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A letter appearing in a well-known online newspaper reported the situation of one gentleman who stated, "I have been denied disability benefits recently and I have, in fact, been denied disability benefits five times over the last four years. How many times do I have to be denied disability before I actually get approved?". Unfortunately, the letter writer did not give many specifics about his dilemma. And, so, it is impossible to know whether or not one or more of his denials occurred at a hearing, or if he has been denied disability benefits on five separate applications. It may be that he has filed a single social security disability or SSI disability application and has been denied every step of the way. In the current system, those steps are 1. initial disability claim, 2. disability claim reconsideration, 3. disability hearing, 4. a review of an administrative law judge's decision at the appeals council, and 5. federal district court. Or, it may be...that he actually did file for social security disability or SSI five separate times. Actually, this does happen quite frequently. And as a former disability examiner for the social security administration, I've come across cases in which individuals have filed brand new disability applications seventeen separate times. What's wrong with this? Well, you are allowed to file as many disability applications as you like. And each time you get denied, you have the right to file again. But, that's the problem: if you do this, you simply starting over at the beginning and you are likely to keep getting turned down again for basically the same reasons. Instead of doing this, you should file an appeal if your claim gets denied. Pursuing a claim through the appeals process will afford an initially denied claimant the greatest opportunity for (eventually) getting approved. How does the appeals process work? In a nutshell, like this: if your initial claim is denied, contact the social security office where your filed your claim and request your first appeal. Depending on the state in which you live, this first appeal will be known as either a reconsideration or a review. You do have sixty days in which to request this appeal and submit the necessary paperwork; however, it is to your advantage to take care of this as soon as possible since the process, on it's own, takes long enough to get through. What are your chances of success on this first appeal? The statistics vary by state, but the national average for reconsiderations is approximately fifteen percent. That means that approximately eighty-five percent of these first appeals are denied. 
Despite this depressing statistic, however, disability claimants who are denied, once more, on a reconsideration / review should not give up, but, instead, should request the second appeal. This appeal is known as a "request for hearing before an administrative law judge". Again, you have sixty days in which to request this appeal and submit the necessary paperwork. What are the chances of sucess at a disability hearing? Claimants who do not have representation tend to win about forty percent of their cases and claimants with representation tend to win about sixty percent of their cases. Obviously, the odds at a disability hearing turn significantly in a disability claimant's favor. The real problem with appeals at the hearing level, unfortunately, has to do with...how long it takes to get a hearing date. Again, the obvious question: how long does it take to get a disability hearing? Once more, the answer varies by state (since different hearing offices will have different backlogs, some worse, some better). However, in many areas, the wait for a hearing can take up to two years or more. It is actually the wait for a disability hearing that imposes some of the worst consequences for disability claimants and typically these consequences are financial in nature. Disability Lawyer Help on disability Claims Free Case Evaluation |
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If you suffer from a medical disability such as hip, neck, back, or other joint problems, disc herniation, degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, carpal tunnel syndrome, rsi or repetetive stress injury, inflammatory bowel disease, congestive or chronic heart failure, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, diabetic neuropathy, high blood pressure (hypertension), seizure disorder, stroke, copd, emphysema, hearing loss or poor hearing, vision loss, clinical obesity, epilepsy, cancer, chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis, lupus, anxiety, inner ear problems, meniere's, vertigo or dizziness, kidney failure requiring dialysis or other renal problems, cirrhosis, hepatitis, or other liver disease, pancreatitis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, asthma, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, rsd or reflex sympathetic dystrophy, crohn's disease, sarcoidosis, peripheral vascular disease, lyme disease, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, hiv, aids, anemia, sickle cell, thyroid problems including hypothyroidism, cardiomyopathy, or tachycardia, arrhythmia and have initiated or been denied on a social security disability, or ssi, claim for benefits, this site may assist you with your case. Social Security Disability benefits are often difficult to win; however many claims for social security disability are lost simply because a claimant did not know enough about the disability process to their social security or ssi claim. For information re: representation on a social security disability or ssi claim (attorney or non attorney representative), see the "qurstions" & "how" pages. |
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