Saturday, November 10, 2007

How to Win Social Security Disability Benefits

The most important question I am sure most of you want to know is how do you win an SSDI or SSI claim for disability benefits. In this post I give some very general tips on what you can do to help your claim succeed. There is no trick to win your claim. However, if you want to give your self the best chance to win you should make sure to do the following things. Read as much as you can about Social Security Disability. Most importantly you need to know how Social Security will determine if you are disabled. Ounce you understand SSA's five step process for determining disability you can start to figure out how it applies to your particular case. There are several key ingredients to a successful claim. First, and often times overlooked is that you must have a "good" case. This means you have a medical condition or several medical conditions that interfere with your ability to do things that would impact your ability to work. Second, you must have all relevant medical records submitted to SSA. Third, you need RFC forms or reports from your treating doctors that show how your medical conditions affect your ability to do things. Fourth, you should be under the care of the appropriate doctors and taking your medication as prescribed. Fifth, you should have a "theory" of your case. This means you know how the law applies to your case and can articulate why you are disabled under SSA rules. If you do not fully understand what you have to prove in your particular case or you think your case may be difficult to prove you should contact a lawyer. You should not rely on Social Security to make your case for you and don't assume they got all your medical records. Make use of a good Social Security Disability resource such as my website and the SSA website. There are many more tips on how to win your claim for Social Security Disability available on my website. Lastly, these claims can take a long time and can be extremely frustrating but never take it out on the employees at SSA it will not help your case and may actually hurt it. I wish you luck in your pursuit of SSDI and SSI benefits and if you have any questions feel free to contact me.