Can young adults win social security disability cases?

Many people in their twenties and thirties wrongly believe that it's impossible to win a SSD or SSI claim. This is simply not true. If you have a work history, and if you have a disability that will prevent you from working for a year or more, you may be eligible for benefits, regardless of your age. While there is no doubt that it is more difficult to be awarded Social Security Disability, it is not impossible. Our firm often represents young adults applying for SSD or SSI Benefits.

Social Security uses a disability guidebook that contains a listing of impairments for all of the body systems and the criteria needed to meet the severity requirements of the various impairment listings. If a person meets or can equal an impairment listing’s criteria, they are found disabled whether they are an older or younger individual. It becomes more difficult if a younger person is not able to meet or equal the severity requirements of the impairment listing that deals with their disabling condition.

Do not be discouraged if your initial disability claim is denied or even if your reconsideration appeal is denied; your chances of being approved at a disability hearing are much greater.

For more information about social security disability visit our website at http://www.allanwbenpc.com/

Social Security Benefits website

The Benefit Eligibility Screening Tool (BEST) helps you find out if you could get benefits that Social Security administers. Based on your answers to questions, this tool will list benefits for which you might be eligible and tell you more information about how to qualify and apply.

http://www.benefits.gov/ssa/

Long-Term Disability: Surveillance

After every meeting I have with a client, whether it be a potential new client, or a client I have been representing for a while, I always remind them to be careful what they are doing because they likely will never know that a person is following them around town or watching them at home and keeping a detailed summary along with the conducting video surveillance.

Over the years, long term disability insurance companies have begun to rely more frequently on surveillance to help them defeat ERISA claims. The last few years has seen an increase in the aggressiveness of the insurance companies in general, so it should not be a surprise that they are engaging in these kinds of tactics more frequently.

The first question that I am asked by clients is whether or not the insurance company has the right to do this in the first place. That is a fair question. After all, it does not seem right that they can essentially spy on someone who was injured by something that their insured did! However, as unfair as that sounds, the law allows them to engage in limited surveillance.

A lot of people call and say, what am I supposed to do, sit home all day? I can’t live a life, I can’t do any activities because they will put me on video. Can I go to the gym, can I go grocery shopping? I have read court opinions that say, "the court has repeatedly asserted that the mere fact that a claimant has carried on certain daily activities does not detract in any way her credibility as to his/her overall disability. One does not need to be utterly incapacitated in order to be disabled." It is important for clients to understand that you can go about living your life and you do not have to be bed ridden, but it is also very important to be careful and not do to much.

I also tell client never to exaggerate their symptoms, it does not help you get a favorable result. If a doctor tells you not to lift anything over 10 pounds, than make sure you are not lifting heavy items. Sometimes it can hurt your case. It’s almost like your Miranda rights. What you say can and will be used against you. What you hold out to the insurance company, you better believe they can use it against you or they are going to use it against you.

After all, the truth is the truth. If you are following your physicians recommendations and staying within the limitations that they have prescribed for you, there should be nothing that the insurance company can record that would be of any real use to them.

If you have questions concerning your long-term disability claim contact an experienced long-term disability lawyer. We can answer your no matter what state you live in. Please visit our website at http://www.allanwbenpc.com

Social Security Disability- Mental Health disorder

Social Security will look at all your medical conditions when determining whether or not you are disabled. It is extremely important when you are applying for Social Security Disability benefits because you have a mental condition, that you be under the care of a therapist, psychiatrist or psychologist on a regular basis. To often Claimants will have a mental disorder and only see their primary care doctor. That is not sufficient to help you establish a mental condition. Just because your primary care physician gives you medication for a mental disorder, does not mean the SSA will find that you are disabled. You need to have some specific evidence of a mental disorder. It is also important that you have a good record of following the doctors advice and take your medication as you are supposed to. It is important to have a diagnosis whether that diagnosis is depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, or any other mental diagnosis. Often times many of these conditions have similar symptoms and even overlap and you may have multiple diagnosis over a period of time. You will want to look at all of the conditions listed to see if you may meet or equal one of these listings. If you think you do meet or equal one of the medical listings, you should take a copy to your doctor to get your doctor's opinion of whether or not you meet or equal one of the listed impairments. If your doctor feels you do you meet a listing, you should ask them for report explaining which listing and an explanation as to why you meet or equal the listed impairment. It is important to note that it is not enough to simply have a diagnosis of a mental condition in the medical listings of impairments. To be found disabled, due to meeting or equaling a listing, you have to have all the requirements the listing calls for. All is not lost if you do not meet or equal a listed impairment for your mental disorder. You can still be found disabled if the limitations from your psychiatric impairment would prevent any of your past relevant work and second any other work. So you may now want to know how do you show what your limitations are from your mental impairment. The two main ways to show your mental limitations that would prevent you from working are by a doctors report or by your doctor completing a Mental Residual Functional Capacity Questionnaire. Social Security will also probably send you to a mental health examination and they will have their own doctors assess what your mental limitations are. It is extremely important to have your own psychiatrist's opinion as to your limitations because if your treating doctors opinion is supported by the medical records and not inconsistent with those records it is supposed to be given more weight than the Social Security doctors opinions.
　
There are nine categories that the SSA uses to assess mental disorders and approve or deny benefits. If your ability to work is impeded by one of the following disorders, you may be eligible to apply for benefits:

1. Organic Mental Disorders: Characterized by mental and behavioral dysfunction, stemming from an organic factor, that is repetitive and/or a deteriorating condition. Specifically, these disorders cause changes or corrosion of normal cognitive function.

2. Schizophrenic, Paranoid, and Other Psychotic Disorders: Typically marked by psychotic episodes, including hallucinations, incoherence, or emotional withdrawal.

3. Affective Disorders: Conditions with marked mood disturbances. Mood disturbances could be manifested as depressive or manic episodes, or a combination of the two.

4.Mental Retardation: Stunted developmental or intellectual growth, characterized by the inability to care for themselves or otherwise function independently.

5.Anxiety-Related Disorders: Manifestations of anxieties, usually including issues like intense phobias, panic attacks, obsessions, and compulsions.

6. Somatoform Disorders: Disorders for which no physical cause can be found, but that persistently hinder the ability for the sufferer to lead a normal life. Symptoms may present themselves or may be perceived by the sufferer.

7. Personality Disorders: Marked by personality traits that resist adaptation. Traits can be mood disturbances, thought processes, or other traits like hostility, paranoia, or dependence. The disorder must not be limited to infrequent episodes, but a long-term impediment in the individual’s life.

8.Substance Addiction Disorders: Affectations or changes stemming from substance abuse or addiction.

9. Autistic Disorder or Other Developmental Disorders: Marked by impaired development, usually in the realms of communication, imagination, and social interaction.

Call your Michigan Social Security Disability attorneys today at 1-866-540-0677 to help you file for Social Security Disability benefits if you suffer from a physical or mental illness. If you are in Macomb County, Oakland County, Wayne County or anywhere else in Michigan and need help with your Social Security Disability case, contact our office at mailto:info@allanwbenpc.com . You can also visit our website at http://www.allanwbenpc.com/

Social Security Disability- Obesity

Obesity, a disease characterized by a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or higher, has become a massive issue across the United States. Excess body weight can make it nearly impossible for some sufferers to perform every day tasks like driving, bathing, or even walking. Obesity used to be on the Social Security Administration's (SSA) list of medical impairments, allowing sufferers to claim Social Security disability benefits if their obesity prevented them from holding down gainful employment. However, now that the listing has been removed, claimants can no longer point to obesity as their sole disability to receive benefits.

There are still two ways in which obese claimants can become eligible for Social Security disability benefits.

1. The obese claimant is suffering from additional ailments, perhaps caused by their obesity. Obesity can cause severe conditions, ranging from heart disease to diabetes, most of which are on the SSA's list of medical impairments. You or your disability attorney can submit a claim using the subsequent listed condition instead of obesity to make your claim. Be sure to note in your claim the ways in which the condition, combined with your obesity, has affected your ability to work.

2. The claimant can apply for a medical vocational allowance. A medical vocational allowance is for claimants who can prove that their disability prevents them from working, despite its absence from the SSA's list of medical impairments. Your physician, or a Social Security physician, must provide the court with a statement of residual functional capacity (RFC). RFC statements specify exactly what activities your condition prevents you from performing.

If an individual suffers from a condition that is a listed impairment and the effects of individual's obesity increase the severity of the other medical condition that an individual can be found to meet or equal a listed impairment due in part to the obesity. In other words, if a claimant has a medical condition on the listings of impairments that by itself does not meet or equal a listing, the fact that the individual is obese may complicate that medical conditions further to where it does meet the listing and therefore the individual can be found disabled at this step of their SSDI claim.

SSA will find that a listing is met if an impairment in combination with obesity meets the requirements of a listing. For example, obesity may increase the severity of coexisting or related impairments to the extent that the combination of impairments meets the requirements of a listing. This is especially true of musculoskeletal, respiratory, and cardiovascular impairments.

This may be true for mental disorders. For example, when evaluating impairments under mental disorder listing 12.05C, obesity that is "severe" satisfies the criteria in listing 12.05C for a physical impairment imposing an additional and significant work-related limitation of function.

Call your Michigan Social Security Disability attorneys today at 1-866-540-0677 to help you file for Social Security Disability benefits if you suffer from a physical or mental illness. If you are in Macomb County, Oakland County, Wayne County or anywhere else in Michigan and need help with your Social Security Disability case, contact our office at mailto:info@allanwbenpc.com

Social Security Disability- Heart Disease

Heart disease is a common medical condition and Social Security adjudicators and judges see cardiac cases frequently. You can make your case stand out by reporting to your doctor about symptoms and limitations that would make it difficult for you to work. Common "work activity" limitations for heart patients include shortness of breath, chest pain, lack of blood flow to the extremities (cold or "blue" hands and feet), depression, water retention, vascular complications, headaches, fainting spells, depression, anxiety and fatigue.

Heart disease, according to the Social Security Administration, has four consequential impairments that would make a claimant eligible for disability benefits:

a. Persistent heart failure or impairment of the left or right ventricle

b. Lack of blood flow to the heart (medically known as myocardial ischemia), resulting in pain, discomfort, or possibly necrosis

c. Inadequate blood flow to the brain, stemming from a cardiac impediment, that sometimes results in syncope or near syncope

d. Lack of oxygen in the blood, causing central cyanosis, stemming from arterial or vascular deterioration or obstruction

The causes of heart disease vary by type of heart disease. While cardiovascular disease can refer to many different types of heart or blood vessel problems, the term is often used to mean damage caused to your heart or blood vessels by atherosclerosis, a buildup of fatty plaques in your arteries, blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients from your heart to the rest of your body.

Healthy arteries are flexible and strong. Over time, however, too much pressure in your arteries can create excessive wear and make the walls thick and stiff, therefore restricting blood flow to your organs and tissues. This process is called arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.

Atherosclerosis is the most common form of this disorder. Atherosclerosis is also the most common cause of cardiovascular disease, and it is caused by a variety of factors, including an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, being overweight and smoking. All of these are major risk factors for developing atherosclerosis and, in turn, cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease may continue to be undiagnosed until the condition worsens to the point of a heart attack, chest pain (angina), stroke, heart failure, or sudden cardiac death. It's important to watch for cardiovascular symptoms and discuss any concerns with your doctor.

Some of these symptoms include the following:

a. Chest pain (angina)

b. Shortness of breath

c. Pain, numbness, weakness or coldness in your legs or arms, if the blood vessels in those parts of your body are narrowed

d. Cardiovascular disease can sometimes be found early with regular doctor visits.

If, in conjunction with your heart disease, you are suffering from other symptoms, side-effects, or ailments, you may be able to present these conditions in your case. Your case will be stronger if these other conditions also prove to be obstacles in attaining, and keeping, gainful employment.

As the main issue in a Social Security case has to do with job reliability, you should ask your doctor to comment about how your heart disease would impact your ability to perform specific job tasks and about how it would affect your reliability (i.e. unscheduled breaks or missed days from work). Do not forget that some medication side effects can create activity limitations. Activity limitations in general are often referred to by SSA as "exertional limitations." In addition, heart disease can result in significant chest pain (angina) as well as anxiety or depression. Pain or depression/anxiety are referred to as "non-exertional" limitations because they affect your state of mind, and ability to concentrate or focus.

Call your Michigan Social Security Disability attorneys today at 1-866-540-0677 to help you file for Social Security Disability benefits if you suffer from a physical or mental illness. If you are in Macomb County, Oakland County, Wayne County or anywhere else in Michigan and need help with your Social Security Disability case, contact our office at http://allanwbenpc.com/ or mailto:info@allanwbenpc.com

Social Security Disability- Appeal your denial

When you apply for Social Security Disability benefits, there is a good chance that your application will be denied. Frequently deserving cases will be denied because the Social Security claims agent does not have medical records or other documentation to fully evaluate your claim.

If you are denied, do not give up. You can and should appeal your denial by filing a request for reconsideration within 60 days after receiving your denial. If your reconsideration appeal is also denied, you can and should request a hearing before a Social Security judge. Here, too, you have 60 days to file an appeal.

When you request a Social Security hearing, your case will be assigned to an administrative law judge in your community. Unlike the Social Security claims agents, Social Security judges have much more decision making power to approve your case. In most cases, you are better off retaining a lawyer to represent you in a hearing before a judge.

You should mail your appeal to the appeal address shown on your denial notice, preferably by registered mail, return receipt requested.

If you have misplaced the address for appeal, call SSA at 800-772-1213 to ask for a mailing address. Otherwise, look up the address in the phone book. If you are nearing the 60 day deadline, hand deliver your appeal to your nearest Social Security office and make sure to get a receipt for your filing.

Even if you send your appeal to the Social Security Administration at the wrong address, your appeal date will most likely be protected as long as someone, somewhere at Social Security received it. Even a fax will suffice.

Similarly, if you cannot download the appeal form, prepare something in writing that references your name and Social Security number along with a statement that you want to appeal, and get it to SSA.

You should always file your appeal within 60 days. It usually takes 1 to 2 years for your Social Security Disability appeal to be heard. During that time your condition(s) could get worse or you could get a new condition that will strengthen your case.

Call your Michigan Social Security Disability attorneys today at 1-866-540-0677 to help you file for Social Security Disability benefits if you suffer from a physical or mental illness. If you are in Macomb County, Oakland County, Wayne County or anywhere else in Michigan and need help with your Social Security Disability case, goto our website at http://allanwbenpc.com or contact our office at mailto:info@allanwbenpc.com