"DISABILITY APPLICANTS ARE SCREENED LIKE A PATIO DOOR"

I read an article written by a poorly informed reporter about how many people are on Social Security disability down in Hale County.  This reporter seemed to have the idea that a certain Dr. Timberlake down in Hale County was signing up people left and right for disability benefits.  The impression was that since there are few jobs in Hale County outside of manufacturing and farming, people with back pain can't do those jobs; therefore, they are disabled.  

As I said, the writer of this article is poorly informed.  

Let me quote from the federal regulations which govern how Social Security treats opinions furnished by doctors:

  We will not give any special significance to the source of an opinion on issues reserved to the Commissioner described in paragraphs (d)(1) and (d)(2) of this section.  (20 CFR 404.1527(2)(d)).

If you read the entire section of 20 CFR 404.1527, you will see that decisions about who is disabled and who is not disabled belong solely to the Commissioner of Social Security. Doctors may not make this determination.  In short, the doctor may opine that you are disabled but Social Security decision makers will not give that opinion any consideration, and they cannot do so under the federal regulations.

Second, doctors do not have the prerogative to make any judgments about vocational matters, such as whether a patient is able to perform a certain type of job, whether certain jobs are available in the local economy, etc.  Social Security will use a vocational expert for this information.

Third, under federal Social Security law, it makes absolutely no difference whether any type of job exists in Hale County, or in any other city, town or county. It only matters that jobs exist somewhere.

 Here is what typically happens.  The judge hearing the case will bring in a vocational expert. I've never had a hearing for an adult without a vocational expert. The judge will summarize the functional capacity of the applicant and then ask, "Are there any jobs [in existence] that the claimant could perform?"  The expert will often reply, "Yes, the job of silverware wrapper would be available.  There are 697,243 such jobs in the US economy and over 4,000 jobs in the state of Alabama."  It matters not the least that not even one silverware wrapping job exists in Hale County. They exist somewhere and that ends the matter.  The case will probably be denied because - somewhere in the US economy - according to the vocational expert -- there are 697,243 silverware wrappers and the claimant could perform that job, if he could find it. It also does not matter that he cannot find one of those jobs, that none of those jobs are open, or that nobody will hire him for one of those jobs.  Further, it does not matter that the claimant would have to move to Cincinnati to get one of those jobs.  It just doesn't matter.  So, the entire Hale County economy argument falls to pieces in the light of fact.

I would like to see the day when reporters who write about Social Security disability benefits, and how "easy" it is to get them--would do some basic research beyond the fact that one out of four people in Hale County are on disability.  That may be true but it does not represent the Social Security disability program or the long, difficult process that claimants must endure to get approved.  

Someone had the insight to say, "Social Security needs to screen applicants before they award benefits."  To which I reply, "Applicants are already screened like a patio door."