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Old 09-22-2010, 03:40 AM
 
14,302 posts, read 14,095,170 times
Reputation: 45421

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Quote:
No they don't.

The lawyers are allowed only 25% of the lump sum payment by law, not the 1/3 contingency.

I was denied for my claim, but because the nurse practitioner had no experience with my claim and never even bothered to read the file, I appealed and was granted the appeal 30 days later.

The law firm of Mooney & Park prepared the appeal and stated in their letter that because they worked on it less than 30 days, they did not believe they deserved the full 25% and instead took a lesser amount of only $1,300.
I am an attorney and I want to thank you for this post. I think among some segments of society it is now fashionable to blame lawyers for every problem that exists.

Perhaps, an explanation of an experience I had appealing a social security disability claim will convince some that this area of law is not a "cash cow" that is being milked by hordes of lawyers.

Mr. W was critically injured in a motorcycle accident. Afterwards, his fractured bones healed. His brain injuries did not. Mr. W went back to his job and lasted about 3 months. He was ultimately terminated by his employer because of anger problems, problems with his short term memory, and a general inability to use his reasoning skills. Those who know anything about traumatic brain injuries know that these symptoms are typical of this kind of injury. His doctors absolutely and totally stated he could not work. Nevertheless, the law requires that in order to apply for disability that one must be unemployed due to disability for one year. Mr. W applied for benefits at the end of that year. The following events than took place.

1. Mr. W's application was denied because his disability did not fit rigid criteria articulated by the law. We knew it would be denied, but had to jump through this hope anyway. It took about five months.

2. Mr. W appealed and a hearing was scheduled before an administrative law judge. It took over six months to get the hearing scheduled.

3. Three months later the administration law judge denied Mr. W's claim for benefits in a written opinion that essentially ignored the law. We appealed to the Social Security Appeals Council. It took about one year for the Appeals Council to deny Mr. W's claim. Again, the Council chose to ignore established legal precedent to "rubberstamp" the decision by administrative law judge.

4. The law allowed Mr. W to appeal to the United States District Court. Mr. W did so and the US Magistrate finally read the law and overturned the decision of the Appeals Counsel. This process took about eight months.

5. The government did not like the fact that the Magistrate overturned the Appeals Council and appealed on its own one step to a United States District Court Judge. That judge, too, read the law and affirmed the Magistrate's decision granting disability benefits. The judge wanted to be technically correct though, so he remanded the matter to the social security administrative law judge to make the decision rather than ordering the benefits be paid on his own. This process consumed another six months.

6. After all this work, Mr. W did get his benefits. To add insult to injury, the administrative law judge (who denied us benefits) than chose to reduce my fee. I did not get 25% after jumping through all these hoops. I believe I received a fee of about 15% for my efforts. I think the total fee was just under $6000.

Net result: It took a profoundly injured man who could not work about four years to collect disability benefits with the aid of an aggressive attorney. I cannot speak for every case. However, it is my experience that disability claims are fought aggressively (and often without good reason) by the Social Security Administration.

I am sure there are people who abuse this system. However, there are also honest people entitled to benefits who literally die or give up before they get them.
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Old 09-22-2010, 09:22 AM
 
8,652 posts, read 17,180,901 times
Reputation: 4622
Quote:
Originally Posted by aveojohn View Post
I know several people who collect ss dis and are able to work. There is a ton of fraud out there and ss dis is becoming the new welfare.
If you have proof of what you are saying, why don't you give that proof to the SS office... Or are you just blowing hot air?

Here I'll even help you out, here is a link to report it... Let me know how many you can get kicked off...

http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answ...security-fraud.
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Old 09-22-2010, 10:18 AM
 
Location: Londonderry, NH
41,478 posts, read 59,530,043 times
Reputation: 24856
I believe all the fraudulent disability claims last year cost the government less than paying Blackwater (or whatever the call themselves) for their mercenaries. Why are you people always picking on the least of us when the big boys are getting back injuries carrying off the loot.
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Old 09-22-2010, 07:29 PM
 
5,250 posts, read 4,640,657 times
Reputation: 17351
Quote:
Originally Posted by GregW View Post
I believe all the fraudulent disability claims last year cost the government less than paying Blackwater (or whatever the call themselves) for their mercenaries. Why are you people always picking on the least of us when the big boys are getting back injuries carrying off the loot.
The newfound enemy of the working class is--?---you guessed it, their neighbors, other working class folks. I've brought up the subject plenty of times hoping to find somebody who can actually see the futility in addressing the "system" in a piecemeal way. Yes we do have real problems with fraud in this country, do the low men indulge themselves in these deceitful forays on our money? YES, HELL YES they do. But, and it's a big but, the actions of the low men are of little consequence when compared to the real thievery that has finally done in the US economy.

These are dire times, but look around you, you'd think that these fraud cases of SSDI were worthy of our attention while the ship of state is listing severely. I don't think anyone I know wants to encourage or excuse those who defraud the government, and it's not as though some of us are so stupid that we don't understand the scale of fraud. What a lot of people are talking about in regard to fraud is the fact that we'd better focus on those big time thieves rather than launch a few salvos to some guy stealing peanuts. If we truly want a government that represents us, if we truly want a government that is efficient, and if we want a government that we can trust not to sell us out, then it seems like we'd all come to some kind of agreement on what issues deserves our collective attention...SSDI aint that issue.
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Old 09-23-2010, 03:19 AM
 
Location: Prepperland
18,829 posts, read 14,013,304 times
Reputation: 16483
Quote:
Originally Posted by jertheber View Post
Should we throw out SS altogether because it takes from the pockets of some who don't agree with it's existence? Should we abandon those who are too old, or too sick because we had no role in creating their despairing situation?
The question is not whether we should have the government repeal Social Security or not. The question is whether you know that it was 100% voluntary to enroll and participate in it.
And if you didn't know it, you might wish to withdraw from it, and stop being a "person liable".

"No one should suffer because they cannot afford health care", must be prefaced with "No one should be compelled to work for the benefit of another, so that..."

Slavery is an unacceptable solution to the ills of mankind.

Voluntary charity is a blessing.
Compulsory charity is a curse.
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Old 09-23-2010, 07:07 AM
 
14,302 posts, read 14,095,170 times
Reputation: 45421
Quote:
And if you didn't know it, you might wish to withdraw from it, and stop being a "person liable".

"No one should suffer because they cannot afford health care", must be prefaced with "No one should be compelled to work for the benefit of another, so that..."

Slavery is an unacceptable solution to the ills of mankind.

Voluntary charity is a blessing.
Compulsory charity is a curse.
Let's leave humanitarian reasons out of it. I realize that among certain libertarian types that whether a segment of the population starves or lives out on the street is pretty irrelevant.

Try to imagine the sort of social unrest we could have in this country without social security. What do you think all the people who are 65 and older would do if they have no means to retire? I can imagine the following:

1. Property crime dramatically increases as the elderly steal to have something to live on.

2. Violent crime increases too as people defend their homes and businesses against this stealing.

3. The poor elderly organize protest marches which turn into riots.

4. Those of us with money have to live in virtual jails to protect ourselves from all the poor around us living in the streets.

5. The police, the prisons, and the courts can't keep up with this new crime wave. Our taxes go up to pay for more of these services.

I'm saying there are plenty of good reasons that have nothing to do with humanity or charity for legally mandating a social security or retirement plan that covers everyone in this country. It has more to do with stability, crime prevention, and overall quality of life for even those who have saved for retirement.

I, for one, would be scared to death living in a country where I had money and was surrounded by a literal ocean of poor and impoverished people.
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Old 09-23-2010, 07:57 AM
 
Location: Terra firma
1,372 posts, read 1,543,080 times
Reputation: 1122
I'm surprised to see so much vitriol aimed at a system that has literally saved my life. I'm guessing that many of the posters here are fairly young and simply cannot imagine ever becoming physically or mentally incapacitated. Also, as one poster pointed out I think that urban legend is a major factor here.

My story: I'm an Army veteran who has been a gainfully employed productive member of society ever since leaving the nest at age 18 (I'm now 38). I was extremely physically fit: could bench press 350, squat 525 and ran 2-3 miles every morning. I too thought that I was invincible. I wasn't.

My entire life was radically altered by a tiny insect smaller than an ant: the deer tick. I contracted Lyme Disease. Like many people I thought that this illness was completely curable, but soon found out the hard way that many people never recover. This disease attacks both the body and the mind. It causes severe deterioration and pain in all the major joints and muscles of the body along with intense, crushing fatigue. It also causes alzheimers-like problems with cognition, memory, and ability to concentrate.

As the months turned into years I continued to work, determined to beat the illness and remain self sufficient. For several years I would just literally will myself through a day of work and then come home and collapse. Despite mine and my doctor's best efforts my condition continued to deteriorate. My mind was so foggy that I had trouble following even simple instructions. My supervisors were aware and sympathetic to my situation, but I was getting to the point of being totally useless. Finally I started having fainting spells at work.

It was at this point that I decided "What the hell am I torturing myself for?" I had to face the facts. I was no longer employable. If I kept it up I was only going to drop dead at work one day.

My doctors agreed and I applied for SSDI. Despite having 3 different doctors attest to my complete disability and hiring a lawyer it still took about two years to win my case. In the process I've become aquainted with many other disabeled people and I've personally never met anyone who didn't have to fight tooth and nail to get their benefits. I'm sure that there is some fraud and I'm sure that some people get approved right away, but for every one case like that there are dozens of truly sick people that go through hell.

Bottom line: having no relatives to lean on, if it wasn't for SSDI I would be homeless and probably dead by now. So don't be so quick to judge. I don't care how tough you think you are, you too can be brought to your knees. People take their health for granted and don't realize just how much they rely on it. Believe me, I would give anything to have my health back as well as the dignity that comes with employment and self reliance. Oh, and by the way, my SSDI payments amount to about half of the income that I made while working so I'm definitely not living the good life. Factor that in with the constant pain and my quality of life is zero.
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Old 09-23-2010, 11:52 AM
 
5,250 posts, read 4,640,657 times
Reputation: 17351
Quote:
Originally Posted by jetgraphics View Post
The question is not whether we should have the government repeal Social Security or not. The question is whether you know that it was 100% voluntary to enroll and participate in it.
And if you didn't know it, you might wish to withdraw from it, and stop being a "person liable".

"No one should suffer because they cannot afford health care", must be prefaced with "No one should be compelled to work for the benefit of another, so that..."

Slavery is an unacceptable solution to the ills of mankind.

Voluntary charity is a blessing.
Compulsory charity is a curse.
In your attempt to "free" us all from the tyranny of government you seem to have forgotten that these programs like SSDI were put in place with the full support of the American people. SS and it's peripheral offshoots have saved the likes of you from needing to take care of others directly, the social/economic dynamic for Americans was drastically changed by the elimination of the burden of their friends or relatives in their old age or times of infirmity. Of course like Ayn Rand you may want to get your own fire hose and ask that government not charge you for local fire services. Yours is a tired old tune, and claiming that your slavery is the result of government is to ignore the very real slaveholders in the upper reaches of industrialism.
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Old 09-23-2010, 12:10 PM
 
5,250 posts, read 4,640,657 times
Reputation: 17351
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zekester View Post
I'm surprised to see so much vitriol aimed at a system that has literally saved my life. I'm guessing that many of the posters here are fairly young and simply cannot imagine ever becoming physically or mentally incapacitated. Also, as one poster pointed out I think that urban legend is a major factor here.

My story: I'm an Army veteran who has been a gainfully employed productive member of society ever since leaving the nest at age 18 (I'm now 38). I was extremely physically fit: could bench press 350, squat 525 and ran 2-3 miles every morning. I too thought that I was invincible. I wasn't.

My entire life was radically altered by a tiny insect smaller than an ant: the deer tick. I contracted Lyme Disease. Like many people I thought that this illness was completely curable, but soon found out the hard way that many people never recover. This disease attacks both the body and the mind. It causes severe deterioration and pain in all the major joints and muscles of the body along with intense, crushing fatigue. It also causes alzheimers-like problems with cognition, memory, and ability to concentrate.

As the months turned into years I continued to work, determined to beat the illness and remain self sufficient. For several years I would just literally will myself through a day of work and then come home and collapse. Despite mine and my doctor's best efforts my condition continued to deteriorate. My mind was so foggy that I had trouble following even simple instructions. My supervisors were aware and sympathetic to my situation, but I was getting to the point of being totally useless. Finally I started having fainting spells at work.

It was at this point that I decided "What the hell am I torturing myself for?" I had to face the facts. I was no longer employable. If I kept it up I was only going to drop dead at work one day.

My doctors agreed and I applied for SSDI. Despite having 3 different doctors attest to my complete disability and hiring a lawyer it still took about two years to win my case. In the process I've become aquainted with many other disabeled people and I've personally never met anyone who didn't have to fight tooth and nail to get their benefits. I'm sure that there is some fraud and I'm sure that some people get approved right away, but for every one case like that there are dozens of truly sick people that go through hell.

Bottom line: having no relatives to lean on, if it wasn't for SSDI I would be homeless and probably dead by now. So don't be so quick to judge. I don't care how tough you think you are, you too can be brought to your knees. People take their health for granted and don't realize just how much they rely on it. Believe me, I would give anything to have my health back as well as the dignity that comes with employment and self reliance. Oh, and by the way, my SSDI payments amount to about half of the income that I made while working so I'm definitely not living the good life. Factor that in with the constant pain and my quality of life is zero.
The reasons for all this consternation regarding the cost of government can be found on bluster radio/TV programs that are really fronts for the moneyed class who use this medium to rile the proles and rally them to scrutinize their neighbors lives instead of the real culprits who rob them unmercifully. It's just one of the many factors that speak to the terrible lack of knowledge in our country. Careful reading can be the key to thinking for oneself and then understanding who should be kicked in the butt, however, you'd need to read and that's just a whole lotta work compared to listening to someone shout and point fingers because he's paid to do so.

A ton of our countrymen now figure that the likes of Glenn Beck and others are just average guys who got their own platform on TV and are merely sharing their outrage, the puppet nature of these shouters is seldom questioned, but when I hear them speak I hear not their voice but the voice of the ultra conservative factions that would bring back the poor houses and child labor, if they could...
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Old 09-23-2010, 12:21 PM
 
48,505 posts, read 96,489,188 times
Reputation: 18301
No mattert what there is not the moneyy to actaully continue a increase in SS disabilty cliams at the present rate bascially.Its really the governamnt who makes the fraud claims. But no matter what more and more claims can not chase lese and less money and will have to be addressed one way or the other.One way would be to just equte disabilty with normal SS payments without paying any more than at 62.That is the most likely to happen IMO.
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