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Recent Blog Posts
Will Social Security Ignore My Inability to Walk?
Social Security's job when it comes to reviewing your claim for disability benefits is to assess the physical limitations on your ability to work. The most direct source of information regarding these limitations is obviously your own testimony. Yet Social Security has a long history of simply refusing to credit applicant testimony without justification. This can force applicants to go through a multi-level appeals process just to get a fair hearing.
Federal Court Finds Social Security Misstated Disability Applicant's Medical Record
Consider one Social Security case from here in Illinois that began more than five years ago. The plaintiff, a former laborer now in his 60s, was forced to stop working in 2008 due to a number of ailments, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and coronary artery disease. Indeed, the applicant's medical history for these conditions goes back nearly 14 years.
What Physical Limitations Does Social Security Have to Consider in a Disability Case?
When considering your application for disability benefits, Social Security officials must assess your functional physical limitations in the workplace. Among other things, this means determining your ability to sit, stand, walk, lift, carry, push, and pull over the course of a typical 8-hour workday. This forms part of a larger residual functional capacity (RFC) analysis that determines if you are no longer able to work in any meaningful capacity.
Social Security Failed to Explain “One Hour” Findings
Social Security administrative law judges (ALJs) are tasked with reviewing your medical records and other evidence to ascertain your physical limitations. The ALJ is not a doctor, however, and must “build a logical bridge” between the evidence presented and his or her ultimate conclusions. In other words, the ALJ is not permitted to guess or speculate as to your limitations without citing some support in the record.
Can Social Security Deny Disability Benefits Even If the VA Says I'm Disabled?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can affect anyone who has experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. Not surprisingly, PTSD is sadly common among veterans of the U.S. armed forces, especially those who have participated in combat operations. In many cases a veteran suffering from PTSD is unable to return to work, even in the civilian world, and may qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.
Social Security Rules Ex-Marine Can Still Work PTSD “Triggers”
It is important to note, however, that just because a veteran qualifies for military disability benefits, that does not mean Social Security will automatically approve a subsequent application. Social Security has its own rules for assessing a disability. And when it comes to PTSD, the agency may conclude—contrary to the opinion of the Department of Veterans Affairs—that a person is still capable of holding down a full-time job, even if his or her symptoms render them unfit for certain kinds of work.
Social Security's Failure to Address the “Combined Effects” of an Applicant's Disability
Social Security often denies disability benefits claims because it fails to properly assess the “combined effects” of an individual's mental and physical impairments. In other words, while a specific impairment—say back pain or diabetes—may not by itself prevent you from working, taking into account how all of your impairments affect your daily life means you can still qualify for disability.
Social Security Ignores Evidence of Applicant's Back Pain, Other Ailments
Of course, Social Security officials often try to do just the reverse: isolate and attempt to minimize the effects of a single impairment without looking at the larger picture. This is not how the law works. But unfortunately, it often takes a federal judge to remind Social Security of this.
Social Security Announces 2 Percent Increase in Disability Benefits for 2018
Social Security disability benefits do not give recipients much to live on. In 2017, the average disability recipient gets just $1,173 per month. That is less than $300 per week to cover all of the recipient's living and personal expenses.
Keep in mind, this is just the average. The actual amount of disability benefits that you receive is based on your personal average lifetime earnings—in other words, how much you paid into the disability insurance system. (The maximum possible monthly benefit in 2017 is $2,687.) You are not entitled to higher benefits based on the severity of your disability or how much other members of your household may earn.
Cost of Living Adjustments
Your disability benefits are also not fixed in stone. Social Security makes automatic annual adjustments to the monthly benefits paid to disability recipients. These adjustments are tied to increases in the “cost of living” and are commonly known as COLA. In theory, COLA is supposed to measure inflation in consumer prices. The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics maintains the official COLA figures.
Will Social Security Reject My Depression as Grounds for Receiving Disability Benefits?
Although depression is dismissed by many people as “just feeling sad” or “having a bad day,” in reality it is a serious mental disorder that affects millions of Americans. In fact, depressive disorders are among the most common sources of Social Security Disability Insurance claims.
Psychiatrist's “One-Time Evaluation” of Disability Applicant Still Valid
Getting Social Security to actually recognize an applicant's depression as a disability, of course, is not always simple. Even with a diagnosis from your treating physician, a Social Security administrative law judge (ALJ) may attempt to minimize or outright dismiss your depression as a serious disorder. In many cases, the ALJ will even try to bypass your doctor's treatment opinions by citing third-party “experts” who review your medical records but never personally examine you.
More than 1 Million People Waiting for Social Security Disability Hearings
People frequently joke about how slow the government can be when it comes to performing basic tasks. But there is nothing funny when you have applied for Social Security Disability Insurance and are waiting for a hearing.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is struggling with an ever-growing backlog of disability claims, leaving many people striving to make ends meet. And in far too many cases, disability applicants pass away before their case is even heard by the SSA.
Chicago Residents Wait an Average of 16 Months for Social Security Hearings
How bad is the Social Security backlog? According to the Associated Press, the SSA's own figures for 2017 show approximately 1,067,000 people currently waiting for disability hearings. This represents an increase of 31 percent from just five years ago.
Retired Federal Judge Calls Disability Ruling a “Miscarriage of Justice"
It is common knowledge that disability claims involving fibromyalgia—a chronic pain condition that often prevents an individual from working—are frequently dismissed by the Social Security Administration without proper justification. It is simply easier to say the applicant is “faking” or exaggerating their pain symptoms. But many judges have criticized Social Security for its lackadaisical (and legally incorrect) approach.
Court Ignored Staff Memo Favoring Reversal of Social Security
In fact, one of the nation's most prominent judges recently used the occasion of his retirement to criticize his former colleagues for recently affirming Social Security's denial of a fibromyalgia-based disability claim.
Richard Posner served on the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals from 1981 until September 2 of this year, when he abruptly announced his resignation. Within days, Posner published a book detailing his of disagreements with the other Seventh Circuit judges over the management of the court.
Can My Doctor's “Treatment Notes” Undermine My Disability Case?
When it comes to seeking Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, the medical opinions of your regular doctor can be a critical piece of evidence in your favor. Although Social Security recently amended its regulations to state that a treating physician's views will no longer be given special weight, the agency must still credit a medical opinion supported by substantial, consistent medical evidence. Furthermore, Social Security must look at your entire medical record and not just pick out certain items that may serve to discredit your disability claim.
Magistrate: Ability to Walk “Short Distances” Does Not Disprove Disability
One trick that Social Security administrative law judges (ALJs) sometimes use is selectively citing a physician's clinical or treatment notes as evidence of a conflict with the doctor's overall medical opinion. Earlier this year we discussed just such a case where the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago held that Social Security erroneously concluded a treating physician's opinions were “not supported by his treatment notes.” Specifically, the appeals court noted that it was impossible for doctors to perfectly replicate working conditions during a clinical examination—thus, Social Security should not use a seemingly contrary test result as proof the applicant is not disabled.
How Does My “Date Last Insured” Affect My Right to Disability Benefits?
Contrary to what many people may think, Social Security Disability Insurance is not a welfare program for people “too lazy to work.” It is, as the name implies, a form of insurance. All workers pay into Social Security through FICA taxes, which are withheld from your paycheck. These taxes serve as the “premiums” for disability insurance.
Because of this, there are many people who are disabled but not eligible for SSDI benefits because too much time has elapsed between the end of their last job and the medical onset of their disability. One of the first things Social Security does when assessing an application of disability benefits is to look at the applicant's “date last insured” (DLI).
In most situations, the DLI is five years from the date the applicant stopped working. So, let us say you last worked on September 1, 2012. That would make your DLI September 1, 2017. If you later applied for disability benefits, you would therefore need to prove that your disability existed on or before September 1, 2017.
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