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 Anna Caldwell & Associates helps disabled people obtain the benefits they deserve. If you are disabled and have been denied benefits by the Social Security Administration (SSA), you will face a long and confusing application process. Keep your spirit up and do not give up. Persistence normally will pay off.
To qualify for social security disability or supplemental security income (SSI) benefits, you must have a physical or mental health problem (or a combination of problems) severe enough to keep you from working in any type of job for at least 12 months. The test is whether you are capable of performing jobs available in the national economy, not whether you can perform your old job.
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Social Security Disability Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the difference between social security disability (Title II) and supplemental security income, also referred to as SSI (Title XVI)?
Title II (social security disability) of the Social Security Act is the social security insurance program financed by FICA tax deducted from employees' wages and matched by employers. Benefits and eligibility are determined in part by an individual's past earnings.
Title XVI (SSI) of the Social Security Act is a public assistance program for the elderly, disabled and the blind. SSI benefits are based on need and are not related to the individual's earnings, but are awarded to disabled, aged, and blind individuals who have income and resources below a specified amount.
2. Who is eligible for social security disability (Title II) benefits?
In order to be eligible for Title II benefits, an individual must be fully insured for social security insurance purposes. To be fully insured a person must have 40 quarters of coverage, or at least 10 years of credited earnings. For persons who are disabled before age 31, social security uses the concept of "currently insured" whereby an individual must have 6 quarters of coverage out of the 13 quarter period ending in the quarter in which the disability occurred. Disability insured status means that the person has 20 quarters of coverage or 5 years of work in the 10 years preceding the date of disability.
You can determine whether you are "insured" by looking at your social security earnings record. Most people remain "insured" for several years after the date on which they stopped working. However, it is important not to wait too long before applying for social security disability benefits, in order to assure that the "fully insured" status has not expired!
3. How do I prove that I am disabled?
To qualify for either social security disability or SSI benefits, you must be unable to work because of a severe physical or mental impairment that has lasted or is expected to last 12 consecutive months or is expected to result in death. You have to prove that you are not only unable to perform your regular job, but that you are unable to perform any other work.
The impairment must be severe and medically determinable. An impairment is medically determinable if it results from anatomical, physiological, or psychological abnormalities which are evidenced by clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques. An impairment can be the result of serious disease (for example: heart disease with impaired cardiac function; certain cancers, diabetes with peripheral neuropathy or other diabetic consequences, multiple sclerosis with severe difficulties in walking, standing, balancing, fatigue, impaired cognitive function; severe lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid or osteoarthritis severely limiting the use of arms, legs, or hands, etc.); the result of traumatic injuries (to the back, arms, legs, hands, head) which have required serious and often repeated surgeries, including joint replacements; or the result of severe mental illness requiring constant medical treatment and repeated hospitalizations (depression, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, organic mental disorders, etc.)
4. Can I continue to work and apply for social security disability or SSI?
If you apply for disability benefits, obviously you cannot work full-time. However, if you try to work a few hours a day and earn less than a few hundred dollars a month, it probably will not interfere with your application. Once you are approved for disability, you are allowed to earn up to $780.00 per month. However, I recommend that you do not work more than 20 hours a week.
5. Do private disability insurance, company retirement, and worker's compensation benefits count against social security disability?
Private disability insurance (short-term and long-term) and employer retirement benefits do not count against social security disability. But worker's compensation benefits count against social security disability benefits.
6. How much money will I get every month, once I am approved for social security disability?
The amount of your monthly benefit depends on how much you paid into your social security account during your working years. Your monthly benefit is a dividend that is paid to you out of your earnings account.
7. How long does it take to get approved, once I apply?
The application process can be long and confusing. It may last from a minimum of three months to 18 months. Very few applicants get approved at the time of their initial application (1st level) or at the reconsideration stage (2nd level). Most people get approved at the hearing (3rd level). Hearings are held by Federal Administrative Law Judges in Greensboro, Raleigh, and Charlotte. This is the most important stage and the one that offers the greatest opportunity for success.
8. How does an attorney who takes a social security disability case get paid?
The initial consultation with an attorney, on the phone or in person, is free. If an attorney takes your case, your attorney gets paid on a contingency basis. That means she/he only gets paid, if your application is approved. If the attorney does not get the application approved, then she/he does not receive an attorney fee. The rate of pay for the attorney is 25% of the claimant's past due benefits. The Social Security Administration reviews all attorney fee agreements and makes sure that only fair and reasonable fee agreements are approved.
9. What expenses are involved in applying for social security disability benefits?
Whether you have an attorney or not, you will incur expenses for medical records and medical questionnaires that physicians complete on behalf of the claimant. These expenses are usually rather small. Our average is about $75.00 per client.
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