Ohio Social Security Disability Law Blog

In our last post, we began speaking about the record number of hearing appeals filed with the Social Security Administration in 2011 with respect to Social Security disability applications. As we noted, a total of 859,514 hearing requests were filed.

One of the lessons to be taken from the findings is that it is not to give up after receiving unfavorable news from the Social Security administration. An appeal gives an applicant the opportunity to have their case reconsidered by fresh individuals, and to present additional information in support of the claim.

In a previous set of posts, we took a brief look at the appeals process for Social Security Disability claims. Interestingly, sources say that more people appealed their denied Social Security Disability Insurance claims last year than ever before.

In total, the Social Security Administration received 859,514 hearing requests and completed almost 3.4 million initial disability claims. Roughly two-thirds of the initial applications were denied. This indicates that there are a good many individuals who were denied their claims and afterward pursued them no further in an appeal.

As our readers are surely aware, there are a variety of opinions on what should be done to manage the Social Security Disability program. The issue has become one of the major issues of the upcoming presidential election, and recent data has shown that the number of disability claims has increased significantly during the recession.

According to sources, 8.9 million Americans were on the disability program back in 2007, but that number has increased to 10.7 million, a 20 percent increase. Non-economic factors such as an increasing backlog of applicants and a large aging population have certainly helped contribute to the problem, but the recession itself has certainly had its effect.

In our previous post, we began looking at the appeals process for applicants seeking Social Security disability coverage. As we noted last time, there are four separate levels of appeal one can proceed through, beginning with reconsideration.

We left off discussing the second level of appeal, the hearing with an administrative law judge. At this level, the person appeal their decision will be questioned, as will any witnesses they bring to verify their claims. The judge may also question other witnesses for information, such as medical or vocational experts. The appellant or their representative will be allowed to question those witnesses.

When a person applies for Social Security Disability, it is often the case that they are in a financially precarious position. When that is the case, getting a claim rejected can be not only frustrating, but scary.

The Social Security Administration has a defined appeals process that allows applicants to have their case reexamined when they don't agree with the decision they've received. Here we'll take a brief look at this process, and things our readers should keep in mind regarding a Social Security Disability appeal.

In our previous post, we took a look at the five-step series of questions the Social Security Administration (SSA) considers when making disability determinations.

As we have seen, some of the questions can be seen as rather vague or subjective, particularly those concerning whether the applicant can do the work they did previously, and if not, whether they can do any other type of work. Both of these are determinations to be made when the conditions affecting an applicant does affect their ability to work, but not as severely as an impairment on the administration's official listing of impairments. Here we'll consider the question of whether the applicant can do the work they previously performed.

One of the questions many people have about Social Security Disability is the simple question of "Am I disabled?" From the common way of speaking, many things may qualify as a disability, but from the viewpoint of the Social Security Administration, there are technical requirements.

When the Social Security Administration determines whether an applicant is technically disabled, it uses a five step process. The questions to be considered are: whether the applicant is working; whether the condition is "severe"; whether the condition is on the administration's list of disabling conditions; whether the applicant can do the work they previously did; and whether any other type of work can be performed.

Allsup, a provider of Social Security Disability Insurance representation and Medicare plan selection, recently conducted a study which found that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities, after steady increases over the last four quarters, fell in the last quarter of 2011 to the lowest rate since the fourth quarter of 2008.

That is certainly good news, but the study also found that those with disabilities still experience an unemployment rate over 60 percent higher than that of people without disabilities in the fourth quarter of 2011.