Social Security Disability

When you get disability benefits from Social Security, you’re supposed to be able to rest easy. No one can step in and take them just because you’ve made a mistake. The Social Security Administration even has rules protecting you so this kind of thing can’t happen.

Unfortunately, those rules aren’t working like the SSA intended for some people. Sure, they keep creditors from garnishing recipients’ benefits, but the rules don’t stop them from trying. And often it was the act of trying that ended up causing problems.

Recently, there have been a number of news reports in major news publications criticizing the Social Security Disability Insurance System. Now the News Program 60 Minutes has gotten into the act. This major news program was able to produce a story about the Social Security disability program without interviewing a single disabled person or disability advocate? Their chief source was Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican with a documented hostility to Social Security.

60 Minutes and Senator Coburn displayed a rank ignorance about the disability program: how it works, who the beneficiaries are, why it has grown. Why 60 minutes failed to interview any number of experts to present an educated expert view of the program is unknown. But Sixty Minutes apparently could not be bothered to present a more balanced picture of the disability program.

As a Social Security Disability attorney, I work very hard to prepare my clients’ cases for disability appeals hearings ahead of time. Unfortunately, there are some things that I just can’t know. Will the Administrative Law Judge, or ALJ, say that there is past relevant work that you can do? Will they find that your work experience, age, education, and residual functional capacity show that you are able to handle a number of different jobs?

These are things that come up in steps 4 and 5 of the appeals process, and they just can’t be predicted when putting together your defense before the hearing. Because of this, experienced disability attorneys tend to follow the Rule of Three.

If you’re nervous about how Social Security disability benefits are going to work in the future, you’re not the only one. This past September, a subcommittee in the House of Representatives held the last in a series of hearings about the future of SSDI. They asked academic and business researchers, a director of public policy, …

As a disability attorney, people are always asking me all kinds of Social Security questions. One of the most common involves whether or not they are required to provide evidence that would hurt their case at their Social Security Disability hearing.

Short answer: no. Under current SSA rules, you are allowed to pick and choose the evidence that you bring to the hearing. It doesn’t stop the ALJ from bringing up that evidence and asking you about it, but it does make it easier for you and your rep to build your case by creating a narrative that shows how your disability has negatively impacted you.

Unfortunately, the SSA has tried on a number of occasions to change this by instituting a rule that would require claimants to submit any and all evidence they have.

Yet another reason to love the Lone Star state—the processing time for Texas Social Security Disability cases is among the fastest in the nation.

Out of 165 total hearing offices across the country, five of Texas’s six locations are in the top 50. That’s pretty impressive for one of the biggest and most populous states in America. As a Social Security Disability attorney who’s handled many cases in this great state, I can’t say I’m surprised. When Texans set their mind to doing something, they do it well.

Want to know what those numbers really mean? This might help to put it into perspective—the hearing office with the lowest processing time in the country is Mayaguez at 168 days; the worst is St. Louis, which takes a ridiculous 505 days to process claims.

As an experienced Social Security Disability attorney, I get lots of Social Security questions on a variety of aspects of the process. Often I refer people to our free eBook but I also try to answer some questions here.

Probably one of the things that is most confusing to people is how time extensions work. General guidelines used to give claimants and representatives 40 days to turn in arguments and evidence, but this time was reduced a few years ago to a standard of 25 days to hand over any additional material.

Because that’s such a short period of time, it’s become far more common for attorneys and claimants to ask for more time. Unfortunately, every single one of these requests has to be looked at individually and either approved or denied.

As a Social Security Disability attorney, I’ve worked with many overweight and obese clients and understand that our weight plays a major role in how we feel and what we are able to do. Those suffering from obesity tend to not only struggle more than the average person with everyday tasks, but they also face more aches and pains, are prone to more accidents, and are more likely to develop ongoing ailments. They also have to deal with the psychological effects that come along with not matching up to the idealized body image in our society

Obesity makes life harder. If you’re already suffering from a disability, it’s likely that your obesity will only exacerbate the symptoms. This is why your weight should be considered when ruling on your disability claim.

It’s pretty common for me to get Social Security questions dealing with how people should fill out their work history report. And that’s really not much of a surprise, because these forms do a terrible job at explaining to you how they should be filled out and what you really need to include.

Unfortunately, this document is incredibly important to your claim, so it’s highly recommended that you talk to an experienced Social Security disability attorney to get help filling it out. A well-prepared work history report can be the difference between getting the benefits you deserve and having your claim denied.

As a Texas Social Security Disability attorney, I understand completely that the Social Security Administration isn’t overflowing with money. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re bound to have heard rumblings about how long the program might last and whether or not younger people are now paying into a plan that won’t even be able to help them when they get older.

Something big has to change if Social Security is going to be around for future generations, but their new policy of charging fees to perform simple actions seems like the wrong way to go.