Posted on October 11,2011 in Social Security Disability

"Can I receive disability benefits for being obese and what BMI do I need to get it?"

Over a decade ago, 1999 to be exact, the Social Security Administration ("SSA") decided to get rid of Listing 9.09: Obesity. The Administration stated that the listing did not do a good job of demonstrating work limitations. My guess is that there was also an abuse in the system, which SSA tried to remedy. Instead of modifying the rule however, they decided to completely delete it.

Despite getting rid of Listing 9.09, obesity must be considered under SSR 02-1p: Policy Interpretation Ruling Titles II and XVI: Evaluation of Obesity. Most notably, obesity can determine whether: an individual has a medically determinable impairment, severe impairment, if the individual's impairment meets or equals a listing, or prevents him or her from doing past relevant work and other work that exists in significant numbers in the national economy.

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 Posted on October 03,2011 in Social Security Disability

For September's "Best Social Security Disability Blogs" of the month, we listed our top 5 blogs by disability lawyers nationwide:

Social Security Ruling: Documenting and Evaluating Disability in Young Adults -Colorado lawyer Tomasz Stasiuk on his Social Security Disability Blog

Your Functional Limitations are the Nuts and Bolts of Your Social Security Disability Claim -Maine lawyer Gordon Gates on Social Security Disability Lawyer Blog

Social Security Disability Benefits and Your Education -Indiana lawyer Scott Lewis on Indiana Social Security Disability Lawyer Blog

A Rare Disabling Condition: Hypogammaglobulinemia -Illinois disability lawyer Aaron Rifkind on Illinois Social Security Disability Blog

What to Expect Once You've Been Approved for Disability Benefits -Disability Group on their Social Security Blog

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 Posted on September 27,2011 in Social Security Disability

There are a number of reasons why a claimant should hire a Social Security disability attorney to help with a disability benefits claim. The more common reasons include but are not limited to: no up front fees, free consultations, gathering medical records, dealing with Social Security, and arguing in front of an Administrative Law Judge. One of the rarely talked about, yet very important reasons for hiring a disability lawyer is their ability to "re-open" prior claims.

What does it mean to re-open a prior claim?

The Social Security Administration (SSA) routinely denies disability claims. In fact, at the initial application level it can seem as though SSA is only approving claimants that are on the verge of death. Since so many people are denied, many claimants are second, third, or fourth time applicants. If your claim was denied at the Disability Determination Services (DDS) level (where the initial determination is made) and was not appealed, a disability lawyer may be able to "re-open" your prior denial without having to start from square one. The advantages of this specific method are plentiful. Re-opening a prior claim can result in more benefits, speeding up the process, and less documents back and forth.

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 Posted on September 21,2011 in Already Applied for Disability Benefits

The Social Security Administration is well-known for their extensive backlog of cases and lengthy processing times for disability claims. On July 29, 2011, the Administration published all of their 153 (plus three satellite) Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) hearing processing times. This includes the average number of days until the final disposition of the original hearing request. Illinois has some of the longest processing times in the country. Meaning, if your Social Security disability benefits claim is denied twice and you file a Request for Hearing by Administrative Law Judge you will have a very long wait before you can have your day in court.

Below is a review of the Illinois ODAR processing times:

Chicago-402 days

Evanston-324 days

Oakbrook-440 days

Orland Park-357 days

If you are currently waiting for a hearing date in front of an Administrative Law Judge and you feel like it is taking a very long time, the above data should give you an idea of what you can expect.

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 Posted on September 17,2011 in Social Security Disability

Hire a Nevada or Illinois disability lawyer as soon as you even think about applying for Social Security disability benefits.

Here is why:

-A disability lawyer can significantly increases your chances of winning your case.

-A Social Security disability lawyer does not get paid ANYHING unless you win. This means he or she has a personal stake in your case. This also means that you can hire the very best to help you and it will cost you NOTHING upfront.

-The process is filled with red-tape, making it difficult for people suffering from even the worst conditions to get approved. Many claimants suffering from AIDS and Cancer for example are denied 3, 4, 5 ...even 6 times!

-Even if you are successful and your case is approve, that does not mean Social Security will give you all of the money you are owed. A disability attorney will work diligently to try and help you get all of your back benefits from the onset of your disability.

Disability attorneys have very different policies regarding when they will take on a case. Some attorneys accept claims at any level while others will only help an individual after the claim has been denied. Make sure to ask a lawyer upfront when they can help you. We strongly encourage claimants to hire a disability lawyer as soon as they even think of applying for disability benefits.

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 Posted on September 06,2011 in Social Security Disability

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) publishes a manual entitled, "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM) to standardize how to classify mental disorders. The latest version of the DSM was published in 2000 and a new version is expected to come out in May 2013. Within the DSM, the APA provided a numeric scale with a range of 0-100 (0 being the most extreme case and 100 someone with superior functioning) to be used by the mental health community when evaluating patients, known as the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). Less known, is the Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS)

The CGAS is an adaptation designed primarily for clinicians who work with children ages 4-16. The scale can be found in the Archives of General Psychiatry publication by David Shaffer in 1983. The CGAS has been used to indicate the need for clinical services and impact of treatment. And, by disability lawyers to argue Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits claims for children. A child's CGAS score in and of itself will not win a claim for benefits. However, it is evidence that can be used together with treatment notes in court to prove your claim. Most children applying for SSI disability benefits have scores below 61 and for this reason, a brief summary of the CGAS from 1-60 is provided below:

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 Posted on September 01,2011 in Social Security Disability

For August's "Best Social Security Disability Blogs" of the month, we listed our top 5 blogs by disability lawyers nationwide:

Media Scare About Future of Disability Programs -Wisconsin lawyer Donald Chewning on his Wisconsin Disability Blog

Administrative Law Judge Disability Decisionmaking -Maine lawyer Gordon Gates on Social Security Disability Lawyer Blog

Affective Disorders and Indiana Social Security Disability Benefits -Indiana lawyer Scott Lewis on Indiana Social Security Disability Lawyer Blog

Res Judicata and Social Security Disability Benefits -Illinois disability lawyer Aaron Rifkind on Illinois Social Security Disability Blog

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 Posted on August 30,2011 in Already Applied for Disability Benefits

Have you applied for Social Security disability benefits?

If you answered yes, chances are that you will travel to a nearby Social Security Administration ("SSA") District Office ("DO") sometime during the process. Most claimants stop by their local DO to drop off SSA forms, medical records, or ask disability related questions. If you are planning on making a trip for any of those reasons, here are a few tips:

1) The first week of every month is usually the busiest time for your local DO. If you can help it, make your journey out there later on in the month.

2) Mondays and Tuesdays always seem to be very busy, whereas Fridays can be quite slow.

3) Most of my clients tend to make trips out to their DO during lunch hours, however, DO employees also have to take a lunch as well. Lines can end up being longest during these hours.

4) After you take your ticket, do not leave the building. Claimants often leave when their number is called and are passed up in the calling order.

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 Posted on August 22,2011 in Social Security Disability

I went to court last week for one of my clients who passed away during the Social Security disability benefits process. Unfortunately, the process can take several years to go through and it is not uncommon for this to happen. To make sure that her case continued, our firm had my client's son complete a substitute party form and appear in court on her behalf. The judge reviewed our Pre-Hearing Memorandum and issued a fully-favorable decision on the spot. In other words, we won the case. However, the judge noted that there was another company that was originally on the record for this case and he did not see any letter from the deceased telling that company to withdraw from her case. I assured the judge that she had sent a copy of the letter to the Social Security Administration District Office before she had passed away.

Today, my office received a phone call from the Social Security Administration regarding this matter. The person who called from Social Security stated, "We received the letter asking the other company to withdraw last year, but wanted to know if she could write another updated letter and send it to us?" Let me get this straight, Social Security wants my client, who by the way passed away, to now write an updated letter to them. I can only presume that somebody working for the government overlooked a pretty important piece of information. But, what if they were serious? How would the letter go? Below is my take on what Social Security was looking for...

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 Posted on August 21,2011 in Social Security Disability

I often find myself preaching to clients and the public about the importance of keeping copies of all correspondence with the Social Security Administration (SSA). I do this because I know from personal experience that documents are misplaced or lost by the government everyday. Keeping copies of everything can insure that mistakes are corrected, at least so I thought. What happens when SSA accidentally finds that you are dead? On August 17th, 2011, writer for CNN.com, Blake Ellis, published an article entitled, "Social Security Wrongly Declares 14,000 People Dead Each Year." The article discusses situations where the government erroneously declares people dead and then stops all financial payments to that individual.

The article told the story of Laura Brooks, who was wrongly pronounced dead by SSA. Because of governmental error, her disability checks stopped and her bank account was closed until she could "prove that she was alive." It took two months for her to rectify the situation and "come back to life." Could you imagine the financial hardship that she must have gone through during those two months! Click here, if you would like to read the CNN.com article.

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