Social Security Disability helps and assists you financially. If you are suffering from a disease that made you disable, you can apply for SSI. Social Security Disability has some strict rules and regulations. Not all patients can get SSI. They get SSI only when they fall within the Social Security Disability criteria. Annually, millions of people apply for SSI. You will be surprised that around 70 percent of the claims are denied every year by the SSA. Social Security program has its own policy and rules. It evaluates every application before accepting or rejecting it.
Top reasons for disability claim denial:
Every year the number of people applied for the SSI is in millions. The majority of claim applications are rejected because of various reasons. The top reasons behind the rejection of the claim are discussed here.
Income:
If you are applying for the SSI benefits, your income must not cross a specific limit. The SSI income limit is a standard that applies for everyone. Your monthly income should not pass that defined amount. They will automatically reject your SSI claim at the initial stage. They will not look at your medical condition or the seriousness of the disease. The SSA will deny your claim just on income alone.
No proper medical evidence:
To prove that you are suffering from severe diseases that made you disabled, the SSA needs proof. In most cases, the reason for the claim rejection is the lack of proper and authentic medical evidence.
Not following the treatment:
If a patient is not following the proper treatment, then their claim will be rejected. The SSA has no way to understand if whether the complications of your disease are making you disabled or if not following the treatment is causing your health issues. If there is a valid reason behind not following the prescribed treatment, you can present it in the process of appeals after the denial of the claim.
Appeal the claim denial:
If your SSI claim has been denied, don’t worry. You have the right to appeal against the decision. In most cases, when a person’s claim denied, he loses hope. And he gives up. While on the other hand, few people re-apply for the claim. In reality, both of these strategies are wrong. You don’t need to give up or don’t need to re-apply for the claim. Because if you are in desperate need of the SSI, you can get it after an appeal. Sometimes your application can be rejected wrongfully even you qualified for the SSI.
The method of re-applying is not beneficial as the second time it will take a longer time to get approval. And in most of the cases, it could be denied again. At the initial stage, only 30 percent of applications are accepted for SSI, while the other half of the claim applications are accepted through the appeal.
Process of appealing the Social Security Administration’s decision:
First, you need to submit an application to request the SSA to reconsider the decision. It is just a simple paper. In this reconsideration appeal, try to provide additional or different information that you think can strengthen your case. It is better and suggested to have an experienced lawyer to deal with this case. An experienced lawyer knows the technicalities and the procedure well, and they can help you to get SSI. With their expertise, they re-organize your medical history. For this, he takes assistance from the blue book. He provides all the authentic evidence to make your case strong.
The next step after submitting the reconsideration request is the disability hearing. In this hearing, you have to present in front of the administrative law judge. During the hearing, they will ask you to explain why you should get SSI. Besides the judge, a medical and vocational expert may also be present at the hearing. The medical expert will ask questions about your medical condition. They will explain to the judge about your disease. While on the other hand, the vocational expert will explain the judge after listening to your medical history what type of work you can still do to earn money.
Furthermore, you can also present the latest medical records. Your latest reports will be evidence of your health condition. It will also show the change and severity of your condition from the point of your initial submission of the first claim until now.
To strengthen your case, you can also bring witnesses to the hearing. You are allowed to bring them. Therefore, after consulting your lawyer, you can bring eye-witnesses who can explain your detreated health and your disability.
If the denial is upheld, the case is forwarded to the Appeals Council in the next stage. The Appeals Council has new judges to study your case. They will not take any new evidence. They will analyze and evaluate the procedure of the last hearing by the law judges. They will see whether they followed a proper law and procedure in making the decision or not. After analyzing and reviewing the findings, they have the right to reverse their decision. They can accept your claim and gives you SSI. And if they find any mistake in the hearing procedure, they send it back to the administrative law judge. The administrative judge reconsiders it and corrects the mistakes.
Legal assistance:
It is recommended to seek legal assistance if your application was rejected at an early stage. It is better to take legal assistance before appealing. With legal assistance, your chances of getting the SSI will be increased.
Most people are not interested in seeking legal assistance, as they consider that it costs them substantially. They are already facing a financial crisis, they find it hard to pay to legal assistance. But the best part is that legal assistance never costs you much. Social Security Disability lawyers provide their services on less money. Most of the lawyers receive around 25-percent of SSI.
It is important to get legal assistance at the right time because you have 60 days from the date of the declined claim.
Let us Review your Social Security Disability Case for Free
At this point we can determine if we can help you. The experienced team at The Disability Advantage Group can help you with your disability case. We understand the process, and how it can be lengthy at times, and even intimidating. That is why you need a social security disability attorney that will fight for you. If your claim has been denied, we may still be able to help you to get it approved.
Call our office at (865) 566-0800 to speak to one of our team members today.