How to Choose the Right Social Security Disability Lawyer for You.

For some of you choosing a Social Security disability lawyer might simply come down to first website you find or commercial you see on TV. Some people are looking for a large disability firm, while others prefer the personal touch of a smaller firm. In terms of importance to give yourself the best chance to win your SSD or SSI claim one of the most important decisions you can make is, whether or not to get a lawyer to help you with your claim. If you have decided that you want a disability attorney for your SSDI claim, then you will have to determine who to hire. To make this decision, you should consider what is important to you. One thing you should know is that many of the biggest Social Security disability representative companies out there are not lawyers. So if you want to be represented by a lawyer you may first want to check if the company you are considering is actually a law firm or if they are a disability advocate company. Is it important to you to be able to speak to the lawyer or representative who will be handling your case during the long process? This is important to many people and yet it can be very difficult to find a Social Security Disability lawyer or law firm, in this field, where you can actually talk to your lawyer if you need to. This is one of the biggest complaints of claimants that are represented. Social Security Disability lawyers are extremely busy and have many clients; however you should have the right to speak your lawyer on important issues about your case. This does not mean that you should have access to speaking to your lawyer directly whenever you want, calling to often will actually prevent your lawyer from being able to spend the time your case and other cases need. If you have something important to speak your lawyer about and if you call and the person who answers cannot address your question to your satisfaction, you should be able to leave your name and number for your attorney and expect a callback. I get a lot of e-mails from my website and not getting callbacks appears to be a bigger problem with large firms and non-attorney companies then it is with small to medium-sized law firms. This is a very general statement and not true in all cases, because I have certainly received e-mails from people who do not receive callbacks from small law firms as well. The toughest question to answer for you is, how do you know if you will be able to have contact with your lawyer once you sign the paperwork to be represented? There is no easy answer, but you could try calling the lawyer or firm you are interested in and tell them you are considering hiring them, but that you would like to speak to the attorney that would be handling your case first. If you can't get a lawyer to call you back even before you sign-up this should give you some idea of your accessibility to the lawyer or representative if you were to hire them. If the lawyer does callback, you can simply ask them if he or she is the lawyer who will be the one handling your claim and if you can expect to see him or her if you have to go to a SSD or SSI hearing. It is not uncommon for the lawyer who is available at the time to call you back even if that is not the lawyer that is going to handle your case, but they should be able to tell you which lawyer is your main representative. There will always be people who just want to sign up with the biggest most well known non-attorney companies or law firms. There are also those who prefer to be treated as an individual and not as a number. You can learn a lot by reading the non-attorney companies or lawyers writings on the web. Is the website or pages very generic and bland with no real answers? Do the website or pages appear to be written by someone who knows what they are talking about, and appears to care about their readers by providing real helpful information? When you are reading website information about Social Security disability law is the author of that information easily known or do they appear to be hiding who they really are? Many websites that show up very high in search engine results have almost no useful information because they are written by companies that specialize in high rankings and have little or no actual knowledge of Social Security Disability law. Most law firm websites and non-attorney websites are written by third parties as I described. So if you are trying to get a feel for a particular lawyer or representative try to find something they have written which can sometimes give you some insight into the type of person they are. I hope this post helps you if you have decided to hire a lawyer for your Social Security disability claim by giving you some ideas as to how to find the right fit for you. If you want more information on how to find a lawyer for Social Security Disability visit my page on the topic.

Social Security Disability for medical conditions of the back for people under 50 years old.

One of the most common disabilities claimed on Social Security disability applications is for back conditions. Some back conditions are herniated discs, arthritis, lumbar fracture, degenerative disc disease and spinal stenosis. Many times, back conditions are just a part of your claim but on this page I will talk about disability for those whose primary disability is there back and the secondary symptoms from the condition and who are under 50 years of age. In SSD and SSI claims where the only disability is a back injury how old you are and the type of work used to do play a very significant role in determining your chances of success. If you are under 50 years old and you do not meet or equal a listed impairment, then you will have to be able to show that your limitations from your back condition would prevent you from even being able to do a significant number of sedentary jobs. This means jobs that require you to lift very little weight (10 lbs at most) and you are sitting most of the time. To give you an idea of the types of jobs Social Security will frequently say someone with the back condition can do: they often consider jobs such as surveillance system monitor, ticket taker at the movie theater, greeter and other jobs of this sort. Often times, even the inability to sit for long periods of time is not enough for Social Security to find you disabled. Believe it or not there are many jobs that allow the worker to sit and stand as they need to. Pain and the effect of prescription medicine such as narcotic pain medication and limitations they impose on one's ability to concentrate and memorize things is supposed to be considered by SSA when they determine if a younger individual with back problems is able to work. In practice, the decision makers at Social Security appear to disregard or minimize these limitations on one's ability to work. However, if you have these limitations it is very important that you say so, and that it is supported by the medical evidence. Back disability cases for younger individuals are difficult to win no matter how severe your back condition is. In these types of cases you should strongly consider hiring a lawyer to help you with this type of claim. I am not saying they cannot be won, but you will need a good theory as to why you are disabled which is supported by strong medical records and opinion evidence from your doctors. If you feel you meet or equal a listed impairment it is very important that you take a copy of the listing to your Dr. to see if they also feel you meet or equal a listed impairment. If they do, then you should ask them for a report explaining which listing (here you will find SSA medical listing for back conditions), why and what evidence supports that conclusion. Many people with back problems who have suffered with chronic pain frequently develop depression as a result. Unfortunately, many of these people don't take their doctors advice and seek the help of a psychiatrist to treat the depression. I often hear comments like "my Dr. told me I have depression and should be under the care of a psychiatrist, but I'm not crazy I'm just in a lot of pain." I know many of you reading this and saying that sounds like me. This is not a good approach to take for your own medical health or for your disability claim. If you truly have depression as a result of chronic pain you should seek treatment. I am not suggesting that everybody who has a back problem should run out and see a psychiatrist to help their disability claim. This is not only the wrong thing to do in general, but is probably not going to help your claim because a psychiatrist will probably not find you to be depressed or have any limitations from it. In these claims, it is also important if you use an assistive device for walking. I do not have enough room on this page to try and explain how to win your disability claim for a back condition when you are a younger individual, but the purpose of this post was to make you aware of the difficulties of this type of claim so that you get the help you need to give yourself the best chance to win. For more information on Social Security disability back claims visit my website which goes into more detail about how you can help yourself and this type of claim.

Is there any way to get a favorable decision at the hearing level without a hearing?

The short answer is yes. However, the one method I am about to explain is underutilized or not used at all by many lawyers and representatives and sometimes over used. It is called a requests for a fully favorable on the record decision also frequently called OTRs. This method of getting a favorable determination is not a good choice for all claims. When a lawyer decides to ask for a fully favorable on the record decision before a hearing they should only do so when they feel they have an extremely good case with the evidence they have. The lawyer then writes a brief detailing why his client is disabled under the rules and how a fully favorable decision is supported by the evidence in the file. As I said earlier, there are some lawyers and representatives who never do this. On the other end of the spectrum, there are lawyers and representatives who do this on every case or close to it. Briefs for OTR's are most successful when they are used sparingly for only cases they feel are strong enough that they can win by this method. The reason I say this is because if the lawyer is known by the employees at the hearing offices to only send requests for fully favorable on the record decisions when it is appropriate, then the lawyer's brief is more likely to be read quicker and given more credence since the lawyer will have a good track record with that office. Most people at the hearing stage probably feel their case is strong enough for an OTR. However, this decision should be left up to the lawyer who is very familiar with the types of claims that are likely to get a favorable result using this method. The hearing offices like to approve extremely good cases before a hearing because it decreases the average wait time for a hearing at that office because there is one less hearing to schedule. However, the hearing offices do not like to receive requests for OTR's if it is not an extremely good case because it can actually slow down the offices workflow by requiring their attorneys to do extra reading without any benefit to the hearing office. A successful OTR can decrease and individuals wait for decision in some cases from years to months. There is nothing wrong with asking your lawyer or representatives if your case is strong enough at the moment to request an OTR but you should respect your attorneys decision not to do this if he feels your case is not ready and not likely to result in a favorable decision without a hearing. Keep in mind, most cases at the hearing level should not request an OTR. In fact, most cases that win at the hearing level will still have to go through the hearing process. In many cases, your testimony at the Social Security hearing can play a big part in you being found disabled. So if your lawyer decides not to do an OTR in your case, do not look at it as if this means you have a bad case, it just means your case might need more development or your testimony at a hearing is crucial to the case. Lastly, I want to mention that even if a request for an on the record fully favorable decision is denied you will still have an opportunity to have a hearing and a decision will be made after that hearing.

Social Security announces it is adding new medical conditions to its Compassionate Allowance Process.

The Social Security Administration made a press release on February 11, 2010 there will be expanding its list of medical conditions eligible for its compassionate allowance process. I have spoken about this process before which is very helpful for those who have very serious medical conditions. This is part of Commissioner Astrue's plan to help reduce the backlog of Social Security disability cases and get quicker decisions for those who are obviously disabled. When you apply if you have one of the medical conditions on this list it will be identified by a computer and referred for special consideration under the compassionate allowance process. If it is found that you have one of the conditions on the list it resolves in a very quick favorable determination. Previously, this list consisted mostly of different types of cancers but now there are many conditions listed that are not cancers. Even if you do not have one of medical conditions on the list it is still good news for you because it takes many other claims quickly out of the process which will hopefully lead to quicker decisions on SSD or SSI claims that goes through the regular Social Security process. Below is a list of the new medical conditions added compassionate allowance program. For more information on compassionate allowances and the other medical conditions it covers you can visit the SSA website at www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances . You can also find the rest of the list on my web page on cancer and Social Security Disability.

Below is the added medical conditions to the list.

Alstrom Syndrome, Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia, Ataxia Spinocerebellar, Ataxia Telangiectasia, Batten Disease, Bilateral Retinoblastoma, Cri du Chat Syndrome, Degos Disease, Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, Edwards Syndrome, Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva, Fukuyama Congenital Muscular Dystrophy, Glutaric Acidemia Type II, Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) Familial Type, Hurler Syndrome Type IH, Hunter Syndrome Type II, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa Lethal Type, Late Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses, Leigh’s Disease, Maple Syrup Urine Disease, Merosin Deficient Congenital Muscular Dystrophy, Mixed Dementia, Mucosal Malignant Melanoma, Neonatal Adrenoleukodystrophy, Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses Infantile Type, Niemann-Pick Type C, Patau Syndrome, Primary Progressive Aphasia, Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy, Sanfilippo Syndrome, Subacute Sclerosis Panencephalitis, Tay Sachs Disease, Thanatophoric Dysplasia Type 1, Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy, Walker Warburg Syndrome, Wolman Disease, and Zellweger Syndrome.

For more information on the Social Security Disability process and how SSA is trying to improve processing times you can visit my linked page on the subject.

How to Win Your Social Security Disability Claim.

If you are reading this it is because you are applying for Social Security disability or you have been denied SSDI or SSI. If you are denied your disability claim then you might be saying to yourself what can I do to improve my chances of winning? Let me first say, there is no secret formula to win every Social Security disability claim but if you are disabled and unable to work there are certain things you can do to give yourself a better chance of winning. In this post, I will list some things that you can do to help improve your chances. The first thing you need to know is what you have to prove to win your particular SSD claim. If you are unable or you do not have the time to research the Social Security laws to know what it will take to win your claim then it is strongly recommended you get the help of a lawyer for your disability claim. You must also be very active in making sure all your medical records that are relevant to your claim are submitted to Social Security or your attorney if you have one. It is also a very good idea to have opinion evidence from your doctors explaining your medical condition, treatment, medications, medical tests, and how your medical conditions limit you and your ability to do work related activities. In other words, you need evidence that shows your doctor believes you are unable to work. It is not enough to simply have a statement from your Dr. stating that you are permanently and totally disabled. The type of opinion evidence you need must be detailed and explain exactly what your limitations are that prevent you from working. You must also have an understanding of the medical listings of impairments. If you meet or equal a listed impairment then you will be found disabled by Social Security without consideration to other things such as your age education and work experience. However, meeting a listed impairment is designed to be difficult for this reason. So if you think you meet or equal a listed impairment it is important that you show a copy of the medical listings to your Dr. and if your Dr. agrees that you meet or equal one of these listed impairments then you should get a report from that Dr. explaining which listing and why and it needs to be supported by the rest of the evidence in the file. Meeting a listed impairment is not the only way you can be found disabled and most people that are found disabled do not meet or equal listed impairment. However, you should always check to see if your medical conditions are listed and read the requirements it takes in order to meet these listings. If you do not meet or equal listed impairment this is where your doctors opinion of your limitations can still show that you are unable to work. Let's assume for a minute that you do not meet or equal a listed impairment. In this situation, SSA will look at your age, education, work experience and how your medical conditions limit you to determine first if you can't do your prior work, and if they determine you cannot, you must then have the evidence that shows them that you cannot do a significant amount of any other work. What exactly you will have to show and how you will do it depends a lot on your particular medical condition and limitations from it and how old you are, your education and any skills you have acquired from your previous work. Social Security disability claims can become extremely complex in some cases and almost always difficult in general. You may want to consider hiring a Social Security disability lawyer since they have the knowledge and ability to put your case together in a way that gives you the best chance to win your SSD claim. Even if you decide to hire a disability attorney it is still a good idea to learn as much as you can and stay as active as you can in your claim. For more helpful information on Social Security Disability visit my website which covers almost every aspect of an SSD or SSI claim. Another good resource for information but of course will not give you tips on how to win is the SSA website.

Social Security Releases More Information to Public

Commissioner Astrue announced it will be making new data about Social Security available to the general public. This is part of President Obama's transparency and open government initiative. It is available at www.data.gov . I took a quick look at the webpage and I can tell you it is far from user-friendly at this stage. In the press release they did stay they plan to make the database more user-friendly in the future. I hope this is the case and that they are able to make the information understandable for the average person applying for Social Security disability benefits. The information is supposed to include information about hearing workloads and types of decisions made by administrative law judges. It is also supposed to help give people an estimated timeline as to when they can expect to have a hearing held or when a decision will be made on their SSD or SSI claim. When I have time I plan to further review this new data program and its usability and as always will post my thoughts about how this new program could benefit those applying or receiving Social Security disability benefits. My first take on the database is that it is pretty overwhelming and confusing but I have to admit I did not spend much time with it. If you are looking for information on how to win your Social Security disability claim I do not expect them to help you with that so I suggest at least for the time being you continue to read my website, the Social Security website and other informative websites that try to explain the Social Security system in plain English.

PTSD and Disability

PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder is a common disability in both SSDI (SSD), SSI and VA compensation cases. I will discuss what the symptoms are and were you can find more information about the disability benefits you are trying to get. So what are the symptoms of PTSD? There are generally four categories of symptoms. The first of these is the reliving of the event. This can come in the form of nightmares, or flashbacks that occur while you are awake. For some there may be triggers that cause these flashbacks to occur. It is common in veterans to be triggered by sounds that resemble gunfire, or seeing or hearing about war or other traumatic event from the news or other sources. Another symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder is called avoidance. This is the act of avoiding situations which might cause memories of the traumatic event. Another symptom many with this condition experience is an overall feeling of numbness. This may cause the individual to no longer be interested in previous hobbies, have difficulty in relationships, or an inability to talk about or even remember the traumatic event. Those with PTSD also may be hyper-vigilant. This causes many veterans or non-veterans to be irritable or become angry quickly. It may also interfere with their ability to sleep and concentrate. Then they also tend to be always on guard and startled quite easily. It is also very common for those experiencing these symptoms to self medicate with drugs or alcohol. The symptoms can also cause violence, physical pain symptoms, difficulty keeping employment, troubled relationships and feelings of despair and hopelessness which can even lead to suicide. Post traumatic stress disorder is commonly thought of as a condition of veterans but those who never served can also be diagnosed and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. PTSD can be the basis or part of a Social Security Disability or VA compensation disability case. I have recently made a new page to address this medical condition as it relates to each of these disability programs. If you are looking for information on PTSD and VA compensation visit my page linked on the subject. If you have a claim for PTSD and Social Security Disability or SSI visit my page on that subject. Many veterans may have both of these claims. If you would like to speak to a lawyer who knows about PTSD claims for both VA compensation and Social Security Disability give me a call at 1-877-527-5529 and I would be happy to answer any questions you have.

How to Apply for Social Security Disability Benefits.

Applying for Social Security disability benefits is easy but winning at application is not. Many of you have heard that everyone loses when they first apply for SSD or SSI benefits. This is not true. However, it happens more frequently than it should because most people when they apply do so without getting a lawyer or doing any research into what they need to win their disability claim. If you simply apply, give SSA all the information they asked for, and hope you win then you are not doing all you can to win your case at this stage. Many of you may have tried to get a lawyer to help you with your application and then were told to wait till you are denied and call them back. I do not believe this is the right approach and certainly don't believe it gives you the best chance to win when you apply. If you are told this by a lawyer you may want to consider finding a Social Security Disability lawyer who is willing to help you right from the start. I say this for several reasons. First, the reason most lawyers do not take cases at application is simply a matter of a business decision on their part. If a lawyer takes your case at application and wins his fee, because it is based on past due benefits, will be less than if they win your case at a later stage in the process. I think it is best to make sure the case is done properly from the beginning to ensure you are giving yourself the best chance to win and do not do anything at application that could make your case more difficult to win later. If you take the time to learn what you need to know to win your case or you hire a lawyer you then can take steps or your lawyer can take steps to get all the information necessary to win at the application stage of the SSA process. This includes, making sure the decision makers at Social Security have all the information both medical and non-medical to find in your favor. Perhaps the most important evidence and what is frequently not in your file at this stage is opinion evidence from your doctor about how your medical condition limits you functionally. This opinion evidence can come in the form of a report from your doctors or by using what is commonly called RFC forms. RFC forms are specifically made for medical conditions and if filled out by your doctor will show the limitations that are important for Social Security to know in order to make a determination. There are two basic forms one for physical limitations and one for mental limitations. If you would like a copy of either one of these forms feel free to send me an e-mail and I were reply back with them attached. Do not expect SSA to requests these forms or a report from your doctors. SSA employees may send out requests for medical records and perhaps a watered-down version of these forms that do very little to help prove your disability. They will then rely on what their doctors have to say to determine if you are disabled or not. SSA is supposed to give your treating doctors more weight than the opinion of SSA doctors but in practice they do not always follow this rule. If they do not have opinion evidence from your doctor then they will certainly defer to what their doctors have to say your limitations are. You may also meet or equal a listed impairment which would direct a finding of disabled. However, a doctor must say you meet or equal a listed impairment, point out which one, and it must be supported by the other evidence in the file. If you feel you meet or equal a listed impairment you should take a copy of the listings to your doctor to get their opinion. Again, do not expect the employees at Social Security to do this for you. You must either do it yourself or get a lawyer to help you. To find the medical listings of impairments for your medical conditions you can find the listings on the link provided in this sentence. To find your particular medical condition you must first pick the adult or child listings on the left of the page and then find the category you think your medical condition would fit into and then look for your medical condition. This may take some time to find your condition because it may not be in the category were you would expect it to be. If you want to know what you need and how to apply for SSD or SSI benefits visit my page on the subject. If you want to win your Social Security disability claim at application get a lawyer to help you or research my website and the SSA website so that you know what you have to do to give yourself the best chance to win at this stage.

Social Security disability lawyers and non attorney representatives

When trying to find and choose a Social Security disability lawyer the information out there can be quite confusing. Social Security disability claims representation has gone through some big changes over the last couple of years. Many of you might not know that there are lawyers and non-lawyer representatives. Not too long ago, SSA has made it possible for non-attorney representatives to get paid directly from the Social Security Administration out of your past due benefits in the same way they do for lawyers. The purpose of this post is to make you aware of this fact so that if you want a lawyer to represent you you will not be mistakenly hiring a non-attorney company. If you watch TV you have probably seen many nationally televised commercials for Social Security advocates. There are several companies of non-attorney representatives doing this. Now there is nothing wrong with a company advertise its services on TV or the Internet. However, if you want to be represented by a lawyer and if you decide to call or send an e-mail to one of these companies you should make sure to ask them if they are a law firm. Many commercials and Internet ads very convincingly give the appearance that they are a law firm even though they are not. By law they cannot advertise that they are a law firm if they are not, so listen to or read the advertisements carefully. If you do not hear the words law firm, lawyer, or attorneys then chances are if you hire the company you will be represented by a non-attorney advocate. Now let me be clear that there are many fine non-attorney advocates out there. In fact, some non-lawyer representatives know and will be able to represent you better than many lawyers. So if you decide you want a lawyer then you certainly do not want to just choose just any lawyer or a lawyer that is handling another matter for you. You will want to make sure that the lawyer you are hiring has handled many Social Security disability claims. Some SSD lawyers have even gone a step further and become Social Security disability specialists. Not all states recognize law specialties but if someone has taken the time to go through the process you will at least know they would have had to have handled many SSDI and SSI claims, submitted copies of their briefs at all levels of the process for review, taken a test, and submitted information from judges and other lawyers in their field to get this recognition from the organization that has certified them. I went through and completed this process and can tell you it takes a lot of time, effort, and knowledge of the Social Security disability system. I became a Social Security Disability specialist through the National Board of Social Security Disability Advocacy, an ABA approved organization. To be fair I will point out that someone cannot just declare themselves to be a non-attorney representatives and start representing clients for pay. Non-lawyer advocates have to attend a certain amount hearings and take a test before they can be paid as non-attorney advocates. This is why I stated earlier that some advocates may represent you better than a lawyer who does not handle Social Security disability cases on a regular basis. The problem I see with hiring a big company with many advocates that are not lawyers is that you simply don't know what you are going to get. Do they have years of experience or are you their first real client? What you can take from this post is to do your homework and ask questions of the person or company who you are considering to represent you. I am writing this post because I have received countless e-mails recently from people who have signed up with some of these companies thinking they were hiring a Social Security disability law firm and later found out (sometimes not until the hearing) that the person representing them was not a lawyer. There is one more thing I have noticed from the e-mails I have received and the ads I have seen on the Internet. Many companies are claiming they win a certain percentage of their cases like 95%. Always read the fine print on these types of claims and if there isn't any then they are not telling you the whole story. Many of these companies drop cases that they do not feel they will win (and do not count these in there statistics) or only take cases that have a very good chance of winning. It is also worth noting that lawyers who are bound by the ethics laws of their states are not allowed to tell their winning percentages. What you can take away from all this is don't higher a representative based on the advertisement but rather on the qualifications of the person that will be representing you in your case. If you would like to ask me any questions about SSDI or SSI feel free to call me at 1-877-527-5529.

VA Benefits fo New York Veterans

As I mentioned in my previous post I am working on my veterans disability law site to include state specific VA benefits. Many veterans are familiar with VA pension and VA compensation but may not know that their own states have additional benefits available to veterans who are residents of that state. I have previously finished two pages on VA benefits in New Jersey and I have just completed two more pages on VA benefits in New York. The first page on NY state contains information about lawyers for their VA compensation and pension claims, information about applying for VA compensation benefits in NY, and appealing VA decisions. The second page which is linked to from the first page has information on NYS veteran benefits availble through The New York State Division of Veterans Affairs including nursing homes for veterans and other state programs for vets. After finishing those two pages I realized there was not enough room to add everything I wanted to so I will be adding a third page shortly that will cover the VA health system in NY. After that page is finished I will then start to work on more individual states and specific information on VA benefits for the states. As you can imagine, it will take me quite some time before I am able to make pages for every state but I will eventually get their as I did for individual states on social security disability. The new pages on New York provide a good deal of information for New York veterans about what is available to them along with phone numbers to contact for more information about particular programs. I hope that all vets in NY will find the information I provide to be helpful and hopefully you will find a program or two that you may be eligible to apply for. To see my new page file a link to NY VA benefits. The second page is linked to the first at the bottom of the page.

New Jersey VA compensation lawyer

I represent VA compensation cases all over the country and it recently occurred to me that I have never written that my office is located in New Jersey. Because I do not advertise myself as a New Jersey VA compensation lawyer I realized I had neglected to let NJ veterans know that I am a local VA disability compensation lawyer. I plan to write a page on my VA website about each state and VA compensation law. There are many benefits each state has for veterans who are residents of their particular state. I will start with my home state with a page on VA compensation in NJ. I plan to write this new page on veterans disability in New Jersey in the next few days. I will always handle VA compensation cases across the country as I also do with Social Security disability but I think I should start with my home state and let the veterans of New Jersey know of the benefits that are available to them in my own state first. I will then systematically add pages to my veterans disability website as time goes on to help veteran from all states know of additional benefits their states may offer to them in addition to VA compensation for the disabled veteran. I think all veterans will find my new pages informative and helpful which has always been my goal. After my NJ VA compensation page is finished I will link this post to it. I just added the link to my new page for information for any NJ veterans reading this. I will now start to work on the other individual states and announce them on this blog as they become available. My goal is to eventually have my VA disability website as expansive and informative as my Social Security disability website.

VA Individual Unemployability Claims, TDIU, IU

If a veteran can not perform gainful employment due to his or her service connected disabilities the the veteran can receive disability benefits at the rate of 100% even if the service connected disability or disabilities does not add up to 100%. A veteran can do this by applying for total disability based on individual unemployability. To be eligible for this type of claim a veteran in most cases would have to have one service connected disability rated at 60% or higher or if there is more than one disability then at least one disability must be rated at 40% and the additional disabilities must bring the total percentage to 70%. If a veteran does not meet these requirements they may still make a claim for IU based on extra schedular considerations. This means that even though they do not meet the rating criteria for IU if the veterans "picture is so exceptional or unusual as to reasonably raise the issue of extraschedular consideration."

The VA states that: "Total disability rating may be assigned, where the schedular rating is less than total, when the disabled person is, in the judgement of the rating agency, unable to secure or follow a substantial gainful occupation as a result of service connected disabilities." What this exactly means is less than clear. There are some things you can do to help yourself get IU. If you are found disabled by Social Security this can be helpful evidence if you were found disabled based on your service connected disabilities. However, the VA is not required to follow the SSA decision. You may also want to seek the assistance of a lawyer. Many times vocational expert evidence can help in showing you are not employable. For more information on VA individual unemployability visit my website on VA disability law.

I have recently started another Social Security disability website.

I write quite a bit on the Internet and recently started a new website on Social Security disability. It does not have nearly as much information as my ultimate disability guide website but I am in the early stages of developing it. I decided to start a new website because although my main informational website is full of great information and tips on getting your SSD and SSI disability benefits I wanted to try some new things without disrupting my current informational website which many people are already accustomed to using. Hopefully, one day it will be as comprehensive as the ultimate disability guide but more importantly by working on my website I am hoping to add additional helpful features to my other websites. I guess you could call it my experimental website. It will include good content on Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income and will hopefully, at the same time, be a learning tool for me to see how I can make my other websites better in the future. If you would like to see my new Social Security disability website feel free to have a look and any comments about the site are welcome. The information on that site is very general and will help explain the basics of the Social Security Disability System. If you are looking to do more detailed research then I recommend my Ultimate Disability Guide website. I will also continue to work on my website devoted to VA disability compensation. In the near future, I will be adding significant content to my veterans disability website and eventually it is my plan for it to be as comprehensive and informative as can be. There is already a significant amount of information on VA law in regards to VA compensation and pension. A list of my websites and other writings on the web can be found in the resource page on my Ultimate Disability Guide Website. So whether you are applying for SSDI, SSI or VA compensation you should be able to find a significant amount of information on all of the subjects on my various websites. I hope you find this information useful. As always I wish you luck with your claims and remember learning as much as you can about the type of disability benefits you are trying to get is extremely important in giving yourself the best chance to win.

What about Social Security?

The big debate today is about what to do about medical coverage in this country. This is an extremely important issue, but what concerns me is that politicians still seem to be avoiding the fact that the Social Security system is running out of money to pay benefits. For years politicians have known that the Social Security system, which most workers pay into and rely on for retirement or if they become disabled, is running out of money.
In these rough economic times more people are applying for Social Security disability benefits. However, there does not appear to be any effort being put into solving the problem of the dwindling Social Security funds used to pay these benefits and retirement benefits. Although some may argue that medical coverage is the important issue of our time and needs to be dealt with it is not the only issue. I agree that medical coverage for all Americans is important however, perhaps the bigger issue that appears to be ignored is the Social Security system. Most people who work pay Social Security taxes on every paycheck with the understanding that they will have money for retirement or if they unfortunately become disabled they will be able to collect this money to at least meet their basic needs.
If Social Security runs out of money and cannot pay these benefits just imagine the effect it would have on every single American. This is not a political article on the medical coverage debate. The purpose of this article is to make people aware that we must not forget the Social Security trust fund and the importance of it when other issues are grabbing the headlines.

Things you can do on the Social Security Administration website.

I answer many e-mails each day. In this post I am going to try and answer some of the more common questions I get about how to do certain things as it relates to a Social Security Disability claim. I will post the question and then give you a link to the page on the Social Security Administration website where you can get your answer or handle the task you are looking to do. One question that is frequently asked is how do I apply for Social Security disability benefits. You can apply online at http://www.ssa.gov/applyfordisability/ . Another question I get is how do I get a copy of my earnings statement that shows if you have enough work credits to qualify for disability. You can get this information at the following link http://www.ssa.gov/mystatement/ . Another question I get is, how can you check the status of your application. You can check the status of your application here https://secure.ssa.gov/apps6z/IAPS/applicationStatus . I am also frequently asked how do I find my local SSA office and phone number. You can get this information at this link https://secure.ssa.gov/apps6z/FOLO/fo001.jsp . Sometimes people ask me how do they get a new Social Security card and you can find this information at http://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ . If you think your Social Security number was stolen and is being used by somebody else you can find information on what you can do at this link http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10064.html . Many of you have questions about supplemental security income also known as SSI and the following link can answer many of your questions http://www.ssa.gov/pgm/links_ssi.htm . All of the above links are from the SSA website. You can find many other answers you are looking for at this website and the homepage is http://www.ssa.gov/ . What you will not find on the Social Security website is information and tips on how to win your SSDI or SSI claim. To find this information you can visit my website on Social Security Disability. On my website, you will find information on how to apply for SSD and SSI. I also provide valuable tips and information about disability and how to give yourself the best chance to win. You will also find pages on specific medical conditions and how they are handled by Social Security. If there is any questions you cannot find the answer to on my website you will also find a way to contact me to ask your specific questions. If you decide you want representation you will also find on my website a way to contact me to represent you or I can also help you find a local lawyer if you prefer. I hope you found the links on this page helpful and know if you visit my website you will find a lot of useful information for your disability claim.

SSA Will Open New Call Center

Commissioner Astrue has announced on June 22, 2009 that Social Security will be opening a new phone center in Jackson, Tennessee. It has been 10 years since Social Security has opened a new call center. These call centers handle all of the calls that come in on SSA's toll-free number. The toll-free number is 1-800-772-1213. Anyone who has ever called this number looking for Social Security disability information knows how long it can take to get a hold of somebody to answer their questions about Social Security disability or other Social Security related questions. SSA presently has 35 of these call centers around the country. Clearly, Commissioner Astrue is spending a great deal of time and money on improving services within the Social Security administration. The baby boomer population and economic downturn have probably caused an increase in the number of calls coming into these call centers, so the opening of this new call center should help deal with that increase. My only concern is that they do not open the call center before they have a sufficiently trained staff knowledgeable in Social Security law. I say this because no information, or or having to wait longer for information, is better than wrong information. As is the case with the opening of any new operation, I am sure there will be some bumps in the road but overall it should be a positive step in getting the information to those who need it about Social Security and its benefits. The press release does not mention when this new call center will open. To see the full press release go to http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/NewTSC-pr.html . And for more Social Security disability information visit my website.

Should you list obesity on your SSDI application?

I was at the airport today waiting for my delayed flight when I heard on the TV monitor above me a piece on one of the major news networks about whether or not obesity should be considered a disability. I listened to the segment and viewer comments that were posted by e-mail. This led me to decide to write a blog on this subject and how it applies to Social Security disability. Obesity is no longer on the medical listing of impairments for Social Security disability. Years ago, if you were a certain height and weight you could meet a listing and be granted disability on this basis. This is no longer the case. This does not mean that obesity is not considered in a Social Security disability claim. Social Security is supposed to look at the effect obesity would have on your other medical conditions. In other words, if you have a back impairment and you are obese Social Security is supposed to consider the impact your obesity has on your back condition and the limitations on your functional abilities it causes. So as you can see, even though obesity no longer has a listing it can still have an impact on your disability claim. So if you are obese and applying for Social Security disability benefits you should still list this as one of your disabling impairments. Many people who suffer from severe obesity go through great measures including surgery to try and reduce their weight. Many of these procedures for obesity have serious side effects and many times can impact the entire body and make you more disabled even if you lose weight as a result of the surgery. I have had many cases of people who have had surgical procedures to reduce their obesity and as a result of these procedures and the side effects had then become disabled. The purpose of this post is to not argue one way or the other whether obesity should be considered a disability in and of itself. I am writing this to inform those who suffer from obesity that it can have an impact on their disability claim. Anyone who suffers from obesity does not need me to tell them that there will always be those who feel obesity is the fault of the individual and should not be considered in determining disability. However, Social Security's rules clearly state obesity should be considered when determining if someone is disabled.

SSA Commissioner Receives Award.

Commissioner Astrue received the public health leadership reward from the National Organization of Rare Disorders. The commissioner's implementation of the compassionate allowance in social security disability claims and, other initiatives to shorten the amount of time people with disabilities have to wait to get a decision, appears to be one of the reasons he was given this award. The compassionate allowance allows people with certain medical conditions to be granted disability much quicker. If a person has a medical diagnosis on a list of about 50 conditions than they are automatically granted disability. I have written on the subject before. Commissioner Astrue in a short time as the head of the Social Security Administration has continually pushed for programs and technologies to speed up the process. I would like to congratulate the Commissioner, because since he was put in charge there has clearly been a focus on decreasing the backlog of disability claims. This is an uphill battle for sure, because of the increasing claims due to the economy and baby boomer generation. However, without his leadership the backlogs may have become even longer and it appears they have atleast stabilized. I hope the commissioner continues to explore new ways to decrease the time it takes to get a decision for those applying for Social Security disability benefits. If his record is any indication, then we can look forward to continued improvement in the Social Security disability process. The National Organization of Rare Disorders also played a key part in the development of the compassionate allowance initiative. Click here for the SSA official press release. For more up to date Social Security Disability information visit my Ultimate Disability Guide website.

Social Security Disability Hearing: How to Prepare to Win.

If you are not represented by a lawyer and your hearing is scheduled it is a good idea to make sure you get a copy of your file from Social Security and review it. Most files today are on a disk. When your hearing is scheduled you are supposed to receive a copy of your file with this hearing notice. If you did not receive a copy of your file you should contact the hearing office (ODAR) and request it. When you put the disc in your computer there is instructions on how to view your file. You will want to look at the exhibit list index. The most important section of the disc is known as the F section. This is where all your medical evidence is kept. You should review this section and make sure that all of your medical records have been received by Social Security. If you find there is evidence not in the file you should do all you can to get the evidence submitted to Social Security before your hearing. This will also be your first opportunity to see what the Social Security doctors and employees have said about your condition and your limitations from those conditions. You will also want to make sure there is opinions from your own doctors of your limitations from your medical conditions. Before your hearing you should take notes of what each F exhibit contains. Each medical document is given an exhibit number such as 1F, 2F and so on. If you have notes on what each of these exhibits contain you can refer to them by the exhibit number so the ALJ will know exactly what exhibit you are referring to. You may want to point out at the end of the hearing which exhibits are particularly helpful in showing you are disabled. This does take some skill, and knowledge of how Social Security determines if you are disabled. If you have read my Social Security disability website and the SSA website and studied them as it pertains to your particular case and feel you are knowledgeable enough to be able to make your arguments at the hearing, then you may be able to do this yourself. However, you have waited a long time for this hearing and you do not want to waste this opportunity to win your case. So, if you have any doubt about your ability to handle your own case at the hearing level it would be a good idea to get a lawyer at this point to do this for you. Even if you are comfortable with your ability, knowledge of your case, and the law chances are an experienced Social Security disability lawyer who has handled many disability hearings will be able to do a better job of presenting your case at a hearing. If there is a medical expert or vocational expert at your hearing this will make the hearing even more complicated. Knowing your file inside and out will be needed to have the ability to cross examine the vocational expert and medical expert if needed. Medical experts will give a summary of your medical history. They will also give their opinion as to whether or not you meet or equal any of the listed impairments. They may also be asked to give their opinion of your limitations from your medical conditions in their particular specialty. The vocational experts job at the hearing, is to give a summary of your work history and classify those jobs as to what exertional level they were performed at and the skills required to do those jobs. They will also give an opinion as to whether or not any of the skills are transferable to other types of work. The judge will also ask hypothetical questions based on the medical evidence in the file and what your file shows your limitations are. The vocational expert will then give an opinion as to whether you can perform your prior work based on that hypothetical. The vocational expert may also be asked to give an opinion if there is any other work that could be performed based on the limitations in the hypothetical. If the VE finds there is other work based on the hypothetical he or she will then give an estimation of the number of jobs available in both the local and national economy. The key to a hearing with experts is to know what questions to ask and sometimes when not to ask questions. Hearings with experts are best handled by lawyers with extensive experience in dealing with them. A Social Security disability lawyer will know how to use the evidence in the file to cross examine these experts if their testimony is unfavorable to you. This is one area where I find it particularly difficult to try and explain to a claimant without a lawyer how to handle this type of hearing. No matter what I tell you it cannot make up for three years of law school and many years of dealing with these types of cases. So if you know experts are going to be at your hearing it would be a good idea to consider a lawyer at this point. I try to provide as much information as possible on my websites and blogs, but sometimes you can make up for experience in handling certain situations that arise in a SSDI or SSI claim. Your hearing notice will say what if any experts will be at your hearing.

Are Social Security Disability Hearing Backlogs Being Reduced?

As of March 2009 Social Security has had a drop in the number of disability hearings pending for three straight months. However, the number of applicants requesting a hearing has increased this year. The probable culprit is the lagging economy and baby boomer generation. This year the number of hearing requests is up 10% compared to last year. More bad news, there is also an increase in cases at the lower levels compared to last year by about the same 10%. The majority of these cases at the lower level will begin to reach the hearing stage soon. This will cause increased pressure and backlog at the Social Security hearing offices. Now back to some good news. There is 90 more administrative law judges then there was last year. It has also been reported that the ALJ's have increased their production of hearing decisions. There has also been an increase in hearing decisions decided by attorney advisers before they are assigned to a judge. Unfortunately, I have more bad news to report. Although SSA statistics are showing that more hearings are being held, there appears to be a slowdown between the time of the hearing until the claimant gets the decision. One cause of this problem appears to be that there is a decrease in the number of decision writers compared to last year. The result of all this when factored together appears to be keeping the processing times about the same as they were a year ago at the hearing stage. From the time you request a hearing until you get a decision it still averages around 500 days. So although SSA should be commended on its efforts to reduce the backlog it appears the increase in cases is thwarting its efforts to do so. At least, the backlog does not appear to be getting any worse. This is of little comfort to those who have to wait for a hearing. This information was obtained from the NOSSCR Forum dated April 2009 and from SSA's official statistics.