Social Security Medical Listing of Impairments

The medical listing of impairments comes into play at the third step of Social Security's 5 step process for determining disability.  If your medical condition meets or equals a listing you will be found disabled.  If you do not meet or equal a listed impairment then you would move on to next step of the process.  To meet or equal a listed impairment it takes a doctor saying you do and explaining why it is your condition meets all the requirements for the listing, or at least why your condition equals the severity of the listing.  If there is a medical expert at your ssdi hearing, one of the first questions usually asked of the expert is if the claimant meets or equals a listed impairment.  You should read the medical listing of impairments as it applies to your medical condition and if you think you meet the listing you can take a copy to your doctor and ask them if they think you meet the listing.  If they think you do ask them to write you a report saying this and it should include why and be backed up with all evidence that supports this conclusion.  If you do not meet or equal a listing it is not the end of the world since you simply move on to next step in the process.  The majority of social security disability cases that win are not based on meeting or equaling a medical listing since these listings were made very hard to meet by design.