The Social Security Disability system is vital to disabled workers as it is frequently the only financial resource that keeps them from living in abject poverty. The benefits of winning a SSD claim include not only monthly benefits but also eventually eligibility for Medicare.
Disability and the Sequential Evaluation
The Social Security Act provides that certain individuals who are under a disability shall receive disability benefits. The statutory concept of disability is comprised both of a medical and a vocational element. The Social Security Act defines the term disability as the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment, which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months. This is the medical component of the statutory definition of disability.
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The Act also provides that a claimant will be found disabled only if his impairment or impairments are of such severity that he is not only unable to do his previous work but cannot, considering his age, education and work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful work that exists in the national economy, regardless of whether such work exists in the immediate area in which he lives, or whether a specific job vacancy exists for him, or whether he would be hired if he applied for work. This is the vocational component of the definition of disability.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has implemented the foregoing definition of disability by applying the five-step sequential evaluation in deciding whether a claimant is disabled and therefore entitled to benefits under Title II (Social Security Disability Insurance) or Title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) of the Social Security Act. The process is commonly referred to as the Sequential Evaluation. It consists of a five-step inquiry, with questions asked in a specific order, until a question is answered affirmatively or negatively in such a way that a decision can be made that a claimant is either disabled or not disabled.
Social Security law can be very complex and exhausting, let Marc Whitehead and Associates take care of the headache, and help you maximize your social security disability claim for you and your family! Contact us and download our free e-book, “The Social Security Puzzle-How to Fit the Pieces Together” at our website disabilitydenials.com.
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