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If your claim for social security disability (SSD) or SSI is turned down, you have three options: 1) give up; 2) file a new claim, or 3) file an appeal. For people who suffer with a serious impairment, giving up is not a choice they can afford to make. Yet many whose applications for disability are denied choose to file new claims over and over again rather than to appeal. In just about every instance this is a big mistake. If you file the exact same disability application you are likely to receive the exact same result, so unless you have some meaningful new medical evidence to add to the record, it is almost always a waste of time to file a new claim. The exception to this rule is if your application was denied the first time on a technicality; for instance, if you earned too much when you first filed the claim (and you are earning less now), or if you had too many assets in your name (SSI applicants are eligible only if their total assets are valued at $2000 or less, excluding their car and home). For most disability applicants, the best action to take when your disability claim is denied is to call the social security office and tell them you want to file a request for reconsideration. The reconsideration appeal is the first step in the disability appeals process, and it is decided by the state disability determination services agency, the same agency that makes decisions on all initial disability applications. Reconsideration appeals do not have a high rate of approval—nationwide, about 8 out of 10 of them are denied. But even if your reconsideration appeal is denied, you are still in a good position to win disability benefits. Why? Because once your reconsideration is denied, you have the option of filing a second appeal, which is a request to have your claim reviewed by a federal administrative law judge (ALJ). ALJs are not employees of the social security administration in the sense that disability examiners are, and they quite often overturn disability examiners’ denials. In fact, around 60 percent of all SSD/SSI claims that were previously denied by DDS are later approved by an ALJ at a disability hearing. If you adjust this figure to include only adult cases (children’s disability claims are more likely to be denied) then the chance of winning at a disability hearing is somewhere around 70%. These are very good odds, and certainly the best odds of approval a claimant has throughout the entire determination process. The thing to remember about filing disability appeals is that they must be filed within 60 days of your notice of denial. If you miss the 60-day deadline, you will have no choice other than to file a new claim, which will most likely be no more successful than the first one. The real advantage in the disability appeals process is that it allows someone who feels that the denial in their case was unfair to (eventually) take the decision out of the hands of social security disability examiners, and put it into the hands of an impartial federal judge, where it stands its best chance of winning approval. 
Social Security Disability and SSI Disability Information
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