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i was scheduled by ss to see a psych dr. 3 months after i applied for ssi,they called me before the appointment and told me a decision has been made but wouldnt give me any info other than that,im assuming ive been approved. i read somewhere that if they make a decision without sending you to their drs you can sue them for not doing their job properly.am i correct in my assumption? guess i will find out in a few weeks. i have xrays that i think spoke for themselves as to me not being able to use my hands and ive read that is one of the conditions/ examples of what makes you disabled
I wouldn't necssarily assume you are approved.
Only 35% of applications are approved at the initial application level.
i totally understand how the appeal works,and that is what i read.if they do not follow the correct procedures and do something incorrect or shady you can do this,read up on what i said if you dont believe me. but thanks for not answering my question and trolling the thread congrats!!!!!
i totally understand how the appeal works,and that is what i read.if they do not follow the correct procedures and do something incorrect or shady you can do this,read up on what i said if you dont believe me. but thanks for not answering my question and trolling the thread congrats!!!!!
No need to get snarky - especially as a new poster. Lenora is an atty and deals with SSDI issues all the time. I assure you she knows more about the process than you ever will. Correct legal terminology is second nature to her because it's her work. You think "sue" - she thinks "appeal" because an "appeal" is what you would need to do. There is the rare occasion when an SSDI app is approved in three months - much depends on your age and your state. Hope it works out for you. Generally, 67% of first-time applicants are denied. Hopefully, you are one of the lucky ones.
i totally understand how the appeal works,and that is what i read.if they do not follow the correct procedures and do something incorrect or shady you can do this,read up on what i said if you dont believe me. but thanks for not answering my question and trolling the thread congrats!!!!!
Wow. Maybe if you read the tread you woukd see that Lenora is exceptionally knowledgeable on the process, and helps many people navigate the SSI/SSDI system.
I have applied for SSDI myself, and was approved in 5 weeks. I have applied for a relative, and she was approved in 6 weeks. I have just helped a friend apply, and he was approved in 13 days. How did we manage this?
You must prepare, prepare, prepare in advance. Gather ALL relevant medical records, scan them as searchable PDFs if they are not already in digital format, and search them for names of doctors, clinics and hospitals, dates of appointments and visits, purpose of each visit and treatment performed at each visit and dates of upcoming appointments, tests ordered by each doctor and the dates of the tests and where done, names of medications prescribed and who prescribed them and what for. Don't leave a single one out.
You must get the full medical terminology for each condition relating to your disability. You must have detailed information about your current job and salary, and previous job and salary, and any sick leave or vacation pay you have received since you became disabled. You can't guess, you have to check pay stubs and be accurate with figures and dates. Gather all personal information for yourself and your spouse, if you have one, including deceased spouses.
Write up a detailed job description that details all the things you did at work which it is obvious you can not do now that you are disabled. Stress those job duties. You can add emphasis to those duties, but do not lie.
It can take a month or more to gather the medical records if you do not live in the town where the treatment was performed. It took me 1 week to gather the records for my friend, because he lives in the town where he had treatment. It took me 4 months to gather my own records, because they went back 20 years and involved multiple medical professionals in 6 different towns in 2 different states. My relative had already gathered her own records.
Once I had all the records in searchable PDF form, I did a copy-and-paste of all the above-mentioned information to a Word document. Then I organized the information in the Word Document by category - Doctors, Hospitals and Clinics, Tests, and Medications. Then I started the SSDI Application and was able to cut-and-paste from the Word document to the online application. This method avoids making any mistakes or typos.
At the end of the application they suggest that you gather all the medical records and supporting documents together and mail them, or hand-deliver them, to the nearest SS office. I delivered them the very day after I submitted each application, in person, to my local SS office. I gave them ALL the medical records, including DVDs of radiology images, and a copy of the person's job description, and any official information related to the disability, such as an accident report or Worker's Compensation report.
If you have prepared thoroughly and use the correct terminology and don't leave out a single doctor or or hospital or test or medication, and get all the dates and diagnoses correct, and provide SS with all the supporting documentation immediately, then you should be approved in less than 2 months. It may be slower in some cities because they have a larger case load, but you have no control over this.
If you wait for SS to request the medical records themselves, you can wait months for approval, because it takes time for SS to request and then receive and process those records.
My experience with the online application is that the average person CAN NOT do it successfully because they have not done the prep work. It is a long application, occasionally confusing, and most people do not have their medical records available or know how to review them. Many people do not have good computer skills and get confused by the online application.
It took me a total of 32 hours or document review to prepare in advance for my friend's application, and 4 hours over 2 days to fill in the online application, review it and submit it. And 13 days later he was approved.
You can, of course, hire a lawyer to do this. They could not do it any faster than I did it, and if they charge $200 an hour, then they would have to charge $8000 to do what I did for free.
I have come to the conclusion that the reason why so many people are initially denied is because the online application is so complicated and lengthy and asks for so much medical and personal detail that people do not know and might not understand. They are not prepared. They are overwhelmed. They may be sick and on medications that cause fatigue and confusion. They may not be highly literate. They may be computer illiterate. The online application is almost designed to get the average person denied.
I have applied for SSDI myself, and was approved in 5 weeks. I have applied for a relative, and she was approved in 6 weeks. I have just helped a friend apply, and he was approved in 13 days. How did we manage this?
You must prepare, prepare, prepare in advance. Gather ALL relevant medical records, scan them as searchable PDFs if they are not already in digital format, and search them for names of doctors, clinics and hospitals, dates of appointments and visits, purpose of each visit and treatment performed at each visit and dates of upcoming appointments, tests ordered by each doctor and the dates of the tests and where done, names of medications prescribed and who prescribed them and what for. Don't leave a single one out.
You must get the full medical terminology for each condition relating to your disability. You must have detailed information about your current job and salary, and previous job and salary, and any sick leave or vacation pay you have received since you became disabled. You can't guess, you have to check pay stubs and be accurate with figures and dates. Gather all personal information for yourself and your spouse, if you have one, including deceased spouses.
Write up a detailed job description that details all the things you did at work which it is obvious you can not do now that you are disabled. Stress those job duties. You can add emphasis to those duties, but do not lie.
It can take a month or more to gather the medical records if you do not live in the town where the treatment was performed. It took me 1 week to gather the records for my friend, because he lives in the town where he had treatment. It took me 4 months to gather my own records, because they went back 20 years and involved multiple medical professionals in 6 different towns in 2 different states. My relative had already gathered her own records.
Once I had all the records in searchable PDF form, I did a copy-and-paste of all the above-mentioned information to a Word document. Then I organized the information in the Word Document by category - Doctors, Hospitals and Clinics, Tests, and Medications. Then I started the SSDI Application and was able to cut-and-paste from the Word document to the online application. This method avoids making any mistakes or typos.
At the end of the application they suggest that you gather all the medical records and supporting documents together and mail them, or hand-deliver them, to the nearest SS office. I delivered them the very day after I submitted each application, in person, to my local SS office. I gave them ALL the medical records, including DVDs of radiology images, and a copy of the person's job description, and any official information related to the disability, such as an accident report or Worker's Compensation report.
If you have prepared thoroughly and use the correct terminology and don't leave out a single doctor or or hospital or test or medication, and get all the dates and diagnoses correct, and provide SS with all the supporting documentation immediately, then you should be approved in less than 2 months. It may be slower in some cities because they have a larger case load, but you have no control over this.
If you wait for SS to request the medical records themselves, you can wait months for approval, because it takes time for SS to request and then receive and process those records.
My experience with the online application is that the average person CAN NOT do it successfully because they have not done the prep work. It is a long application, occasionally confusing, and most people do not have their medical records available or know how to review them. Many people do not have good computer skills and get confused by the online application.
It took me a total of 32 hours or document review to prepare in advance for my friend's application, and 4 hours over 2 days to fill in the online application, review it and submit it. And 13 days later he was approved.
You can, of course, hire a lawyer to do this. They could not do it any faster than I did it, and if they charge $200 an hour, then they would have to charge $8000 to do what I did for free.
I have come to the conclusion that the reason why so many people are initially denied is because the online application is so complicated and lengthy and asks for so much medical and personal detail that people do not know and might not understand. They are not prepared. They are overwhelmed. They may be sick and on medications that cause fatigue and confusion. They may not be highly literate. They may be computer illiterate. The online application is almost designed to get the average person denied.
Agreed. I have twice applied, and twice accepted on the first try. (I had successfully gone back to work and had to re apply a few years later). I helped a friend apply recently, and he was approved very quickly. I know doing the application correctly helped, but it also helps to know the correct diagnosis. There are certain conditions a person may have that will be accepted (with proof of course) more easily than some conditions that SS may question whether those are disabling conditions. That's th conclusion a discussion on a disability forum came to several years back when trying to figure out why some were approved and others weren't. I have has doctors write the wrong diagnosis for my condition more than once. Those were usually not the Neurologists that diagnosed it after examination. Those were doctors who substituted some other term, which they preferred to call it. I had to make sure my primary doc used the right term once so that SS would not be confused.
I signed my child up and he has a speech impairment.i recieved a copy of his disability and me being his payee and a debit card a month later.i dont know if he was approved are not.when i called they told me its still pending.i called the card everday and nothing yet has this happend to anyone else
I helped a neighbor, who suffered a stroke and became disabled (left side paralysis) apply for SSDI. He was not computer literate, so I assisted him.
We gathered all of his forms, work history and medical records. We applied online on Sept 15, 2016. It took about 3 hours to complete the online form. The next day, he received a call from the local SS office, acknowledging receipt of his completed form. Two weeks later, a letter arrived from the Disability Determination Service Division (State of CA) from the claim examiner. A questionnaire also was included in the letter, asking for more detailed information. My neighbor completed the questionnaire, made a copy and mailed it back.
About a month later, he received another letter from the Disability Determination Service Division, asking him to attend a SS physician's examination, at a local office, scheduled for a month later.
He attended the physician's examination (which took 30 minutes) and the examining physician
was convinced he was disabled.
3 weeks later, he received a letter from the Social Security Administration, detailing his approval and award status. Total time from application to receipt of the approval was just over 3 months.
The key is to complete the forms correctly the first time and promptly respond to their inquiries if asked.
I helped a neighbor, who suffered a stroke and became disabled (left side paralysis) apply for SSDI. He was not computer literate, so I assisted him.
We gathered all of his forms, work history and medical records. We applied online on Sept 15, 2016. It took about 3 hours to complete the online form. The next day, he received a call from the local SS office, acknowledging receipt of his completed form. Two weeks later, a letter arrived from the Disability Determination Service Division (State of CA) from the claim examiner. A questionnaire also was included in the letter, asking for more detailed information. My neighbor completed the questionnaire, made a copy and mailed it back.
About a month later, he received another letter from the Disability Determination Service Division, asking him to attend a SS physician's examination, at a local office, scheduled for a month later.
He attended the physician's examination (which took 30 minutes) and the examining physician
was convinced he was disabled.
3 weeks later, he received a letter from the Social Security Administration, detailing his approval and award status. Total time from application to receipt of the approval was just over 3 months.
The key is to complete the forms correctly the first time and promptly respond to their inquiries if asked.
Nice job ccm!
A thorough and thoughtful effort that resulted in a favourable outcome for your neighbour.
Thanks, jerseyj. My neighbor was initially intimidated about what he'd heard about the application process for SSDI. He thought he would need to hire an attorney, etc.
I told him that I would assist him initially and see where our efforts would take us. If his application was rejected and an attorney was needed, then he should hire one at that point. Turns out that we were successful on the initial attempt. His disability is fairly pronounced (walks with a cane), so the examining physician clearly was convinced.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jerseyj
Nice job ccm!
A thorough and thoughtful effort that resulted in a favourable outcome for your neighbour.
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Fast approval of SSDI Application
