Most applicants for Social Security Disability or SSI disability benefits will be in the position of having to request a disability hearing at some point.
The Social Security Disability hearing is the last realistic hope of qualifying for Social Security Disability benefits. In fact, if your disability claim is denied at the administrative law judge hearing, your representative is likely to advise you to begin the Social Security Disability process again.
The disability determination process is at best a 'hurry up and wait' experience for most applicants. The average wait to receive a decision from the state disability determination services agency in charge of making disability decisions for the social security administration (SSA) is about 3 to 4 months.
If you have been denied Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits, you are probably wondering what went wrong. Chances are, you are, or feel that you are, suffering from considerable physical or mental limitations as a result of your condition, or you would never have gone through the process of filing in the first place.
Applicants filing for Social Security Disability (SSD) or SSI benefits can help to speed the disability determination process along by gathering their own medical records and submitting them along with their initial application, rather than supplying only the required medical history.
Do not assume that because you have been diagnosed with a severe medical condition and received medical treatment for that condition you will be approved for Social Security Disability (SSD) or SSI benefits, even if you have a mountain of medical records to back up your claim.
In order to be eligible for Social Security Disability (SSD) or supplemental security income (SSI) benefits, you must demonstrate that you are a) physically or mentally disabled and b) are in financial need (unable to perform substantial gainful activity) as a result of your disability.
In addition, because disability claims are so often denied upon initial review, and must then pass through the first appeal (called a request for reconsideration), and then upon denial of the reconsideration appeal to a hearing before an administrative judge, the wait for a final decision on an application can stretch from several months into years
While it may be tempting to blame the slow pace on the disability examiner assigned to your case, it is far more likely that delays are caused by the failure of physicians and hospitals to forward medical records to the examiner in a timely fashion.
The ideal situation, then, is for a claimant to have their disability application approved quickly by the disability examiner at the first level of consideration, the state disability determination agency.
Individuals who feel, of course, that their condition is improving and would possibly like to return to work should not feel discourgaged from working.