Should I Apply for Social Security Disability?
If your answers match the ones below, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is likely to award you benefits.
- Are you gainfully employed? No
- Do you have a severe impairment? Yes
- Will your impairment last 12 months or result in death? Yes
- Does your disability meet one of SSA’s listed impairments? If yes, you qualify. If no …
- Are you able to work? No
When should I apply for disability benefits?
Unless you have an obvious long-term disability, the best time to apply for Social Security disability benefits is 6-9 months after you stop working.
What does a disability lawyer do?
The big-picture answer is: analyze what needs to be proven to win benefits, figure out how to prove it, and gather the necessary evidence. Some of the specific tasks are:
- Obtain reports from treating doctors that are consistent with Social Security regulations
- Refer claimants to specialists for additional reports that answer questions raised by Social Security regulations
- Obtain a vocational expert’s evaluation of the claimant’s ability to work
- Ask that a prior application for benefits be reopened
- Seek a waiver of a time limit
- Request subpoenas to insure the presence of crucial witnesses or documents
- Advise the claimant on how best to prepare for and testify at the hearing
- Object to improper evidence or procedures at the hearing
- Cross-examine adverse witnesses
- Present a closing statement
- Submit a written summary of the evidence and argument
- If the claimant wins, make sure the SSA correctly calculates benefits
- If the claimant loses, request review of the hearing decision by the Appeals Council
How long will I wait for a disability hearing?
It can take up to two years from request until a hearing is held and a decision issued, but the time varies from state to state.
They are private, held in a small conference room, and last an hour or so. You will be asked about your education, training, work experience, symptoms, limitations, and daily activities.
What if I don’t file my disability appeal on time?
If you have not filed your appeal within 65 days of the date on your denial letter, you have to start over with a new claim. That new claim may result in the loss of back benefits.
What is the biggest mistake made by disability applicants?
Because the majority of appeals are granted at a hearing, failing to appeal a denial to the hearing level is the number one error … and unfortunately very common.
Will my application for Social Security disability benefits be approved?
In my experience, the one question that every person who cannot work because of a disability wants to have answered is this: Will I be approved for Social Security disability benefits? Frustrating though it may be, there often is no easy answer to this question. The Social Security Administration is a large government bureaucracy that operates under a complex set of rules and regulations, and its decisions sometimes are counterintuitive.
While the outcome of your Social Security disability claim may be difficult to predict, the process by which the Social Security Administration decides your claim is quite predictable. In every case, the Social Security Administration employs a “5-step sequential evaluation process” to determine if an applicant is “disabled,” as that term is defined by the Social Security rules and regulations. The 5-step process requires the Social Security decision-maker to address the following questions, in the following order:
Step 1: Are you engaged in “substantial gainful activity”?
“Substantial gainful activity” is work that involves significant physical or mental activity, and that is usually done for pay or profit. If you are employed in “substantial gainful activity,” then your application for Ohio Social Security disability benefits will not be approved, no matter how severe your impairment is.
Step 2: Do you have a “severe” impairment?
The purpose of Step 2 is to weed out frivolous claims. If you have a medically determinable impairment that imposes more than minimal restrictions on your ability to work and is expected to last longer than 12 months or result in death, then you have a “severe” impairment.
Step 3: Does your impairment “meet or equal” a Listing impairment?
The Listing of Impairments is a set of criteria for disability found in the Social Security regulations. The Listing describes over 100 medical conditions that would ordinarily prevent a person from engaging in any gainful activity. If the medical signs, findings and symptoms of your impairment meet or “medically equal” the medical signs, findings and symptoms of a Listing impairment, then the Social Security Administration will find that you are disabled by virtue of your medical impairment alone. If you do not “meet or equal” a Listing, then the Social Security Administration will consider other, non-medical factors relevant to your ability to work, in Steps 4 and 5.
Step 4: Can you perform “past relevant work”?
To get past Step 4, you must prove that you are incapable of performing any “past relevant work.” In general terms, “past relevant work” is any substantial gainful activity you have performed in the past 15 years. Think of the easiest job you have held in the past 15 years. If you are no longer capable of doing that job, then you cannot perform “past relevant work.”
Step 5: Are you able to perform other work?
If you cannot perform past relevant work, then, in this final step of the sequential evaluation process, the Social Security Administration will determine whether you can do any other work that exists either in the Columbus metropolitan and central Ohio region or in significant numbers in the national economy. In making this determination, the Social Security Administration will evaluate your “residual functional capacity” (that is, what you are capable of doing, despite your disability) and related vocational factors (your age, education, work experience) to see if you could adjust to performing different work than you have done in the past. If not, then you will be deemed “disabled” according to the Social Security regulations, and your claim for Ohio Social Security disability benefits will be approved.
If you have speciic questions regarding your claim, please contact us at (614) 545-9998 for a free claim evaluation or visit www.ColumbusDisability.com
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