Qualifying for Social Security Disability

Average SSD Payment

The average SSD payment in 2008 was $1,063 a month. Once you have received disability payments for two years, you automatically qualify for Medicare coverage.

Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, the District of Columbia and Alabama face the 10 worst Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) hearing-level processing backlogs.

Hearings are held when an SSDI decision is appealed, many people have already waited 12 or more months following their application, denial and, for many, reconsideration. By the time they reach the hearing, it's not unusual for applicants to have waited two to four years for an SSDI decision.

The 10 states with the lowest wait times are Delaware, Maine, Texas, Louisiana, West Virginia, Utah, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Connecticut and Hawaii.

The SSA reports the national average processing time for a hearing decision is now 442 days, down from 514 days in September 2008. The total hearings backlog has decreased by more than 71,000 cases since December 2008.

Last year, more than 2.8 million people filed SSDI applications, and the SSA projects 3.3 million will file disability claims in 2010. The SSA recently reported that the level of initial claims pending now exceeds 1 million people - nearly a 40 percent increase over the level from FY 2008.

High Rate Claim Denial in Texas

In Texas at the initial claim level (the application), SSD and SSI claimants have been denied at the rate of 61.5%.

For those who were denied and chose to file appeals, Texas claimants were again denied at an even higher rate: 84.2%.

More initial claims are denied than are approved and an astoundingly high percentage of first appeals are likewise denied.

Steps to protect your Social Security Disability, Veteran's or Pension Benefits:

Do NOT commingle Social Security and exempt benefits with nonexempt funds.

Do NOT obtain a loan or credit card from the bank where your Social Security or pension is deposited. If sued, go to court and demand proof of the debt.

If your bank account is frozen, file an exemption claim within 10 days.

IRS and SSD

The IRS can take money each month from a Social Security disability check.

The practice is part of the agency's Federal Payment Levy Program, which allows up to 15 percent of any federal payments a delinquent taxpayer receives to go directly to the IRS until their overdue taxes are paid in full.

The IRS employs an automated levy system that withholds Social Security payments to taxpayers with incomes below the poverty line. If this is happening to you ... call.

Ask for a person -- not a computer -- to provide a review. You may be classified by the agency as unable to pay.

IRS Taxpayer Advocate: 1-877-777-4778

If your reasonable expenses are more than your income you may be eligible to have an IRS levy from your bank account refunded. The IRS will have a telephone interview with you to determine your ability to pay. This includes and discussion of your assets and resources. They will then ask for your monthly expenses. Typically you will have to fax the IRS your last three months of bank statements.

While the IRS has ten days to decide on a refund they actually can and usually do act more quickly. You bank may require 72 hours to restore your funds. In reality the IRS may act more quickly than your bank.

There is a possibility that you will have a partial restoration of funds rather than a full restoration.

A restoration of funds for hardship and a classification of 'unable to pay' does not mean your debt is forgiven. You will continue to owe your debt. However, your funds for living expenses may be partially or fully restored.

There are specific listings for disabilities:

Medical Vocational Allowance

A Medical Vocational Allowance will allow you be be approved for Social Security Disability benefits if your condition is not found on prescribed list of impairments.

You past work or vocation will be examined including what it took to do that work.

Residual Functional Capacity Report (RFC) prepared by your treating physician and/or your mental health care professional will document your diminished abilities attributable to your medical condition and your ability to work in your field.

A Residual FUnctional Capacity Assesment will advise the Social Secuirty Administration of whether you are capable of sedentary work, light work, or medium work. (See Sample)

The RFC Assessemtn determines your work limits. Once your work limits are determined with the help of your treating physicians and mental health professionals the Social Security Administration representatives will determine whether you are capable of returning to work.

If you once did medium work and it is determined now you can only do light work the Social Security Administration will determine if you are able to participate in "other work". The Disability Examiner will determine whether you can switch to "other work."

"Other work" has to be within your physical limits, which means it you are capable of doing light work, then "other work" must be classified as "light work." Many times "other work" must be a specific job to which YOUR job skills will apply.

You may be turned down for social security benefits if the examiner finds that you are capable of doing "other work".

If you are in your fifties Social Security consideres the fact that a transfer of work skills is not as easy as it is for a younger person.

Simple Routine Repetitive Tasks are often limited by an individual's conditions such as depression or anxiety, or learning problems, the disability examiner will sometimes find that the individual is incapable of performing "simple routine repetitive tasks".

When an individual is found to be incapable of SRRT's, Disability Determination Services will have trouble sending that person to "other work".

Mental Impairments of depression, or anxiety, or any other "mental" impairment, in addition your physical problems, must be documented by a mental health professional including a psychiatrist.

Lee Ann Torrans
Attorney at Law
6532 LBJ Freeway
Dallas, Texas 75240

http://socialsecuritystrategy.com

ltorrans@gmail.com

214-500-5410 (cell)
214-231-2886 (E-fax)

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