Happy Thanksgiving

 

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

13 Things to Expect at Your Disability Hearing

1. Dress like you normally dress. Do not be excessive. This is SSA’s look at a typical day in your life.

2. Bring a photo ID.

3. Get to the hearing office early. Allow for traffic and other unforeseen mishaps.

4. You will go through a security check with a metal detector. Leave any keychain pocket knives, cigarette lighters and, of course, weapons, at home.

5. You will sit in a waiting room until the judge is ready to begin.

6. The judge will have his court reporter, called a hearing monitor, come out to get you.

7. You will go to a private hearing room, often set up like a mini courtroom. The hearing is recorded (voices only; no video recording) by the hearing monitor. There is a microphone that does not make your voice louder, it is only used for the recording.

8. The judge will start by saying a procedural introductory paragraph.

9. The judge will ask you to state your name and other identifying information during the procedural opening.

10. After the procedural opening, the judge will ask you about the type of work you did in the past five years.

11. You will have a chance to talk about your daily activities, so the judge understands how your health and symptoms are impacting your function and your stamina, mental and physical.

12. After your testimony, the judge will call a labor market expert, called a vocational expert, to ask them questions and get feedback on how different limitations could hypothetically affect someone your age, without specifically trying to find work for you.

13. The hearing ends without a decision.

The decision comes in the mail after the judge has a chance to go back, review the file, and make a decision, and a decision writer is able to finalize the decision in writing so that it can be mailed. It could take a week, it could take many months. It just depends on their backlog.

If you are finally at the hearing level, this is your last chance for a fresh review of your application. The next appeal is only available if the judge made a substantial error. I recommend finding an experienced Social Security disability attorney to help you prepare your case. If you want an attorney and do not have one in mind, call us at 1-866-425-5347. We represent North Carolina residents in their claims for Social Security disability.

Bipolar Disorder

     Bipolar disorder leads to many Social Security disability claims. It's a common health problem and often a serious one.

    Not all people with bipolar disorder will get on Social Security disability benefit, nor should they. In most cases, bipolar disorder can be controlled with medication and therapy.  

    Certainly, there are many who suffer from bipolar who should be on disability benefits. It's one of the more common health problems that Social Security disability attorneys see.

    In bipolar cases Social Security is looking at these sort of factors:

• Is the patient in psychiatric care? Not just care from a primary care physician but from a psychiatrist.
• Is the patient taking the medications prescribed for them?
• Has the patent required inpatient treatment?
• How well is the patient getting on with their life? Can they get much housework done? Socialize? Take care of business affairs? 
• What happened in the past when the patient was working? What problems led to the patient being out of work?
  
• Does the patient also have a substance abuse problem? They're commonly associated with bipolar disorder and make the bipolar disorder worse. This makes a case harder to win.
  
• Does the patient have a panic disorder? They're also commonly associated with bipolar disorder. Is the panic disorder causing agoraphobia -- that is the fear of leaving the house without a security figure such as spouse, parent or child? Agoraphobia can certainly be disabling.
  

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

Social Security Service Takes Another Hit

 

   Social Security has announced that it is mostly ending walk-in service at its field offices. This means in most cases that if you show up at a Social Security field office that you'll only be given an appointment to come back later -- usually more than a month later -- to transact your business with the agency.

    You can schedule an appointment with Social Security over the telephone or my opening a my Social Security online account. Contacting the agency by telephone can be extremely difficult. You may have a helpful person on the phone after a few minutes on hold or you may call repeatedly and being put on hold for 30 minutes or more until you get frustrated and hang up or until the system hangs up on you. Opening a my Social Security account isn't difficult if you've tech savvy. If you can read this blog, there's a good chance you can handle it. The problem is all those who need service from the agency who aren't even a little tech savvy.

    This is terrible for customer service. Social Security knows this. They believe they have no choice because they don't have the money to hire enough people to get the work done. This isn't because the Social Security trust funds have run out of money. The problem is that Congress won't let them spend enough money to get the work done.

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 is Social Security Disability?

“What Is Disability, Anyway?”

As a disability attorney, I frequently get this question from new clients. Officially, in Social Security, being a disabled adult has one definition:

“You must not be able to engage in any substantial gainful work activity because of a medically determinable physical or mental disability(ies) that is either expected to result in death or has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months.”

But what does this mean? It means that you are not working because of your health and probably will not be able to go back to any sort of work within a year. Social Security will get your medical records and look for objective medical findings, then look at job market numbers, and decide whether you could still hypothetically be a part of the national workforce.

You have the burden of proving that your health keeps you from doing your past work. Social Security has to prove that even if you cannot do your past work, your health, age, and employment outlook still leave a significant number of less-demanding jobs that you have the function to do, regardless of how much money those jobs pay and regardless, too, of whether you actually find that job and can get hired.

It is complicated. There are Social Security regulations being updated all the time. There are filing deadlines. There are rules for submitting evidence. Follow our blog for ongoing insight and, if you live in NC and need a lawyer to advocate for you, call our law firm or complete an online inquiry on our website, www.hall-rouse.com.

 

Asthma

     It's hard to get Social Security disability benefits period but particularly difficult if the primary impairment is asthma. There's a good reason for this. In almost all cases doctors can prescribe treatments, including medications, that bring things under control so that the patient can get back on with his or her life.

    Let me make it clear. Asthma can be a dangerous medical condition. I've seen an acute asthma attack and it's scary even if you're not the one having it. I can't imagine how terrifying it is to have such an attack. Untreated, an acute asthma attacks can be fatal.

    For the few asthma cases that might qualify, Social Security is looking at whether the patient is under medical treatment and whether the patient is taking the meds and the treatments they're supposed to be taking. They're looking at how often the patient has an acute asthma attack despite treatment.

    Children's asthma cases are particularly hard to win. Parents are scared to death by that first asthma attack but, again, the doctors do a great job of controlling pediatric asthma if the parents just do what they're supposed to do.

    Asthma can contribute to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) but that's another matter.

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 Adult Children

Social Security Disability and Financial Planning

 

Lawyers are not the only ones with clients facing Social Security Disability questions. Financial advisors get these questions, too. Let’s talk about the Wilson Family. James and Ann Wilson are your clients, seeking financial advice for their family. They are healthy and happily married; both now in their mid-60s— James, retired from a pharmaceutical plant, where he worked as a warehouse foreman. Ann, retired from teaching. They are lovely people. James and Ann have an adult daughter with special needs. She has never lived on her own and even with the best therapies, her function is equivalent to that of a 12 year old. James and Ann are now worried: how will their daughter survive once they are no longer there to provide for her? Can she file for Social Security Disability? 

 

If their disabled adult child has worked long enough (generally seven of the last 10 years) and at high enough earnings, then she can file a claim for Social Security disability insurance benefits— Think about situations where disabled adult children worked in a family-, friend-, or faith-based organization’s business, where they were hired due to prior affiliation rather than competitive employment standards. This claim will be filed under the adult child’s own Social Security number (which SSA sometimes calls the wage earner number). 

 

If she has not been able to work, then she will not have accumulated the work credits needed to file a claim for Social Security disability insurance benefits. The exception? If James and/or Ann receive Social Security retirement or disability, then their daughter will be able to file under the parent’s wage earner number. Whether she will ultimately receive benefits will hinge on proving the disability began before she turned 22. (For disabled adult children whose parent is deceased, if that parent worked long enough to qualify for Social Security, then the same exception applies and the adult child can file under the deceased parent’s wage earner number.) 

 

If neither of these situations is true then James and Ann’s daughter may be eligible to file a claim for Supplemental Security Income (often referred to as “SSI”). SSI is means-tested and considers the household’s income and resources. While at first glance, James and Ann appear to provide too many resources to their daughter, consider whether any exceptions apply. Among other things, Social Security will not count property essential to self–support; money saved in an Individual Development Account; health flexible spending accounts; dedicated accounts for disabled or blind children; the first $2,000 of compensation received per calendar year for participating in certain clinical trials; and certain trusts, i.e., special needs trusts and pooled trusts. (Note that money distributed under these trusts will not work against the disabled adult child’s means-tested eligibility to file; however, once the child is found disabled under the law, the money distributed from the trust may have the effect of lowering the amount of the monthly SSI payment.)

 

These are good things to know when advising James and Ann. For more detailed questions or help filing, it is good to talk to an experienced Social Security disability attorney. In North Carolina, my law firm is happy to assist with questions and filing. If you are outside of NC, feel free to reach out to me and I will point you in the right direction. 

 

Veterans Day 2024

 

 

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

Bad Backs

     Bad backs can hurt -- a lot. A bad back can certainly be the basis for a successful Social Security disability claim.

    As with other cases, age makes a huge difference. It can be very hard to get approval for those under 50 years of age. Between age 50 and 54, it's a little less difficult. For those 55 and older, it's considerably less difficult.

    Here are some things that may make a difference in a Social Security disability claim based upon a bad back:

• Have you had surgery? What kind of surgery? A lumbar fusion is a much more serious procedure than a lumbar microdiskectomy.  
• Do you have what doctors call radicular symptoms -- what they sometimes call sciatica? I'm talking about symptoms such as pain, weakness and numbness not so much in the back as in a hip or thigh or calf or foot. 
• What do your x-rays and MRIs look like?
• What kind of work have you done? At the least, we have to prove that you're no longer able to perform your old job. That's easier to do if the old job was physically demanding than if it were an office job.

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

Social Security Disability for the Injured

Traumatic accidents often precede Social Security disability claims. When a person is involved in a severe accident, the initial goal is to file a claim against the responsible party’s insurance carrier while the victim focuses on recovery. The idea is to get back to good health and return to work. 

 

However, as time goes on, injuries can take longer-than expected to heal, or heal but leave function worse than anticipated. Attention turns to whether the injured person can return to work, or whether they should file a Social Security disability claim. 

It is important to remember that filing a claim for disability means not only that the injured person can no longer do their past work, but that the person has lost the function to perform any other work that exists in significant number in the national economy, and will be in that state of health for at least a 12 month period.

 

Here is an example: While a 45 year old construction worker may clearly be unable to return to past work after a traumatic spine injury that required a fusion back surgery, the medical records may show adequate healing which, within 12 months, would recover to the capacity to do a sit down job, with ability to sit and stand for comfort accommodated during regular breaks in an eight-hour work day, to complete a 40-hour work week. Construction work is out of the question. However, there are a significant number of sedentary jobs in the national economy that fit this residual functional capacity. In this particular set of facts, the disability regulations will direct a finding that this person is Not Disabled. 

 

(If a traumatic injury heals and the person returns to work- or is expected to be able to return to work- before 12 months have elapsed, the claim will be denied for failure to meet the disability law’s duration requirement. Medical conditions like simple bone fractures with uncomplicated healing processes would fall in this category.)

 

The first thing to consider is whether the remaining impairment will likely prevent a successful return to most work. This presumes work as a 40-hour work week. 

 

Next, consider whether the personal injury settlement will interfere with filing a Social Security disability claim. Before Social Security looks at medical evidence to decide whether an injured person qualifies for disability benefits, there are technical issues that can impact the eligibility to even file a claim for benefits.

 

Social Security Disability pays benefits from two programs, disability insurance (this is what people frequently refer to as Disability) and Supplemental Security Income. You must meet technical eligibility requirements for at least one of the programs to be able to apply for benefits. 

 

The Social Security disability insurance program does not care how much money a person has. The question is whether the injured person worked long enough, and at high enough earnings, so that he is “insured” for disability benefits. Insured status is generally met when the person has worked seven of the last 10 years. To think about it like other types of insurance: the Social Security taxes taken out of your wages act like paying insurance premiums. If you don’t pay a premium then there is no insurance. If you paid premiums in the past but stopped, then the period of insurance coverage will begin to tick away until it ultimately “expires.” If the injury happens after the date last insured, Social Security can not pay this type of benefit. 

 

If the disabled person worked, but it was under the table and no taxes were taken out, then there is no coverage for Social Security disability. 

 

Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, places a limit on the amount of income and resources are available to a person. Think of it like a poverty-based disability program- the person must be found disabled but payment of benefits is means-tested. Generally, for single individuals the allowed amount is $2000 and for married persons the amount is $3000. Any amounts in excess would begin to count down from their SSI benefit. For example, a person can be found disabled but get $0 benefit due to excess income and resources. A settlement will likely outresource clients. If the injured person attempts to file while the settlement is still plentiful then they will receive a technical denial, meaning Social Security will not process the case on its merits- it will be screened out because, technically, the person is not eligible to file. This is not a permanent situation. Once the settlement is spent down then eligibility returns the month after the change in assets takes place.

 

This can be confusing. For help with a problem similar to this, you can call the Social Security disability law firm of Hall & Rouse at 1-866-425-5347, or fill out a contact form at our website, hall-rouse.com.