Articles Posted in Social Security Disability Insurance

Welsh v. Colvin, an appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, involves a claimant who applied for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits from the United States Social Security Administration (SSA). The SSA denied his applications for benefits.

After the SSA denied his initial application, he appealed that decision. As an experienced SSDI attorney in Massachusetts can explain, the SSA routinely denies far more than half of all new applications almost as a matter of course. Once receiving an initial denial, claimants can appeal the decision to the SSA in writing.

Once the SSA agent gets a written appeal, the denial is reviewed on a peer review system. This means that a coworker of the employee who made the initial denial will review the application and decide if a mistake was made. It is almost always the case that the coworker handling the first appeal will defer to his or her coworker who denied the application and affirm the earlier determination.
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In Whitman v. Colvin, an appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, claimant filed an application for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits under Title II of the United States Social Security Act. Our SSDI lawyers in Boston understand that obtaining a rating of total disability may require extensive litigation on behalf of a claimant.

Claimant asserted that he became disabled in 2007 as result of a degenerative disease affecting his spinal column and a degenerative disease in the joint of one of his thumbs. Claimant initially reported his condition while in prison. On a prison health evaluation form, he stated that he had lower back pain as a result of falling multiple times, and he was currently taking acetaminophen, which was not helping much to control the pain.

The medical staff listed claimant as having chronic back pain and prescribed ibuprofen to help with the plain, but otherwise indicated that he was a healthy adult male with no work restrictions. When he was released from prison, the exit medical evaluation did not mention back pain, but he was given a prescription for extra strength ibuprofen.

Two years later, when claimant applied for SSDI benefits, he was ordered to undergo a medical evaluation in which x-rays of his back were taken. The evaluating physician noted that he had a severe degenerative disc disease but did not find any presence of misalignment in his spine.

When answering questions for the patient history report, claimant noted that he had unbearable back pain and could not sleep at night. Claimant again blamed his falls during work as the cause of this back pain. The doctor wrote an opinion that stated that claimant had generalized osteoarthritis in his back, right wrist, and thumb. The doctor was of the opinion that claimant was disabled and could not work in his present condition.
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Moon v. Calvin, a case from the U.S. District Court for the Seventh Circuit, involved a claimant who was 26-years-old at the time she filed for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. She is a mother who has worked in the past as a cashier, bank employee, and as a nursing assistant.

As your Boston disability lawyer understands, being disabled can mean different things to different people. This claimant had a long history of health problems, including joint problems, back pain, sleep apnea, and migraines, and she also suffers from depression. According to doctors, most of her health conditions are a result of the fact that she is 5’5″ tall and weighs over 400 pounds.

When claimant was diagnosed with migraines, she was prescribed two drugs but chose not to take them due to worries of side effects. She was eventually prescribed two new drugs, which were being taken at the time of her hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ). The ALJ is employed by the Social Security Administration (SSA), which, among its other responsibilities, oversees the SSDI program.
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According to a recent article, a former Kentucky police officer has been denied his claim for a disability pension from the city. The former police officer was arrested over a confrontation with a soccer referee and faced a disciplinary hearing.

The officer tried to push the disciplinary hearing back, so that he could have his disability hearing first, but his requests were denied on two occasions. Rather than face discipline from the police department that may have included termination, he decided to resign from the force.

As he was no longer eligible to receive any type of pension due to his resignation, he applied for disability benefits with the city. A disability pension does not require 20 years on the job, but it does require that the claimant be permanently disabled. He was sent to three doctors and, after a hearing, his claim was denied. His attorney said that his claim for disability has nothing to do with the altercation with the soccer referee.

As your Boston disability attorney understands, there is considerable difference between a private disability insurance plan and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Under a long-term private disability insurance plan, the claimant may be determined to be disabled if, due to injury or illness, they can no longer do the type of work they were doing when they became disabled.
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Boley v. Colvin, an appeal argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, involved a claimant whose application for Social Security Disability benefits was denied. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is the federal agency that denied her claim for disability benefits.

As your Boston Social Security Disability Insurance lawyer can explain, the SSA denies most applications for SSDI and SSI benefits as a matter of practice. It is often only after aggressive representation by a disability attorney that claimants are able to obtain the benefits to which they are entitled.

In Boley, the court looked at the time limit for filing an appeal to a denial of a claim by the SSA. Under the regulations, claimants have 60 days to request a hearing from an administrative law judge (ALJ) after their claim is denied. The claimant in this case did not file her notice of appeal for 9 months. However, the reason she waited so long was that her lawyer never received the notice of denial, as required by the regulations.
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In Hanson v. Colvin, an appeal heard in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the claimant filled for Social Security Disability (SSDI) benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA) because he was unable to work a full 40-hour week due to acute back pain. The claimant asserted that the back pain would radiate to his leg, making it even more difficult for him to work a full week.

According to court records, the claimant takes a variety of pain medication, including oxycodone and Percocet that he reports helps with pain but does not eliminate it. The application for SSDI benefits was denied, and the claimant appealed to the U.S. District Court, which affirmed the denial by the SSA. The claimant then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

As your Boston SSDI attorney can explain, the SSA initially denies the vast majority of all claims. If you have an attorney representing you from the beginning of the process, you have a significantly better chance of obtaining a satisfactory outcome, because a lawyer who regularly handles SSDI understands the process.

In Hanson, the appellate court reasoned that the SSA’s denial of the claim for SSDI benefits, and the District Court’s affirmation of the decision was quite possibly based on incorrect information. The information at was issue related to the opinion of two doctors.
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Our Boston Social Security Disability Insurance attorneys understand the importance of keeping up with current changes with the SSDI program.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Medicare’s hospital program expenditures were lower in 2013 than they were in 2012. This is thought to show a leveling off of the increases in health care costs that we have been experiencing. Based upon these promising trends, the Social Security Administration is predicting that it will be able to pay all benefits through the year 2030. The last estimate predicted funding to run out in 2026. Some of this reduction was credited to lower hospitalization rates.

While the Medicare program is doing well as of late, the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) fund will only be able to pay just over 80 percent of current benefits by 2016. One suggestion to help alleviate the strain on the SSDI fund is allocate more of the money from payroll taxes to the SSDI program by reducing the amount allocated to the Medicare program for retired workers.
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Williams v. Colvin, an appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, involved a 44-year-old claimant who applied for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits due to what she called a cascade of physical and psychological events that occurred in 2002. She claimed that she was no longer able to work due to fibromyalgia, which is a neurological condition that can cause extreme neurological pain and emotional distress.

Some of the symptoms of fibromyalgia, as noted by the U.S. Court of Appeals, are musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, memory loss, mood disorders, and general problems with the way in which the brain processes pain. This is a very serious condition that has affected millions of Americans, though it has only recently been accepted as a legitimate illness. For many years, patients suffered unimaginable and debilitating pain, while basically being told they were imagining the illness.

The administrative law judge (ALJ) at the Social Security Administration (SSA) made a finding in 2012 that fibromyalgia did in fact leave the claimant in this case unable to work, but he found that her date of disability for the purposes of obtaining benefits was 2008 rather than 2012.

As your Boston disability attorney can explain, upon a finding of disability by an ALJ, you may be entitled to a retroactive award of benefits, so the date in which you were determined to be disabled is obviously significant.
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Our Boston SSDI lawyers urge claimants to understand that they may be required to pay taxes on any benefits received. If you are the beneficiary of a private insurance plan and also the recipient of SSDI benefits, your insurance plan may require reimbursing them for any benefits collected from the Social Security Administration. However, the insurance company may not be concerned about the tax consequences you may face and the money you may to owe to the IRS.

It is important to keep in mind that private insurance companies and the Social Security Administration are often much more concerned about their respective bottom lines than your wellbeing.

According to a recent story in Forbes, a disabled woman began receiving benefits from her private insurance plan. The plan required that any benefits received under the plan be reduced by any Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) she received from the Social Security Administration (SSA).
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