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I am looking for NYC people who applied for SSDI benefits and their experience. Your age? Were you approved right away? How long? Did you have to see their doctors? What medical problems you had?
Please share. I would Appreciate!
I am currently in the process of my own SSDI application. I'm 30, I applied 8/24/16 with Binder and Binder. Was notified today that I have to see their doctors in a week for a CE Exam.
Wondering if this is a good sign, as opposed to a denial right away.
Last edited by Zielinski1986; 10-26-2016 at 09:08 PM..
PM me & I can give you LOTS of details privately. But yes you ALWAYS will have to have exams by their docs. That's a given. not a good sign or a bad sign at all. Just the normal process of anyones SSDI claim. Mostly ALL people are denied in the 1st stage of the process. Only 2 reasons you really can win right away is if you have a terminal illness. Or are legally blind. Think being on Dialysis also is in the rules now as well. Age matters. The older you are the easier it will ne of course. You also have to be deemed & supported by your personal doctors to be TOTALLY & PERMANENTLY disabled. SSDI does not really recognize Temporary or Partial Disability in terms of approving long term SSDI benefits.
But once you get approved for benefits it does not end there & stop. They also make you aware they WILL review you at certain intervals. Depends on many factors. Like your age. The actual type of Disability. As they feel the younger you are or with certain types of Disabilities you CAN improve over time. Some get reviewed every year. Some every 3 -5 years. When I finally got approved....just a few months later I had to start all over again as they started my 1st review! Sucked! They still to this day review me like clockwork. Every 3 years. Every July 4th or so I get the letter!! Was told that will happen until I am at least 55. So even if you win...the benefits are not permanent like some people think. They do not leave you alone forever.
Also the rise in Disability Fraud is making it much harder for the legit people to get approved.
As a long time Disability Advocate I know a lot about the way the system works that most people don't understand.
In general it also does depend on WHERE you live & WHERE you file. Some are backed up more than others. And some are better than others. My atty I had from back in 1994 when I originally filed had my case moved from Queens to Nassau. Then back again. It was his way of kind of working the system & for me it worked like a charm.
Not sure right now what the average wait time is for approval in NYC. Last I followed it was too far back. And then it was about 18 months for most people I knew.Since you have a lawyer they should know. I personally hate using a lawyer. But sometimes you need to. Most of the time SSDI attys will not take your case until after you receive your initial application denial.
I met with Charles Binder years ago when I 1st applied for SSDI. Ended up NOT using them for personal reasons & got a better lawyer in the end. We were very close with his brother Cary as he is married to close friends of ours.
But it depends on lots of things. MOST important thing is to have good medical records & doctors supporting you in your claim for SSDI. Without that no one wins. You have to keep all appts with your docs & make sure you are doing anything they tell you to do in terms of treating your disability. There are BUTS with that though. I was against all medications. And that hindered my claim a bit.
But in the end I was extremely lucky in my case when it went before the ALJ. Even my lawyer was shocked too at it. What happened with me is we asked a Specialist I was seeing a few days before the hearing to write a Disability report supporting my Disability. Well her report in my opinion & my lawyers opinion...SUCKED! Lawyer even said he was hesitant to use it. As all she said was 2 lines.
It basically just said this person is a patient of mine for a few years now. And in my opinion she is totally & permanently disabled. Not much use we thought at all. Well we were sitting in the hearing room. Small tiny room. The judge picked up the report my doctor had written. Read it.
Then said this. " I know this doctor very well & she is very highly regarded with her research with this illness!" And then said..if this doctors says a person is disabled then they ARE. Then the judge ordered a full investigation into why my claim too 18 months to get approved. So having the right doctor MATTERS.
But agree like above poser said. There is lots of info on the gov't website & many other website online.
Good luck with your claim. But I personally do not like that law firm...hard to say since I know the family & they are good people. I prefer the solo practitioners. I got much better..more personal treatment that way. Binder has had lots of complaints over the years. Think they were even profiles on 60 minutes a few times about their marketing practices. Here is article about that from a few yrs ago. They were accused of fraud I believe. But they are not the only ones either. No surprise there.
Google complaints/fraud & your lawyer. And while they say no cost unless you win...keep in mind they will keep calling you & asking you for money constantly. This FREE crap does NOT including all the ongoing fees they have to pay out. Like to order records from your doctors or hospitals. And for all the Doctors reports the lawyers have to get. You have to pay your doctor before they will write & give you a report for Disability. And lately I have been hearing most SPECIALISTS are charging upwards of $1,000 + for those reports. It is a money making business for them.
Read all of these. A few are old. But true. Shows this has always been going on.
If you're using Binder and Binder, you will probably get approved.
From what I've seen, even people perfectly able to work get approved when they use Binder and Binder!
No surprise there. They are paying "under" the table. FRAUD is involved. But they do get paid nicely once they get their "clients" approved. They get a pretty large percentage of your "back pay" award". So the longer they drag your case on the more they get paid. They get 25% of your past due benefits. There is a CAP though. Not sure what that is now. It was like $4000 back in the late 90's. Someone told me a few yrs ago it was raised to about $6000. Not sure what cap is now though. So if your income is low...your past due benefits will be lower. In cases like that they drag it out to make sure they get the "maximum" fee allowed by law.
ASK questions. They will not tell you things like this. Once you finally do get approved using us YOU will be up for REVIEW. You see when they approve you they go back "retroactively". So by the time you win if it is a 2 year fight & they decide your case should be reviewed every 2 years. Guess what? That review letter can & many times DOES come same day or a few weeks or months after you win! Then you have to start that process all over again. But this time you do not have to prove you are disabled. You have to prove you are "still" disabled under their guidelines. They got a good racket going on with this Disability system. The Binders became quite wealthy over the years. No wonder they don't talk to us anymore.
Most people don't realize that & LAWYERS will DENY that if you ask. They don't want to discourage you....otherwise the lawyers lose business & don't get paid.
But I did Disability Advocacy for years. And did work with a bunch of people that helped people fight without the use of a lawyer. We did it for free. We were successful I would say in about 70% of the cases. The others either gave up or hired a lawyer.
No wonder we have a record number of people out of the workforce.
Blatant fraud.
Go on SSDI at 30 and work under the table? Imagine being on SSDI for 50+ years. Wow.
People working construction or factory jobs for 25+ years who've destroyed their bodies deserve SSDI.
The mentally ill or the cognitively disabled do as well.
No wonder we have a record number of people out of the workforce.
Blatant fraud.
Go on SSDI at 30 and work under the table? Imagine being on SSDI for 50+ years. Wow.
People working construction or factory jobs for 25+ years who've destroyed their bodies deserve SSDI.
The mentally ill or the cognitively disabled do as well.
This **** is abhorrent though.
I've had friends and relatives who work for the city. In terms of encouraging young people to apply for SSDI, this is a HOLDER from when Aids was a death sentence, and the city encouraged anyone who was a client of the city's Aids welfare programs to apply. Now HIV+ if they take their medications can have normal lives, and there is no real need for this program.
Mind you SSDI for a 30 year old is that that much money, even with working under the table/off the books. These people traditionally got a housing voucher from the city. Of course the person would have to live in the city's worst neighborhoods or in public housing, and the conditions that these people have to live under likely limit the program.
No wonder we have a record number of people out of the workforce.
Blatant fraud.
Go on SSDI at 30 and work under the table? Imagine being on SSDI for 50+ years. Wow.
People working construction or factory jobs for 25+ years who've destroyed their bodies deserve SSDI.
The mentally ill or the cognitively disabled do as well.
This **** is abhorrent though.
If you are referring to my pay under the table comment above...that was meant to be towards the SSDI attorneys paying off the judges to approve all these cases that are fraud. Corruption is everywhere...
But yeah there are certainly tons of people on all sorts of gov't assistance that work off the books to hide the money. But there are some people sadly that are disabled & unfortunately have to rely on those very "measly" benefits for life. They need that under the table pay & take those odd cash paying jobs. Like cleaning homes. And the popular one now...Pet Sitting seems to be taking off big time.
I've had friends and relatives who work for the city. In terms of encouraging young people to apply for SSDI, this is a HOLDER from when Aids was a death sentence, and the city encouraged anyone who was a client of the city's Aids welfare programs to apply. Now HIV+ if they take their medications can have normal lives, and there is no real need for this program.
Mind you SSDI for a 30 year old is that that much money, even with working under the table/off the books. These people traditionally got a housing voucher from the city. Of course the person would have to live in the city's worst neighborhoods or in public housing, and the conditions that these people have to live under likely limit the program.
I realize it wouldn't be a lot of money (max SSDI is somewhere around $2500 and that person would have been making 100K+ and paying into the system for years) but that's besides the point.
NYC residents fraudulently get SSDI + government housing and are literally parasites on society.
It's a ****ing disgrace. People bust there ass day in and day out for minimum wage in this country and then we have parasites like this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by loribell38
If you are referring to my pay under the table comment above...that was meant to be towards the SSDI attorneys paying off the judges to approve all these cases that are fraud. Corruption is everywhere...
But yeah there are certainly tons of people on all sorts of gov't assistance that work off the books to hide the money. But there are some people sadly that are disabled & unfortunately have to rely on those very "measly" benefits for life. They need that under the table pay & take those odd cash paying jobs. Like cleaning homes. And the popular one now...Pet Sitting seems to be taking off big time.
From the way I understand it, in the initial application, you need to meet the listing and some gridrules.
Over 50 yrs old, things do get easier. There are less years of payment until you turn 62, then ssa retirement will kick in and off ssdi you go.
I am represented by another Big Firm in kew gardens. Queens applicants are supposedly just now getting a better shot at winning in appeals.
Many people have to face the ALJ hearing, and the final decision would be based on what jobs can you do, with the medical condition you have and those restriction given to you medically.
The worst part about being in this condition is that some doctors dont want to fill out paperwork or base their opinion on your disibiity on personal , not medical opinion. Like they are doing you a favor. It is ver improper for some doctors, knowing how bad you are doing medically, and how hard it is for you to keep a job because of it, to decide if you are disabled or not.
People will talk smack all day, like they have a educated knowledge of ssdi and why someone gets approved for it, and how hard those people have to struggle and work full time, on meds or in pain.
For those of you who may not know, as a worker, paying taxes, ssdi is insurance that you are forced to pay. When you are not able to work because of a medical condition that will last more than 12 months, and you cant be re employed in any job, you are eligible for this benefit. You are paid upto 80 o/o of lost income max. This goes for medical and mental conditions.
Those workers that paid income taxes, and there children are covered by ssdi. A child develops severe mental issues, medical illness, you can apply for them too. If you are collecting this insurance, and you have kids, sick or not, there is an extra payment as well. Kids depend on parents. But no more than 80 o/o of lost income.
So , the OP can expect 12 to 16 months for a hearing to decide on the facts, in front of a judge.
Last edited by kapikap; 12-17-2016 at 04:00 PM..
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