled.  For example, in your application you may have alleged that you became disabled on June 1, 2012.  After reviewing the facts of the case, the judge may have decided that you did not become disabled until September 1, 2012.  Theref
Read more