Wow! Funny And Incisive View Of Social Security Disability!

LTD And Social Security Disability

    Spoiler alert: This is going to be complicated -- but important.

 

    LTD stands for Long Term Disability benefits. LTD is not paid by Social Security, but by private employers and insurance companies. Many larger employers  have pension plans that provide LTD to their disabled employees. Individuals can also purchase LTD insurance policies directly from insurance companies.

    LTD plans always contain an offset for Social Security disability benefits. This means that the LTD is offset or reduced, dollar for dollar, by the initial amount of Social Security disability benefits. For instance, if the LTD is $2,000 a month, the employer or insurance company will pay $2,000 a month as long as the disabled person receives no Social Security. However, if the disabled person starts receiving $1,500 per month from Social Security, the LTD goes down to $500 per month. 

    If the disabled person receives retroactive or back benefits from Social Security for months in which they also received LTD, the employer or insurance company that paid the LTD will want some of their money back. 

    Virtually always, the employer or insurance company gives a credit for the attorney fees the disabled person paid for representation on their Social Security disability claim. In a backhanded way the employer or insurance company pays the attorney fee.

     A person who is already receiving LTD may wonder why they need to bother with a Social Security disability claim, if anything they get from Social Security just reduces the amount they get from LTD. Actually, there are a number of good reasons for a disabled person receiving LTD to go ahead with the Social Security disability claim:

• The Social Security disability benefit may be more than the LTD benefit;
• Many LTD plans specifically require that a person receiving LTD pursue a Social Security disability claim through an ALJ hearing. If the disabled person refuses to do this, the LTD  is cut off.
• LTD benefits provided as an employee benefit are fully taxable. For most people, Social Security disability is not taxable at all. At worst, it is only partially taxable.
• Generally, LTD plans do not contain a cost of living adjustment. The benefits never go up even if the cost of living does go up. After ten or fifteen years, the LTD benefit is worn away by inflation and the LTD check that started out looking so good starts to look puny. Social Security disability benefits, however, are adjusted for inflation and keep a constant value. Since LTD plans generally offset only the initial amount of Social Security disability benefits and not cost of living adjustments, the disabled person on Social Security has protection against inflation that a disabled person only on LTD does not enjoy. Note that the LTD plan for N.C. state employees does provide cost of living adjustments, but also offsets Social Security's cost of living adjustments.
• Most LTD plans only pay benefits to age 65, leaving disabled persons to rely upon Social Security retirement benefits thereafter. Anyone on Social Security disability  based upon their earnings receives an earnings "freeze" so that their Social Security retirement benefits do not end up being reduced. If a person is out of work for many years without being on Social Security disability benefits, their Social Security retirement benefits will be lowered.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

Cancer

  

   Social Security disability claims based upon cancer usually come in two types -- those approved quickly and those that don't get approved at all.

    Those approved quickly are those where the cancer has spread. Of course, if that has happened, the cancer is extremely dangerous. 

    Those where the cancer has not spread are seldom approved. The reason is that there is a 12 month duration requirement for Social Security disability benefits. Unless your condition is fatal, you have to have been or be predicted to be disabled at least a year. Cancer may be treated with surgery, chemo and radiation but generally all of that, as terrible as it is, is over in less than a year. After that, unless things go in a bad direction, the patient can expect at least a period of remission and can hope to be done with cancer forever. If a patient goes into remission in less than a year, they can generally re-start their life, including work. If it comes back, of course, then a new Social Security disability claim is likely to be successful.

    There are cases where the cancer has not spread but where the patient is still disabled for longer than a year. Sometimes, surgery or chemo or radiation leaves behind serious problems that prevent work. Sometimes the surgery, chemo and radiation takes longer than a year. Often, the cancer isn't the only health problem the patient has.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

It Takes An Immigrant To Point Out Just How Awful This Situation Is

    John Oliver may be an immigrant from Britain but he's one of the most interesting observers of the American scene. Take a look at this recent piece he did on Social Security disability.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

What Are "Back" Social Security Disability Benefits?

    Social Security takes a long time to make decisions on disability claims. The money you were due for all those months shouldn't just disappear. No, they pay you for that time if you're approved. They may also pay you for some of that time you waited before even filing your claim. Here are the rules for these back benefits:

Supplemental Security Income (SSI): Assuming you're found disabled that far back, benefits can start the month after the month you filed your SSI claim. If you filed your claim in January 2024, they owe you beginning February 2024, assuming they find you disabled that far back. 

Disability Insurance Benefits: These are the benefits based upon your earnings. Benefits can go back up to 12 months before the month in which you file your disability claim BUT there's a five month waiting period after you became disabled before benefits can begin. Two examples:

• Filed claim in January 2024. Became disabled June 15, 2023. Benefits begin December 2023 -- five month after the disability began.
• Filed claim in July 2024. Became disabled September 23, 2022. Benefits began June 2023 -- one year prior to the date of the claim.

    Sound complicated? I'm making it as simple as I can. That's why you should hire an attorney to represent you.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

Can I Get Social Security Disability For Anxiety?

    Can I get Social Security disability for anxiety? I know you want a definite answer but I have to be a lawyer and tell you "That's a definite maybe." Absolutely, people do get approved for Social Security disability benefits based upon anxiety. They also get turned down. They don't make it easy. Here are some things that Social Security looks at in disability claims based upon anxiety:    

• Are you in psychiatric care for the anxiety? If you're not taking your anxiety seriously enough to seek psychiatric care it's going to be hard to convince Social Security that it's all that bad. No, care by your family doctor won't be enough. If you're thinking about filing a Social Security disability claim based upon anxiety, obviously whatever your family doctor is doing isn't working.
• Is the anxiety associated with bipolar disorder? Really severe anxiety often is.
• Is your anxiety associated with severe depression? Often it is.
• Is the anxiety associated with panic attacks or obsessive compulsive disorder?
• Can you leave your house by yourself?
• How is the anxiety affecting your life? How are you limited?

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

Skin Disorders

Severe psoriasis

     If you don't have it yourself, you might not think skin disorders could be disabling but they sure can be. You really, really don't want to have a skin disorder that bad.

    Here's some of the types of severe skin disorders which, if they don't respond to treatment, can be disabling:

• Hidradenitis suppurtiva -- I bet you've never heard of this one even if you've got it. It causes severe, recurrent, highly painful boils in the private areas. Many people with hidradenitis suppurtiva don't even realize they have a skin problem. They think it's a series of infections that must be treated surgically. Wrong. See a dermatologist.
• Psoriasis -- A common skin problem which can usually be treated well enough to allow a person to get on with their life but sometimes psoriasis doesn't respond so well to treatment and covers a big portion of a person's body.
• Eczema -- Dry, itchy skin that can swell and crack. Most of the time it can be controlled with medication. Can you imagine that eczema can lead to blindness?
• Bullous disorders -- They cause fragile skin that blisters and tears easily.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

Lumbees And Social Security Disability Benefits

     Since I first started practicing Social Security disability law in 1979, Lumbees have been a significant part of my firm's practice. Historically, most Lumbees have suffered from poor educational access, poor access to health care and poverty in general. These have led to Lumbees having sky high disability rates.

    Things are still bad but not quite as bad as they used to be. I can remember a day of hearings in the early 1980s in Lumberton with four Lumbee clients back to back who were all illiterate. The Administrative Law Judge, who was there on assignment from another state, asked pointedly "Are all your clients illiterate?" I had to educate him to the fact that all of those clients were Lumbee and about local circumstances. Where and when those claimants were growing up there were three school systems. The one for whites was lousy. The one for blacks was much worse. The third one, for Lumbees, was much worse still. Lumbees had little chance to learn to read and write. I can remember the clerk butting it to say "He's telling the truth." The ALJ was amazed. The local ALJs already knew.

    For those from outside North Carolina, Lumbees are one of the largest native American tribes in the U.S. They're also not recognized by the federal government although everyone concedes they're native Americans. Even other tribes have worked hard to prevent Lumbees from getting tribal recognition. It's all terribly unfair. If you want to find the most disadvantaged group in America, try going to Robeson County, NC.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

"I Can't Afford To File For Social Security Disability. I HAVE To Get Back To Work"

    From the stupid things that people tell themselves department: "I can't afford to file for Social Security Disability. I HAVE to get back to work." If you're thinking this, here are some questions you need to ask yourself:

• Why are you out of work now? Were you just hit by a fit of laziness?
• Are you really getting better or are you just fooling yourself?
  
• In this world, do thing happen because you really need for them to happen?
• If you can't work now, what makes you think you're going to be able to work anytime soon?
• If you can't afford to file a claim for Social Security disability, how are you going to afford to live without it if you can't get back to work?
• What makes you think that filing a claim for Social Security disability benefits will keep you from going back to work if you start feeling better? It doesn't. As long as you don't withhold information about the work from Social Security, you're in no trouble if you go back to work. Depending upon how much work you do and how long you do it the work may not prevent you from getting Social Security disability benefits.
  

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-844-425-5347

Arthritis

     Arthritis is a frequent basis for successful Social Security disability claims. Arthritis means pain in a joint. There's more than one reason why someone might have pain in a joint so there are various types of arthritis. Here are a few:

• Osteoarthritis -- The garden variety of arthritis that everyone gets as they age.
• Inflammatory arthritis -- This is caused by one of a number of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis that can cause dramatic symptoms and joint destruction. This one has nothing to do with age. Children can come down with rheumatoid arthritis.
• Post-traumatic arthritis -- You may have had only a few aches and pains in that joint you injured until years later when it finally catches up with you. This doesn't happen after all fractures -- most don't involve joints and those which do don't always result in post-traumatic arthritis. 
• Gout -- Caused by excess uric acid in the bloodstream which deposits out as sharp crystals, most commonly in the big toe. Gout is well known as extremely painful. In most cases, but not all, gout can be controlled with medication.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

I'm On Social Security Disability. I've Gotten Even Sicker. Can I Get A Higher Benefit?

     I'm sorry to say it but the answer to the question posed above is "No." With Social Security there are no percentages of disability, like 50% or 70%. The way the law is written, you're either disabled or not. They don't pay you more for being more disabled.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

Disabled Widow And Widower Benefits

    Disabled widows and widowers may be eligible for benefits on the account of their late spouse in these basic circumstances:

• Be 50 or older but less than 60;
• Have become disabled within seven years after either the date of their spouse's death or the date they last received mother's or father's benefits on the account;
• Late spouse have worked a certain number of years under the FICA tax;
• In most cases, not be remarried
  

    Note that this includes widowers. There are more widows than widowers in the world but there's still a fair number of widowers. The widower claims are often missed because it just doesn't occur to people that widows and widowers would be treated the same. This is especially important if the late wife earned a good deal more than the widower. Illness or imprisonment can causes this but sometimes it's just that the wife made more money.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

Auto-Immune Disorders

The "butterfly" rash that can be a sign of lupus

     Claimants with autoimmune disorders are often approved for Social Security disability benefits. It may be something more common such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus or something more unusual such as relapsing polychondritis. It may be so hard to diagnose that your doctor calls it Mixed Connective Tissue Disorder. All of these, and many, many more types of autoimmune disorders may be enough for a person to be found disabled.

    Keep in mind that many autoimmune disorders vary from something that's not troublesome to something that's deadly. Your chances of being approved depend upon where you are on that spectrum.  As an example, I recently met a surgical technician with rheumatoid arthritis who was still working in the operating room using her hands constantly. Even though her hands looked deformed, her RA was in remission and she was able to do her job. I've certainly met others with RA whose hands weren't deformed -- although they might be heading there -- who were quite disabled.

    By the way, I'm often struck when my Social Security disability client is disabled by something they had never heard of before becoming sick, such as lupus even though diseases such as lupus aren't rare. The general public understands little about autoimmune disorders.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

What Are Disabled Adult Child Benefits?

    Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefits are paid to those who become disabled before age 22. The benefits are paid based upon the earnings of the person's mother or father but benefits can't begin until the parent is drawing benefits on their account or is deceased. Most people don't know that this type of disability benefit even exists.

    I often meet with younger Social Security disability claimants who come in with their father or mother. Always the parents are worried about what will happen to their child once they're no longer around to help. DAC will probably solve a big part of this problem. At least their child will have an income and access to medical care.

    There is one thing about DAC that's very unfortunate. DAC recipient who get married usually lose their DAC. By the way, if you have a disabled child, don't discount the possibility that your child will eventually marry. It may seem out of the question today but all kinds of things happen in the fullness of time that we can't now foresee. Love conquers all kinds of obstacles.

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347

Happy Labor Day -- I Know Many Reading This Blog Wish They Were Still Working

If you're in NC and want help with your Social Security disability claim, call Hall & Rouse, P.C. at 1-866-425-5347