PROBLEMS YOU WILL HAVE WITH SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY

Social Security's in-house legal system, the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, is larger than the entire regular federal court system, including the district courts, appeal courts and Supreme Court put together.  When you file an appeal on a Social Security disability claim you take a number that puts you at the back of the line.  There are more than 1 million people ahead of you.  Your wait time will be about 15 months for a hearing.

Claimants sometimes die waiting to get a hearing.  My office has lost two clients in the last 3 months who died while waiting for a hearing.  There is nothing we, or anyone else, can do to speed things up.

Upon filing an initial application for disability benefits, there is only a 3 out of 10 chance of being approved.  The others must appeal and wait 15 months for a hearing.  

At the hearing, you will have to prove to an administrative law judge with no medical training that you are really disabled.  The vocational "Bible" that they use is called the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), an outdated relic from the Great Depression, last published in 1991.  It still lists such jobs as mule driver, horse and wagon driver, switchboard operator and telegraph deliverer.  (Western Union sent its last telegraph in 2006).  The DOT doesn't mention the internet at all.

By law, you have prove your disability with medical records.  Doctor's records often look like careless chicken scratches.  Maybe a drunken chicken.  The judge will spend hours trying to read the records and decide whether you meet the legal definition of disabled or not.  In 58 percent of cases, they will decide that you are not.

At the hearing, you may also have to deal with technical issues involving things like alleged onset date, date last insured, substantial gainful activity, past relevant work or whether alcohol or substance abuse is material to your case.  

Enter the disability attorney or representative.  He or she has been trained and experienced to sit by the claimant's side and help wade through the technicalities, explaining to the judge why you are entitled to benefits.  Much of the representative's work took place in the months before the hearing--complex and delicate planning that, hopefully, will allow the hearing to go smoothly and result in a favorable decision.  

That favorable decision, by the way, will come with an annual benefit for the average claimant amounting to about $14,000 cash per year.  It will also provide Medicare (or in some cases Medicaid) health insurance that will allow many claimants the first opportunity for medical care since they lost their ability to work.  The lifetime value of an SSDI award has been estimated between $300,000 and $411,000, not counting the medical insurance benefits.

If you are unable to work and have been denied SSDI benefits, please contact the Forsythe Firm in Huntsville, AL.  PHONE (256) 799-0297.

Free initial consultations and answers to your questions.  Never any cost to you until you win and are paid past due benefits.  Call (256) 799-0297.