I won’t pull any punches.
The disability process is long, daunting, and demoralizing. Why people would go through this thinking it’s
easy money is beyond me. It took me over
two years, and I lost my condo in the process, which also ruined my
credit. Believe me, I would not have
done that if I didn’t have to, but heart surgery, rheumatic heart disease, diastolic
heart failure, two strokes, asthma, Fibromyalgia, Lupus, COPD (thanks to
pulmonary hypertension and not smoking), narcolepsy, and a few other things
that are currently slipping my mind thanks to cognitive impairment, made it necessary in order for me to survive. I miss my career, and I made far more money
when I was able to work, but I do what I have to because of my health.
My disability adventure took almost three years from the
time I first applied to when I was approved.
I learned a few things then, and I’ve picked up a few more as I’ve
watched friends, support group members, and others travel that path as
well. Maybe some of that can help you.
If you can apply for Social Security disability first on
your own, do so. You can go online and
do it anytime, at your own convenience.
If you wait to have an advocate or attorney do it, you have to wait
until you can get an appointment, which can take a while this time of
year. It’s usually faster and easier to
take this first step on your own.
There are areas on the application that require a lot of
information, so try to compile as much of that up front as you can. Have all of your doctors' info handy --
names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of treatment, etc. Do the same for any hospitals where you may
have been treated. You’ll be asked for
the names, addresses, and phone numbers of friends and relatives that can
verify what you say. Have that
information at hand as well. Believe me,
it will make the application go a lot faster and not seem quite as mind
boggling.
Share as many medical records on the application that you
can. Know dates of hospitalizations. In my case, I had medical records going back
30 years, as my "mystery illness" was very well documented. However, there was one point in 2006 where I
was fairly healthy for about six months and only saw my doctors for my required
follow-ups and such. Guess which six
months they used to determine that I was well enough to work? The SSA folks look for gaps like that, and
they will find them. That was the ONLY
time period for which they requested my medical records. They did not request records for any of the
12 times I was hospitalized in 2007 or the 7 times the next year, and they didn’t
request any doctors’ records from any of my doctors during either of those two
years either. Don’t take it personally
if they do that to you. It’s just how
they work.
It seems like a daunting task to do this on your own, but it’s
not really as difficult as the SSA likes to make it seem, or at least it
shouldn’t be. If you’re worried about
your writing skills or anything like that, have a friend help you. It will still be faster than it usually is
going to through an attorney, and every day you can save yourself in this
process is one less day of stress and worry.
Odds are that your application will be denied. Don’t take that personally either. If you’re under 50, you can pretty much count
on it, and it simply is because of your age.
They probably won’t even consider anything else. If you’re over 50, you have a better shot of
getting disability on first application, but don’t count on it either.
You can do the first appeal on your own as well. It’s as simple as going online and saying you
request to appeal their decision. Once
that appeal is denied, you need an attorney.
I originally went with a local attorney because he came
highly recommended by an acquaintance.
From what I’ve seen in the years since, I now recommend everyone go with
a local attorney or practice. I’ve seen
many people dropped by their attorney during the disability process -- one was
dropped only 8 days before her hearing. Another
met her attorney about 10 minutes prior to her hearing, and her attorney didn’t
have a clue who she was or why she was there.
(She was denied.) In each of
these cases the attorney was not local.
They were, for the most part, those big out-of-town firms that you see
on television. They advertise their high
success rates to suck you in, but those rates aren’t exactly accurate from what
I’ve been able to determine.
For an attorney to declare a “win” their client must obtain
a positive outcome. If they drop a case
they aren’t sure about, then they don’t have to count it. If they have a definite win conflicting on
the schedule with a maybe, they’ll always go with the definite. The numbers that way of doing business churns
out look better in the ads. Besides,
when you get one of the “big box” firms, you rarely, if ever, get one of the
names on the letterhead. You usually get
a junior attorney who’s probably just looking to make a name and move up. Those attorneys get promotions by churning
out cases as fast as they can turn them.
They don’t want a case that eats up too much time. The profit margin is too low.
A local attorney has a reputation to uphold within the
community. If they say they’ll be there
for you, they need to be, or word gets around, and that’s not good for business. They’re willing to put in more time and
effort, and they’ll know who you are. They
also know the judges you may be appearing before. They’ll know what they’re looking for, how to
approach them, what to say, and how to say it.
An out-of-towner won’t know those little things, and those little things
can make or break your case.
Document everything.
Every time you see a doctor, ask for a print out with why you were
there, what you discussed, any changes to your care, etc. Many doctors automatically do that these
days. (Mine do.) Keep those papers, along with all of your lab
results and anything else you can think of in a big binder. If it gets too big, start volume two. It will help you should you need it for
court, and it could also help your doctors.
When my medical team was trying to figure out what was going on with me,
I started taking my binder to every appointment. My
PCP loved it and swears it’s one of the main reasons they finally figured out
what was wrong with me. Thankfully, my
doctors are all now networked via computer and keep up with that by themselves,
so I don’t have to carry my binder anymore, but it sure came in handy when I
was seeing one specialist after another.
It could also come in handy when you take on the IRS. If someone says you don’t have records for a
certain date, visit, or procedure, check your binder. You may have proof at your fingertips.
Fees – When an attorney takes your case, they do so on a contingency
basis, which means they only get paid if you win your claim. This fee, as set out by the Social Security
Administration, is 25% of your back pay, up to a maximum of $6,000. The attorney cannot ask for a retainer fee or
money up front.
You will be asked to sign a form that explains the payment
method. That paper will also explain who
covers any incidental fees, such as copying costs, messaging fees, and things
like that, and how they should be paid.
I was fortunate because my attorney absorbed those fees, and there are
others out there that do that. Some
attorneys will pay those fees and then send you a bill for them after the case
is decided. Some, especially the big TV firms,
will ask for money up front to cover these fees, or will bill you as they
occur. Be aware that this upfront fee is
legal, but it should NEVER be more than $200-$250, as those fees normally don’t
go over $100 or $200.
One person agreed to about $1,000 in incidental fees without
realizing it. She went with a TV firm,
signed the agreement because she thought they must know what they’re doing, never
met her attorney, only spoke to a paralegal on the phone twice, was dropped by
the firm about two weeks prior to her hearing, scrambled to find a new attorney,
ended up losing the hearing because that poor guy didn’t have a clue about her
or her case, and then received a bill from the big firm for $1,000. When she asked for an itemized statement, she
discovered that she was billed for numerous phone calls and things that she
never saw evidence of. She didn’t pay
them, and the bill is now in collections.
Before you sign an agreement make sure it spells out who
pays those incidental fees, how much they’re expected to be, and when they’re
expected to be paid. It’s important.
If you lose your appeals but are approved for a hearing, be
patient. When I was first approved for a
hearing, the wait time to even have it scheduled was something like 21
months. Once it was scheduled, I still
had to wait a few months for the hearing to take place. It was an agonizing wait, and that’s when I
ended up losing my condo. That sure didn’t
help the stress. New judges have been
added since my adventure, though, so the wait is only like 13-15 months
now.
When it’s time for the hearing, make sure you show up
early. Sometimes hearings are cancelled
or rescheduled, and they’ll move right on to yours if you and your attorney are
there are there. During the hearing, you’ll
do a lot more listening than talking. That’s
okay. You’ll be asked questions. Answer honestly. It’s okay to show emotion, but don’t lose
your temper.
Take with you any new health information, such as a new
diagnosis with documentation, any new medical situations that have arisen, any
developments, new medical records, letters from your doctors, and things like
that. You may be able to give further
documentation to the judge for his/her consideration. However, your attorney may handle this for
you. I kept my attorney updated with my
appointments, procedures, and hospitalizations, and he requested the records so
that my file was always current and up-to-date.
One thing you might take to your hearing is letters. Have friends, relatives, loved ones, and
maybe former employers write a letter telling how your disability has affected
both you and them. Let them tell how you’ve
changed, what you can no longer do, etc.
Some judges will let you read one or two of them, and some judges will
take the letters with them to consider.
Not all judges do though. Your
attorney may be able to tell you if the judge assigned to your case is one of
those that does accept things like that.
Your attorney can give you other information about your judge as well,
such as approval and disapproval rates.
You can also get that information from the internet.
After the hearing, you wait again. I was fortunate in that I had my decision in
about 10 days. Some people wait the full
8 weeks to receive their decision, and that’s not a pleasant wait at all. Just hang in there. At this point, your adventure may nearly be
over.
If any of this doesn’t make sense, I apologize. It was written in one session, straight
through, with very little editing. Thank
goodness for spell and grammar check!
Anyway, if you need some clarification, just ask.
