How The Social Security Administration Determines If You Are Disabled - U.S. Politics Today

June 26, 2011

The Social Security Administration uses a complicated process to determine if you are disabled. Here is some of the information they will consider when hearing your claim.

June 26, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- How The Social Security Administration Determines If You Are Disabled

When you apply for Social Security disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA), a complex, five-step process is used to determine if you are disabled.

The process involves an examination of the work you did, the skills you learned and if your injuries prevent you from returning to that work or some other type of work.

The agency is interested in your medical condition, age, education, training, and work experience to see if you are able to return to the workforce.

The Five-Step Process

Step One:

-Are you working?

Step Two:

-Is your condition "severe"?

Step Three:

-Is your condition found in the list of disabling conditions?

Step Four:

-Can you do the work you did previously?

Step Five:

-Can you do any other type of work?

How the Process Works

The first three steps are straightforward; if you are working and making more than $1,000 a month, you won't qualify for disability benefits. If your condition is "severe," meaning it interferes with your ability to work, they then move to step three, where if you match a condition on the list, you generally qualify.

If you don't match a condition listed, the SSA will determine if your condition is of equal severity to one that is listed. If they determine it is of equal severity, you generally qualify as disabled. If not, the SSA then moves to step four.

Step Four

Step four is very involved and entails an examination of your previous work history. This is used to create a baseline from which they can determine what capability you had and what remains in your current condition. The SSA takes into consideration what work activities you can do with your medical condition.

If you are determined to have a medical condition that affects your ability to work on a regular basis, but it is not as severe as any impairment described in the Listing of Impairments, the agency will assess your "residual functional capacity" (RFC).

Your RFC is based on all of the evidence about your condition and used to determine what you can still do, despite any limitations caused by your impairment and related symptoms, such as pain and fatigue.

To decide whether you can do your past work, SSA looks at a great number of factors, such as your ability for sitting, standing, walking, lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling; your ability for reaching, handling large objects, using your fingers, feeling, stooping, balancing, climbing stairs or ladders, kneeling, crouching and crawling.

They consider environmental conditions, such as temperature extremes, wetness, humidity, noise, hazardous working conditions like moving machinery or heights, dust, fumes, odors, gases, poor ventilation, vibrations.

Other general factors include your ability to see, hear, speak, maintain concentration and attention at work and understand, remember and carry out instructions.

Your Work History

The Social Security Administration then looks at the demands of your recent past work and compares them with their assessment of your remaining ability to do basic work activities. They only look at past work that they consider relevant.

What information do they need about your past work? A list of things they consider include:

-Main responsibilities of your job(s)

-Main tasks you performed

-Dates you worked (month and year)

-Number of hours a day you worked per week

-Rate of pay you received

-Tools, machinery and equipment you used

-Knowledge, skills and abilities your work required

-Extent of supervision you had

-Amount of independent judgment you used

-Objects you had to lift and carry and how much they weighed

-How much you had to sit, stand, walk, climb, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl, balance

-How you used your hands, arms and legs

-Speaking, hearing and vision requirements of your job(s)

-Environmental conditions of your workplace(s)

And There Is More

There are still more factors they examine in making the determination. As you can see, they will require a very detailed list of information about your condition, abilities and training. Providing this information is absolutely essentialto your claim. SSA notes on their website the following:

It is your responsibility to see that we get the information we need to determine whether you are disabled. If you do not provide the information we need about your medical condition(s) and your work history, we will deny your claim for disability.

A Complex Process

If, after all the questions in step four, they determine you cannot perform your previous type of work, they then move to step five, which decides you can do some other type of work.

In this step, the SSA looks at another long list of elements:

-If you can adjust to other work

-Your age

-Your education

-Your work experience

-Your recent education that may provide you skills you can use

-Your age, education and work experience on your remaining capacity for work

In terms of complexity, the application for social security disability benefits is vastly more complex than filing a federal income tax form, but the consequences can be just as severe. If you make a mistake or forget to supply the appropriate information, your claim will be rejected.

For this reason, speaking with an attorney knowledgeable with the Social Security Act, regulations and SSA procedures is very valuable as a way of obtaining your benefits. The process is complex and can be confusing. An attorney can help you understand how to file a claim and assist with the necessary procedures you must follow.

It should be noted that in the discussion of the five steps, the Social Security Administration includes a disclaimer that states:

The following is general information only. The Social Security Act and related regulations, rulings and case law should be used or cited as authority for the Social Security disability programs.

Article provided by Milam Law

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How Does the Social Security Administration Approve a Social Security Disability Claim?

The Social Security Disability application process can be confusing, stressful, overwhelming and lengthy. It is often hard for disability applicants to navigate their own responsibilities regarding their disability claim, let alone try to understand how the SSA will decide whether they will approve or deny their claim for benefits. If you are applying for disability benefits and want to understand how the SSA reviews and approves claims for disability benefits, the following information can help.

What Does the Social Security Administration Look For in a Disability Claim?

There are a few things the SSA looks for when an applicant files a claim for disability benefits. If you are applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), the SSA will determine whether or not you have enough work credits to qualify for disability payments. If you are filing for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the SSA will check to see if your household income falls below the set limits.

Meeting the SSA's Disability Guidelines

If all of the other criteria set forth by the SSA are met (e.g., work credits or income requirements), the SSA will then need to determine whether or not you are disabled, the severity of your disability and whether your disability meets their specific guidelines. This is why it is crucial that you provide as much medical documentation as you can with your initial disability application.

When reviewing claims for disability benefits, the examiner reviewing your claim will refer to a published listing of impairments known as the Social Security "Blue Book." This Blue Book lists all of the disabling conditions that could qualify an individual for Social Security Disability benefits. The Blue Book also contains guidelines for each listed condition and applicants must meet the guidelines set forth in the section that pertains to their specific disability in order to be approved for benefits. For example, if you are suffering from a traumatic brain injury, that condition is indeed listed in the Social Security Blue Book. However, a diagnosis of a traumatic brain injury in and of itself will not qualify you for benefits. The Blue Book lists symptoms from which an applicant must suffer in order to qualify under this section of the publication. If you have a traumatic brain injury that does not meet the published guidelines, you will not qualify for disability benefits.

If your condition is not included in the SSA's Blue Book, you may still qualify for benefits but will need to prove that your disability prevents you from performing any type of work-related activity. In order to prove your disability and the severity of your condition to the SSA, you will need to provide as much medical documentation as possible. Make sure you include all medical records and the names and addresses of all of your doctors when submitting your application for benefits. If you have had hospital stays, emergency room visits or trips to an urgent care center because of your disability, make sure the SSA is provided with information about each and every encounter. You can never provide too much information when filing a disability claim. Provide as much documentation as possible to help the SSA approve your disability application.

When reviewing your claim for disability benefits, the SSA will also look at your work history and your age. It is sometimes easier for those who are more advanced in age to qualify for disability benefits than it is for a younger person. For example, if a fifty-year-old man who has always worked in construction suffers a back injury and is unable to perform work because of the injury, he is more likely to be approved for benefits than a twenty-five-year-old male who suffered the same injury and had the same occupation. This is because the twenty-five-year-old could, if necessary, change to a different career path and perform a different type of work, whereas it would be nearly impossible for the fifty-year-old male to make a career change so late in his life.

What to Do if Your Application for Benefits is Denied

If your initial application for disability benefits is denied, do not be alarmed. The fact of the matter is that nearly 70 percent of disability applications are not approved at the initial stage of the application process. If your application is among those that are denied, it does not mean that you can't receive the disability benefits you need. It only means that you will need to go on to appeal the SSA's decision to deny your benefits.

If you have received notice from the SSA that your claim for benefits has been denied, contact a Social Security Disability attorney. Your chances of successfully appealing the SSA's decision to deny your disability benefits are statistically higher with proper legal representation.

Social Security Disability
Social Security Attorney