SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY UPDATES

My favorite flowers - now in full bloom just outside my office window - have nothing whatever to do with Social Security disability claims or appeals.  However, they serve to remind me that nothing is permanent and it pays to stop every now and then and smell the flowers.  Hope you enjoyed these as much as I do.

If you keep up with blogs, TV news, radio talk or any other media, you will hear a great deal of "buzz" about Social Security disability. It seems like nearly everyday some "journalist" writes an article about how easy it is to get Social Security disability, even for people who have nothing wrong with them except for alcohol,drug abuse or obesity.  Or the writer may wax eloquent concerning the deficits in the Social Security trust funds and how the system is going bankrupt even sooner than first estimated.  Usually, they will tie all these woes into the recession, the unemployment rate or the general economy.  Most of these conclusions are erroneous but that doesn't seem to slow down the muckraker journalists. These writers nearly always fail to mention that the national average for award rates (approval rate) for Social Security disability claimants at the hearing level has now fallen to below 50 percent for the first time ever. That's down between 10 ...

Often I get a question about working part time and applying for Social Security disability.  In many situations the claimant is not able to work but is trying to work part time while the disability application grinds through the process.  The question logically arises, will working cause Social Security to deny the application - even if the claimant's work does not each the level of substantial gainful activity (SGA)? The answer is - maybe.  In 2012 the standard for SGA is pretax earnings of $1010 per month. If an individual earns less than SGA he or she is not disqualifed for disability benefits because of the earnings.  But there is more to the story. I will quote from 20 CFR 416.971.   "Even if the work you have done was not substantial gainful activity, it may show that you are able to do more work than you actually did.  We will consider all of the medical and vocational evidence in your file to decide whether or not you have the ability to engage...

MENTAL RETARDATION AND SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS May a person obtain Social Security disability or SSI benefits on the basis of mental retardation? Yes. Mental retardation or developmental delay is covered under Section 12.05 of the Social Security disability handbook [CFR 404, Subpart P, Appendix I]. If the claimant has a valid full scale, verbal or performance IQ score of 59 or less, (s)he will generally be found disabled. (The  lowest  subscore of an IQ test may be used to meet this requirement). When an individual's lowest IQ score ranges from 60 through 70 there must exist additional marked limitations of function to warrant a finding of disability. In short, the IQ score alone will not be sufficient for a finding of disability.  With a score below 60, that alone will usually suffice for a disability finding. My experience has been that mental retardation cases are fairly straight forward. With adequate professional evaluation and documentation, a...