 SSDRC What is the Application Process for Social Security Disability and SSI? How do you Win Benefits under Social Security Disability or SSI? If I am determined disabled, how far back will Social Security pay benefits? How do you prove your disability case if you have a mental condition? What Can I Do to Improve My Chances of Winning Disability Benefits Common Mistakes after Receiving a Denial of Social Security Disability or SSI Benefits How to File for Disability - Tips for Filing If You Get Approved For SSDI Will You Also Get Medicare? How much does a Social Security disability attorney get paid? Social Security Disability SSI Criteria and the Evaluation Process How long does it take to be approved for SSI or Social Security disability? What do you Need to Prove to Qualify for Disability Benefits? Social Security Disability SSI and Fibromyalgia Social Security Disability SSI and Degenerative Disc Disease Can I Qualify For Disability and Receive Benefits based on Depression? Answers to questions about SSD and SSI disability What Disabilities Qualify for SSI and Social Security Disability Benefits? Social Security Disability Status Social Security Disability Tips — how a claim gets worked on Social Security Disability, SSI Disability - Terms, Definitions, Concepts |
How Do You Qualify For Disability If You Don’t Have Money To Go To the Doctor?How to prove you are disabled and win disability benefits Social Security does not require an individual to have any medical records in order to file for, or qualify for disability. However, disability examiners need to have medical history treatment notes in order to make a decision. If you do not have the money to go to the doctor, check and see if there are any clinics in your area that might be helping individuals with limited resources, or who lack insurance, to see if you can receive medical care. If you find a clinic, by all means establish medical treatment there. If there are no free clinics, even hospital emergency room records can be helpful. For the purposes of this question, I will explain how a disability examiner will determine if you qualify for disability when you lack medical records. If an individual has no records, or all of their records are more than ninety days old, the disability examiner will have to schedule a CE, a consultative examination (sometimes referred to as a social security medical exam) for all the claimant's alleged impairments. This means an individual alleging a mental and physical impairment who has not received any, or very little, medical treatment would have to attend both physical and mental consultative examinations to determine the severity and limitation of their alleged disabling conditions. While this seems good on the surface, and it is better than nothing, consultative examinations are usually just brief examinations to get a current status of a disability claimant’s condition (or conditions) so that the disability examiner can make a decision and close the case. It does not take much for an examiner to deny a disability claim and, for the most part, consultative examinations are an effective tool for this. Rarely do consultative examinations lead to disability approvals in social security disability and SSI cases other than an impairment like mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, or learning disabilities. The reason consultative examinations lead to more approvals in those situations is because they are based upon objective testing--i.e. intelligence quotient, memory testing--rather than the consultative examiner's professional opinion (the consultative examiner would be the doctor or pyschologist that social security has paid to conduct the consultative examination, which, as mentioned, can constitute some form of mental testing, in addition to types of physical examinations). It gets a little trickier if your impairment is based upon a physical problem, because physicians who have no expertise in the area of the disability claimant’s disabling condition usually perform the examination for social security and offer their opinion as to the claimant’s limitations. For example, there have been many times that a disability claimant with a back problem has been sent to an allergist or gynecologist for an evaluation. Realistically, how much of an evaluation can an allergist or gynecologist give an individual with an orthopedic condition? This is a common complaint amongst disability claimants who attend consultative examinations. So many claimants realize the moment that they meet the doctor that they will not have a thorough examination that truly evaluates their impairment. It is simply a means to an end for Social Security to make a medical determination for disability benefits. It is discouraging but, for the individual who has no recent treatment of their own (and, thus, no recent medical records), even having just consultative examination reports in their disability folder may offer a bare chance of winning SSD or SSI benefits. As was stated, however, rarely do such exams pave the way for an approval. 
Return to: SSDRC, or the Questions, Answers, Tips, and Advice page Individual Questions and Answers SSD and SSI are Federal Programs The title II Social Security Disability and title 16 SSI Disability programs operate under federal guidelines and, therefore, the program requirements--medical and non-medical--apply to all states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming Recent approval and denial statistics for various states can be viewed here: Social Security Disability, SSI Approval and Denial Statistics by state Special Section: Disability Lawyers and unnecessary claim denials |