What should I do if my disability application is rejected?

For those who have severe ongoing disabilities that render them unable to work, the Social Security Disability Insurance Program (SSDI) provides much-needed benefits; however, nearly two-thirds of disability applications are rejected. Let’s take a look at the leading reasons benefit claims are rejected.

The Social Security Administration considers a number of factors when determining benefit eligibility, including the applicant’s age, the number years worked – and paid into the social security system, and when you became disabled. You must have worked for a certain amount of time to qualify. Generally, you must have 40 credits, 20 of which were earned in the last 10 years ending with the year you become disabled.

How much of what I’ve heard about SSDI is actually true?

Many people who have become disabled wonder if they are qualified to receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and whether it is worth applying for benefits. The best person to answer this and other related questions is a thoroughly knowledgeable disability attorney. Here is a list of fact-checking replies to some of the myths you may have heard.

Does my medical condition qualify for a fast track disability review?

While Social Security Disability Insurance is designed to provide benefits to those who are unable to work, the system is plagued by delays and inefficiencies. However, the Social Security Administration has procedures in place to fast track review certain cases. Let’s take a brief look at some of these programs.

How can I qualify for Supplemental Security Income benefits?

Led by Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), congressional lawmakers are proposing a one-time emergency payment in the amount of $581 for over 65 million individuals who currently receive retirement benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

The payments are designed to assist these recipients who were denied a cost of living adjustment in 2016.

What mental disorders qualify for social security disability benefits?

The Social Security Administration announced new rules in September concerning the criteria the agency will use to evaluate disability claims related to mental disorders. The new rules, slated to take effect on January 17, 2017, are said to be the most extensive changes to this criteria in more than 30 years. In devising the new rule, the SSA considered public comments to its proposed rule released earlier this year.

Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a study of the Social Security Administration (SSA); namely, its practices while working with soon-to-be beneficiaries. Overall, the GAO concluded that the SSA can – and should – do a much better job ensuring beneficiaries fully understand the ramifications of their decisions – which, up until now, have blindly cost thousands of enrollees millions of dollars in lost income.

The study focuses primarily on retirement benefits through the SSA. However, the clear issues are those that can impact any number of enrollees, including those receiving disability benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Overall, the GAO reviewed a number of surveys, academic reports and interviews with both agency representatives and beneficiaries to conclude that the information supplied to SSA customers is incomplete, unclear and sometimes misleading.

Am I eligible for SSDI if I am suffering from post traumatic stress disorder?

Have you been involved in a traumatic event? Are you plagued by feelings of hopelessness, guilt or shame? Do you have difficulty concentrating or remembering things? Are you angry and irritable? Do you have trouble sleeping or experience excessive anxiety or fear?

If you answered yes to these questions, you may be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If these symptoms are interfering with your everyday life, you should medical attention. Certainly, most individuals who survive a traumatic event suffer a certain amount of shock or fear, but those with severe symptoms will get worse without treatment: often a combination of medication and counseling. Those who are unable to work due to PTSD may also be eligible for social security disability benefits. 

SSDI and PTSD

In order to obtain disability benefits for PTSD, it is necessary to satisfy the criteria listed in the Social Security Administration’s Blue Book.

When I see news stories about con artists preying upon people that rely on Social Security to get by, it makes me so angry. People living on Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, or who have retired and are collecting Social Security, don’t need any additional trouble in their life. Yet they seem to always be the people that wind up getting swindled.

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Is your child receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI)? Are you considering seeking SSI for your child due to his or her health and financial needs? If so, it is important to understand the delicate intersection of child support and eligibility for benefits – as child support payments are considered the child’s income and can greatly impact (or eliminate) the extent of the child’s eligibility for assistance.

Supplemental security income is available for children who are deemed to be blind or disabled – as well as meet certain household income criteria to demonstrate financial need. If you are receiving child support and hoping to also qualify your child for SSI benefits, keep in mind that the Social Security Administration (SSA) will count two-thirds of the payment amount as “unearned income.

How are attitudes about disability changing and why?

Like so many other types of individual differences, disabilities are gradually becoming accepted as one of the ways of being human. If society can now accept and give rights in the workplace and on the home front to women, blacks, Hispanics, the LGBT community, immigrants of varying ethnicities, surely it is time for people with disabilities to be embroidered into the fabric of our culture as well. It is no longer enough to welcome those who are “different” (as if any of us is not!) to participate in society, it is necessary to bestow the same honors upon them as other minority groups, particularly because the people with disabilities are the largest minority group in the United States.

If you are disabled, whether physically, psychiatrically, because of a learning disability, because of a congenital defect, as a result of aging, injury, trauma or disease, you are entitled to all the same rights and privileges as everyone else. Beyond that, you are entitled to the accommodations necessary to put you on as level a playing field as possible with the rest of the population.