because a bunch of paranoid Republicans are scared to death you might still be well enough to enjoy your life.

That's exactly it, you know.

And some people are convince that there are people on disability without merit.maybe some are but all the people I know that have tried to get disability were obviously disabled and had to go through Hell to get approved.Congratulations, Quackers.

They make it difficult to get -- and to stay -- on disability. That's the government's way of weeding out the fraudsters and that's how come disability fraud is very rare, contrary to all the RW propaganda.

a good friend of mine was told by a friend who worked in SSA that they were told to just deny 50% of all new cases without any review. This means that valid cases were denied out of hand.

There are frequent threads about disability, that chart would come in handy.

And, after seeing that chart, I am very impressed that Mr. Dixie got his SSDI on the first try, down here in Ala.
He has a visible physical disability but had managed to work regularly even tho it was painful all the time to do so.
His company closed, we moved here, and he was able to get on SSDI. Probably could have done so before but had always refused the idea.

Even so, it still took 18 months, and we were damn lucky that we had enough savings to get us thru.
Now he has been moved over to reg. Soc. Sec. since he turned 65 this year.

BTDT

(Been There, Done That)

been there,, done that!

I'm so happy for you. I remember breaking down and sobbing in a friend's car when I was accepted . I was so relieved it overwhelmed me. I went through so much trying to go back to work when I shouldn't have been forced to. But they made me try and fail before I was allowed to be disabled.

I had this same neck, sholderblade, arm, nerve pinch, that I'm going through now, while I student taught. I had to try and work full of narcotics and nerve medicine and hot packs or cold packs. My boss handed me the National Suicide hotline number after I said I'd rather be dead.

I still have PTSD from being mistreated at that job. I had a case with the the EEOC but dropped it.

won on appeal. congrats to u.

I know that Soc. Sec. disability does that, did not know if SSI ...state disability.... does.

the decision is that the disability started after that date.

It is actually possible for Social Security Disability (not SSI) to go back to before the date of application (up to a year) if the disability started before then.

I have a cousin who has Parkinsons, her hours were cut because she couldn't do the job, the boss kept her on part time because he cared. But when he cut the hours again, she told me what was going on. I told her to apply, and to tell them that her inability to work, her disability started when her hours were first cut. She did, and the SSD went back to before when she applied. With SSI it starts on the date that you apply (if you were disabled as of that date.)

I'm still waiting.

It`s a new day.......

or state...?

You should be able to get Medicare, too, if Soc. Sec.
That has been a real blessing to Mr. Dixie and me.

Either way, Congrats....I know tis an immense relief.

from your disability date. So if the judge determines you were disabled as of January 2014, then you would get 12 months of back pay and get Medicare right away. If they determined you were disabled as of January 2015, you wouldn't get any back pay and you wouldn't get Medicare for another year.

Any eligibility for SSI should get you Medicaid as well.

People who have never endured that process cannot comprehend what it's like. My own case took years, and the relief of the long-awaited decision brought tears of joy. The battles were by no means over, but at least there was a beginning of dealing with issues that had been made worse by all the delays. I am very truly happy for you!

best of luck.

letter to verify the onset date. The notice of award will come shortly after that and that's where you'll get your back benefits breakdown.

I told him of course not. He then told me my case never should have gotten to him and he approved it on the spot.

You fought the battle and won! So proud of you for hanging in there!

But thought I'd just say congrats on hanging in there and fighting for what you needed. I hope to they will give you money back to the point you applied since you were wrongly denied benefits.

Congrats!

Now,
That your life is semi under control, enjoy it while you can for the next three years or so.
Then begin to have that small black storm cloud following you, the three, five, seven year review process, where you more or less have to fill out the application form all over again, and if this new reader doesn't like your answers they can cut you off with no warning. Nice scary thing to have hanging over your head the rest of your life!

Once you hit 50 the reviews are usually spread out to 5 years.

He got the SSDI at age 59, and of course at age 65 they move you over to Soc.Sec. and you still get the same amount..

Maybe his age precluded any review?
or maybe they do not review 100% disability on SSDI?

Under RSDI (Retirement, Survivors, Disable Income, the technical name for what people call "Social Security", you are on RSDI once you are "Disabled" and the law PRESUMES you are "Disabled" once you turn 65 (Or if born after 1938 that age increases, see the chart from SSA referenced below):

Just pointing out it is the SAME PROGRAM for people who are disabled AND people who reach retirement age (Please note early retirement at age 62 is still permitted, but at a discount over waiting till you turn full retirement wage. No discount occurs if you are ruled to be disabled before reaching "retirement age).

Retirement Age chart: If born before 1938 retirement age is 65, if born after 1960 it is 67. Between 1938 and 1960 the age of retirement slowly goes up:

http://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/nra.html

1937 and prior..65
1938...............65 and 2 months
1939...............65 and 4 months
1940...............65 and 6 months
1941...............65 and 8 months
1942...............65 and 10 months
1943-54...........66
1955................66 and 2 months
1956................66 and 4 months
1957................66 and 6 months
1958................66 and 8 months
1959................66 and 10 months
1960 and later....67

as a psychologist, i see numerous applicants for disability benefits. after years of hearing the story of how no one gets approved on the first shot, i googled it. sure enough, 95% of first applicants get rejected; odds go to 50% on appeal, which i tell my clients, is better than vegas. i also remind them it's tax payers' dollars SSDI must be so stingy with, but most of them paid taxes into that fund. so it is NOT a handout; it's like any other insurance policy. NEVER FORGET THIS!!

[important distinction, however: this is no profiteering insurance company that has 'owners' who structure the revenue to benefit themselves the most. (this i count as an unpardonable sin that has no place whatsoever in basic humans needs, such as healthcare, education, water and utilities, food, shelter; yup, that basic socialist approach.) in contrast to SS and medicare, where the only folks who profit are all of us! with the government running it, that means it is WE THE PEOPLE who benefit! you know, US!]

and if i'm not mistaken, your disability benefit payments are back-dated to the date of your application. i well could be mistaken, tho; i'm not employed by SSDI, just contracted to contribute an objective analysis, which as a taxpayer and someone who at any point could have needed such assistance, in the past or in the future, i appreciate very much.

we are, after all, all in this together. i also share these sentiments with my clients, who - almost to each and every person i've seen for this, and that counts in the several hundreds - are deeply ashamed and frustrated that their disabilities limit their ability to be productive and self-sufficient. in all my years seeing these applicants, i have only encountered one or two folks i suspected of working the system. i'm sure those numbers are higher with other locations and professionals, but all in all, folks want to work, and they want to do so with dignity and safety. too many jobs are debilitating and brutal on the body; the poor especially cannot sustain these jobs, often more than one at once, and given so many of these jobs are on the front line of keeping our society running, we owe them at least this much. given my socialist bent, i'd say we owe them far far more than this, but i tend to recognize that a society is not only as strong as its weakest link, but that it is as a whole responsible for all the links, and moreover, that it will be judged by how it treats the least among us.

yup, jesus was the first socialist. and don't dismiss me on that count; i'm an atheist who practices buddhist meditation and is earning a masters in religious studies. fascinated by human belief systems that i am, and how anyone could count this program as a handout. like i said, it works like any insurance program, except once you receive benefits, you do not have to continue paying 'premiums'/taxes.

[much of this was written in response to a commented some heartless cretin who insisted this was a handout. good on whomever removed that comment!]

My wife also got denied twice. Once she saw the judge (with a lawyer) she was awarded in under 15 minutes.

After they started. They had a medical examiner in the room too.

my wife was interviewed by a SS doctor. He fell asleep several times during the interview

over the claimants own personal physician.

His opinion outweighed that of her general practitioner and pain specialist

now, an utter nightmare.

I tried for SS, but after almost 4 years of applying and appealing, I think I'm not going to get through.

for you. That really does make the difference.

Look at my original post to see a breakdown of when and where people get approved in the process. Hang in there!

I have been offline until now and didn't expect to come back to this. Now I'll try to reply those who asked questions but it may take me a few.

I had mine approved recently much to my amazement. It feels good to have a certain amount coming in as opposed to going through savings. I'm told my pension which I should start getting at the end of the year won't affect it either.

81.4% of all people who appeal above the Reconsideration level are approved, but the approval rate ABOVE the Administrative Law Judge Level is less then 5%. The rate of approval at the Administrative Law Judge Level varies from 60-90%.

Thus appeals to the Appeals Council in Fall Church Virginia and to Federal District Courts are generally NOT worth doing UNLESS you have a clear case of error by the Administrative Law Judge.

Just pointing out the big reversal of denials is at the Administrative Law Judge Level NOT above that level. The chart IMPLIES that the reversal rate is 81.4% THROUGH Federal District Court, and that is only true do to the HUGE reversal rate at the Administrative Law Judge Level.

A SECOND ERROR is the reference to Reconsideration. Starting around 2000, Social Security started to phase out Reconsideration for Social Security cases (But NOT for SSI cases). The main reason was that the reversal rate at reconsideration was very low compared to the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Level. Now when Congress passed Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in 1974 it reference the Reconsideration step that Social Security had been using since the early 1960s and made it part of the SSI Act. This made Reconsideration part of the process to get SSI as set by Congress BUT NOT part of the process to get Social Security. Thus Social Security has the power to drop Reconsideration for Social Security cases, for Congress has NEVER passed a law referring to reconsideration in Social Security cases BUT SSA CAN NOT DROP RECONSIDERATION FOR SSI CASES, for Congress made such Reconsideration part of the SSI process. Confusing, yes, but it is the law.

posting.

The 81.4 is near the bottom of that chart. The reports I have read is the 60 to 90 % I mentioned, but the CHART clearly shows a 81.4%. That number in the chart is claimed to be ALJ, Appeals Council, and Federal District Court combined. I was making my objection to that number for even if true it is mostly at the ALJ Level NOT above those levels.

wrong at the remand level. Unfortunately about 40% of those get only partially-favorables and the onset date gets adjusted. sometimes partially favorables also change the DLI and then it changes to T16 (SSI) pay. This also changes the back benefits. A lot of attorneys are leaving the field because of this.

Yay! I think that means I should receive something within the next 60 days....