Does Myelofibrosis Qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits? Yes! Try Using SSA Listing 7.10.
You’re constantly exhausted. You seem to bruise and bleed just by touching things. You have trouble breathing whenever you engage in physical activities. Even your very bones cause you pain.
These are just a few of the reasons the SSA includes myelofibrosis disability in their list of impairments that are eligible for Social Security disability benefits. After all, it’s not easy to work when you’re constantly tired, in pain, or worried about hurting yourself.
Still, in order to win a myelofibrosis disability claim and get the benefits you need, you do have to prove that you are medically eligible, and the Social Security Administration has two ways that you can do this:
- Use the book. To help people through the disability process, the SSA has created the Listings of Impairments, a sort of guidebook that defines all of the disabling medical issues that they recognize, along with specific criteria for each one. All you have to do to receive automatic eligibility is meet these criteria.
- Match the severity. There are many people out there who have truly serious medical issues but still can’t quite match the specific requirements of a condition in the Listings of Impairments. Thankfully, there is a secondary way for these people to qualify: by matching the severity. What does that mean? Your goal, if you have to use this method, will be to prove to the SSA that your condition is the equivalent of something that is already in the Listings.
As you might imagine, the secondary method isn’t quite as simple or straightforward as the first one. Getting Social Security disability benefits through this method can be done with the help of a smart, experienced disability attorney, but attempting to meet the criteria in the listing should always be your first choice.
For a free legal consultation, call 800-562-9830
Social Security Disability Benefit Requirements for Myelofibrosis
In order to get benefits for myelofibrosis through Social Security, you need to show that you suffer from the condition along with one of the following:
- Complications of bone marrow failure requiring at least three hospitalizations within a 12-month period occurring at least 30 days apart.
- Each hospitalization must last at least 48 hours, which can include hours in a hospital emergency department immediately before the hospitalization
OR
- Myelodysplastic syndromes or aplastic anemias requiring life-long RBC transfusions at least once every 6 weeks to maintain life.
In order to help you prove your claim and show that you meet the requirements that they have set down, the SSA has listed tests that they deem acceptable:
- peripheral blood smears and bone marrow aspiration, or
- bone marrow biopsy, but not peripheral blood smears alone
Getting positive results on one or more of these tests is one of the best ways to help your case and increase your chances of obtaining the benefits you need.
Proving Your Myelofibrosis Disability Is Just as Severe
Can’t match the criteria? Remember that there’s another way.
To prove that your myelofibrosis is just as severe as something in the Listings, you and your disability attorney will need to use the Five Step Sequential Evaluation Process. In going through the process, you will need to find a way to show to the SSA that your medical issue has kept you from being able to work for at least 12 months.
Doing this may not be as easy as it sounds, but it can be done – especially if you have a good disability lawyer who has successfully handled cases like this before.
To learn even more about developing the strongest myelofibrosis disability claim possible, download our free Social Security Disability eBook. For specific legal counsel about your case, do not hesitate to contact the SSDI attorneys at Marc Whitehead & Associates.
Call or text 800-562-9830 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form