BEST THINGS YOU CAN DO TO WIN A DISABILITY CLAIM

I'm a Social Security disability advocate.  I have attended hundreds of hearings and observed things that help a disability case and things that hurt a disability case.

There are some things the claimant can do to help the case--to increase the odds of being approved and paid.  Here are a few of those helpful things.

1)  Obtain a Medical Source Statement from one or more of your treating doctors.  Use the correct form.

2)  Make certain that the Social Security decision maker has all of your medical records before a decision is made.  Incomplete files are your enemy.

(3) Submit very complete, very accurate forms that supplement your application for benefits.  These forms include the Function Report and Work History Report.

3)  Before you appear at a hearing, make sure you know what will happen at the hearing and what your part in the hearing will be.  Have someone prep you; don't just show up and hope for the best.

4)  Emphasize how your medical conditions limit your ability to function.  Avoid medical terms and focus on things like long you can sit, stand or walk.  How much can you lift? Where is your pain, how severe it it, and how often do you have pain? How does pain interfere with your activities of daily living (cooking, cleaning, driving, yardwork, shopping, etc.)? How limited are you in such mental functions as memory, concentration, understanding and following instructions, getting along with other people, etc.

4)  Avoid exaggerations and putting on a show for the judge or decision maker.  I've seen clients borrow a set of crutches or wheelchair just for the hearing.  Others may put on a back brace that they don't normally wear, just to impress the judge.  This is not only deceptive and wrong, it will backfire and hurt the claimant's credibility and the case.

5)  Be sure your representative knows about any and all work that you have performed after your alleged onset date (the date you claim to have become disabled).  This includes any worker's compensation or unemployment benefits you may have received after the alleged onset date. It also includes any disability, insurance or retirement funds paid to you after you stopped working. These payments certainly may not interfere with SSDI eligibility but they will raise questions at the hearing and your representative must know about these things in advance of the hearing.

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