 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 |
Can you File for Disability for more than one Condition?How to prove you are disabled and win disability benefits Social Security Disability and SSI claims are seldom based on just a single condition. Usually, a claim will involve multiple conditions listed at the time of filing a disability application. Likewise, claims are often not limited to just physical or mental impairments, but both types of impairments (for instance, degenerative disc disease and anxiety, or fibromyalgia and depression). Can you successfully file for disability for more than one condition, or for both a mental and physical condition? Yes, and, typically, listing multiple conditions can help a claim. This is because disability claims that are filed with the social security administration are not based on simply having a specific condition, or a type of condition, but, rather, on the limitations that result from one or more conditions. To explain what we mean by this, we should make reference to the disability evaluation process. After a disability claim is taken at a local social security office, it is transferred to a state disability agency where it will be assigned to a disability examiner. The examiner's first job is to request the applicant's medical records and, after they have been received, to evaluate them for the purpose of determining how the applicant's condition (or conditions) affects their ability to function and engage in normal activities of daily living. The disability examiner, toward this end, basically reads the applicant's medical records looking for evidence of specific limitations. Such limitations may involve how long the applicant can sit, stand, walk, stoop, crouch, reach, grasp, hear, see, etc. Other limitations may involve the individual's ability (or inability) to recall information, or learn new information, or get along with supervisors and co-workers in a work setting. The limitations held by an applicant for disability benefits will be reflected on something known as a residual functional capacity form. This form is completed by the disability examiner and also by a doctor who works at the same agency (disability determination services). How important is this form? Very, since the rating that is given by the disability examiner on the RFC form will be compared to the jobs that were previously done by the applicant (past work) and also compared to jobs that the applicant might be considered having a chance of doing (other work). Very often, the more conditions that are listed on the disability application, the more likely it will be that the applicant will be more functionally restricted (assuming, of course, that a history of treatment for these conditions can be found in the medical records that have been gathered). And greater functional limitations will ordinarily result in a case in which it is more likely for the applicant to be A) found incapable of returning to their past work, and B) found incapable of being able to perform some type of other work in the national economy. For this very reason, individuals who file for disability should make every effort to list everything that is wrong with them, and to include a detailed listing of their medical treatment providers. When it comes to filing a claim for disability with the social security administration, more (more information, more sources of treatment, more diagnosed conditions, etc) is simply better. 
Return to: SSDRC, or the Questions, Answers, Tips, and Advice page Topics and Questions 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 |