Applying for Social Security Disability insurance (SSDI) should be simple. Report your circumstances and provide medical evidence of your condition. Sounds easy, but there are many gray areas to interfere with getting approval after your initial application. Knowing ahead of time what to look out for and what to double-check can go a long way toward achieving success when applying for SSDI.
1. Working Too Much
You need an income to survive and you are permitted to work a limited number of hours per week and stay below an income threshold, but if you have a disability and apply for disability benefits, any completed work is a red flag. If you can work 15-20 hours a week, someone will ask, “Why not 35 or 40 hours?” Add in your commute, especially if it’s a long one, and that contributes even more hours to the working total. If you can work, do – you’ll earn more money that way than if you win SSDI.
2. Missing Important Deadlines
A big number of first-time applications for disability are denied at the initial stage. Once your denial is delivered, you have 60 days to appeal. Filing your appeal late means you have to start all over with a new application, which means more paperwork and starting from scratch, and waiting, waiting, waiting.
3. Filing Without Knowing the Listings of Impairments
Social Security’s Listings of Impairments describes the medical criteria a person must meet to be considered disabled and eligible for SSDI. The Listings document is quite long and all-encompassing, which makes it more difficult rather than easier to be specific. Qualifying criteria are not always obvious. Working with an expert who understands this collection of impairments is critical to navigate the details, ensure that you have all the documentation you need as part of your application, and avoid having to file an appeal.
4. Not Getting Medical Care
Every SSDI case is a medical case and requires medical documentation to serve as evidence that you do have a real, life-altering condition that has disabled you from working as you normally would. Medical records are the most important paperwork a person needs for their SSDI and SSI application.
If you don’t have this documentation, it will be assumed that you did not go to the doctor for treatment and, therefore, can work just fine and do not need benefits. The burden is on you to prove that the SSA should provide you with benefits.
5. Not Hiring an SSDI Attorney
The smartest move anyone can make when filing for SSI benefits is to hire a Social Security Disability attorney. No one is charged for SSI legal help unless you win benefits. It’s in your best interest to hire an experienced Social Security lawyer who has won thousands of disability cases. Schedule a consultation with Thurswell Law by calling (248) 354-2222 today. We do not charge any fees until we win.