GETTING DOWN TO BASICS: HOW TO GET BENEFITS

I've been reading my website and lots of other Social Security disability blogs.  They all have lots of details about SSDI.  It suddenly dawns on me, the average disabled person really needs to know some very basic things.  Here, I will try to give you the basics, based on my years as a successfully disability advocate.

1.  You have to know what the law requires, then you have to do it.  Otherwise, you will never get paid.
a)  You must not now be working at any kind of substantial gainful job.
b)  You must have a medically provable impairment that has lasted for at least 12 consecutive months, is expected to last that long, OR is expected to result in death.

This impairment must be severe enough that it absolutely prevents your ABILITY to perform basic work activities.  If you are under age 50, you must be unable to perform ANY kind of work, even sedentary (easy), unskilled work.  Over age 50, you must be unable to perform all of your past work (during the past 15-year period).

2)  You must file a complete and meticulous application, and this must include all of the attending forms, questionnaires and documents that Social Security will send you in the mail--even after your claim has been filed.  Failing to properly complete these forms (and complete them fully) will get you denied.  It just will.

3)  After you file your application, Social Security will obtain all of your medical records IF (and only IF) you have supplied them with all of the doctors, clinics, hospitals, counselors, practitioners, etc. that have treated you.  You must provide them with names, addresses, phone numbers and estimated dates of service for each medical provider.  If you don't, your records won't get reviewed, and you will be denied for lack of evidence.  Guaranteed.

An attorney or advocate may help you file a stronger application because they know what Social Security needs.

4)  Expect to get denied and appeal your claim.  Almost 70 percent of applications receive a denial.  If it isn't a perfect claim (all the boxes don't check), it will be denied and an administrative law judge will have to sort it out later in a hearing.  Hearings are where most claims get approved.

5)  When you get to the hearing level, things get really complicated, very technical and awfully complex.  This is when you should have a legal representative to work with you and attend the hearing with you. 

Probably the best 15 minutes you ever spent will be to call an experienced attorney or disability advocate and get some advice about your claim.  Every case is different.  Do not depend on what a relative, friend or co-worker tells you.  They all have stories.  None of them probably apply to your particular scenario.  Get a free case evaluation by someone who sits in front of an administrative law judge several times a week, and who knows how to apply the law to your individual set of facts.  It doesn't matter what happened to Uncle Albert. I guarantee you there was something about Uncle Albert's case that is different from your case:  age, education, work experience, medical records, treatment, date last insured, residual function capacity, onset date, grid rules....  You get the idea.  Get YOUR case analyzed based on YOUR set of facts.

Here's the best part.  There is no cost for doing this.  Any attorney/advocate who practices in the area of Social Security disability will provide you with a free consultation, a free case evaluation, and free advice.  If the advocate is hired and does a lot of work on your case, of course he or she deserves to be paid.  But they only get paid if you (a) win your case, and (b) receive past due payments as a lump sum of money, and (c) Social Security approves of the fee payment.

At the Forsythe Firm, we evaluate cases and advise claimants everyday.  In some cases, we take a case to trial (hearing) and get paid for it.  But in dozens of other cases, we provide free consultations and free advice for which we receive no pay at all.  In other cases, we file an application which gets approved right away, the claimant gets a monthly benefit and we do not qualify for any fee at all.  

Social Security disability is complicated.  Get the help and give yourself the advantage.  (256) 799-0297. 

Forsythe Firm - Disability Advocates - Contact Us 

QUICKER WAY TO DISABIILTY BENEFITS: COMPASSIONATE ALLOWANCES

Social Security has compiled a list of catastrophic illnesses that can qualify quickly for disability benefits under their Compassionate Allowances Program.

At a time when the traditional path to disability benefits can take 24 months or more, this is a welcome program for the persons who suffer from one of these terrible illnesses.

Click here to see the entire list of more than 250 diseases and conditions that may qualify for a compassionate allowance.

 https://www.ssa.gov/compassionateallowances/cal_faqs.htm

Click here to contact the Forsythe Firm 

QUICK DISABILITY DECISIONS FOR COMPASSIONATE ALLOWANCES

The Social Security Administration has compiled a list of catastrophic diseases that qualify for fast tracking and quicker approval for disability benefits.  This is called the Compassionate Allowances Program.

At a time when the traditional path to Social Security disability benefits can take 24 months or longer, this is a relief for persons suffering from one of these horrible illnesses.

Click below to see the complete list of diseases and conditions that can qualify for a compassionate allowance.

 https://www.ssa.gov/compassionateallowances/cal_faqs.htm

NEW RULES OF EVIDENCE START 3/27/17

Things change.  Social Security certainly does.

Beginning March 27, 2017, Social Security has adopted a new rule that may make it even harder to get a disability benefit approved.

Previously, Social Security gave additional weight to the opinion of the claimant's personal, treating doctor.  So, if the Social Security doctor said that you have no severe impairment and your doctor said that you do, your doctor's opinion got more weight.  (The theory:  Your doctor knows you better than a one-time examiner).

No longer.  Now, the opinion of all treating sources can be given the same weight by decision makers.  That means that a Social Security doctor who saw you one time for fifteen minutes can be given as much weight as your doctor who has treated you for 25 years.  Worse yet, a Social Security doctor in Birmingham who has never met you, but only reviews your records, can be given as much weight as your treating doctor.  Social Security is supposed to look at the opinion of each doctor and decide which one is most "convincing."

I believe this new rule is a reaction to two things which Social Security and the Congress saw as big problems:

1).  It's a response to "doctor shopping," where claimants or their lawyers go find a doctor willing to support a disability claim.  In a few cases, a doctor has fraudulently given a favorable medical opinion for cash--as in the now infamous case in Kentucky.  This was, however, a very rare and isolated incident.

2)  Congress has been concerned that too many claimants are being approved for diseases that are difficult to prove with objective medical evidence.  Mental illness, fibromyalgia, chronic pain syndrome, chronic fatigue, migraines, etc. have no medical test that can verify the illness. Social Security has been told to put its foot down.  And it did.

This new rule is open for abuse by Social Security decision makers. I hope it will not hapen, but it could. The new rule provides judges and other decision makers an opportunity to deny claims, even when the claimant's doctor is saying that a severe and disabling impairment is present.  All you need now is one other doctor to say the opposite.  And, as we all know, Social Security has no shortage of those doctors.  

 https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/18/2017-00455/revisions-to-rules-regarding-the-evaluation-of-medical-evidence

HOW DOES 'BACK PAY' HAPPEN?

Back pay, also called "past due benefits" refers to the lump sum settlement that Social Security pays the claimant when the claim is first decided in the claimant's favor.
Back pay is also the amount from which any 
attorney's fee can be paid. 

Back pay can accumulate in either of 2 ways:

1)  You file an application several months AFTER you become disabled and Social Security pays you back to the date of disability.  For instance, you become disabled on 6/1/14 but don't file your claim until 6/1/15.  You are allowed to go back and pick up 12 months of back pay.

2)  Social Security takes a long time to approve you.  Let's say you file an application for disability on 6/1/14 and get denied.  You file and appeal and have to wait a year for a hearing (very common).  If you eventually get approved, Social Security will owe you several months of back pay.  In this case, they will owe about 18 months in back pay.

What will my attorney usually get?  Your representative cannot get more than 25 percent of your back pay.  There is also a cap on that fee as a dollar amount.  

Can the attorney get any part of my future monthly disability payments?  No.  Social Security will not allow your representative to take any part of your monthly payments.  This is highly regulated in the federal law.  Also, if you win your case but don't receive any back pay, there cannot be any attorney's fee. 

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ALABAMA WAIT TIMES FOR HEARINGS

UPDATE....UPDATE...UPDATE...

As of 9/5/17, I am telling people to expect a wait of at least 24 months to get a hearing.  The wait times are getting longer, not shorter.  I am now getting hearings scheduled for appeals that were filed back in 2014 and 2015.  Please realize, this is not your representative's fault.  It is the fault of the Social Security Administration and their back log of cases. 

The average waiting time to get a Social Security disability hearing varies from city to city.  In Fort Smith, Arkansas the average wait for a hearing is now only 7 months.  But in Pittsburg, the wait is 20 months.

What's it like here in Alabama?  In Florence, the ODAR website says the average wait is 12.5 months (however, I think that is a very optimistic number).  In Birmingham, the wait is listed as 18 months.  Down in Mobile, people are waiting 16 months to get a hearing.  The national average is now 16.8 months.  It's an interesting anomaly but the wait time for a hearing in Huntsville or Madison County is several months longer.  I discuss this more below.

Question:  Can I cut my waiting time by agreeing to a hearing by video teleconference (VTC)?

 In my experience, no you cannot.  Social Security for several years implied that video teleconferencing would get you a quicker hearing.  I have not found that to be so.  I was looking at the Florence, AL ODAR website recently and was not surprised to find that a very high percentage of their hearings are now being done in person.  I assume this is because claimants' attorneys and representatives are opting out of video hearings and insisting on in-person hearings.  I have tried VTC hearings several times and did not feel that there was any shorter wait because of the video hearing.

HUNTSVILLE HEARING PROBLEM:  I will add that waiting times for the Huntsville, AL area are much longer than for other north Alabama locations. The reason for that is that there's only one hearing room available in Huntsville (if you can believe that).  When I file an appeal, I request the hearing to be scheduled for the first location available and waive the travel expense.  In short, the claimant and I agree to get out of Huntsville and travel to Florence or Cullman if we can get a hearing sooner in one of those towns.

HOW TO GET SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS WITH NO WORK HISTORY

Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits are available only to persons who have worked long enough, and recently enough, to be covered.  These benefits may be available to workers who have paid FICA taxes to the Social Security trust fund for a number of years.

But what about persons who have either never worked or who stopped working a long time ago and are not covered by SSDI?  Another program called Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is still available. And SSI requires no work history, no tax payments into the trust fund to be eligible.

The 2 requirements for SSI benefits are:

1).  Proof of a medical disability,the same as would be required for a SSDI claim, and

2)  Meeting the restricted income and financial resource guides for SSI (which would NOT be required for SSDI).