 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 |
The Disability reconsideration Appeal - what is it and how do you file for it?How to prove you are disabled and win disability benefits The disability reconsideration is the first level of appeal for a denial of a social security disability or SSI disability claim. A reconsideration is essentially this: the social security administration will simply take a second look at your disability claim to see if the first decision (when your disability application was denied) was correct or incorrect. As with the application for disability, your case will be assigned to a disability examiner at the state disability processing agency. In most states, this agency is referrred as the DDS, or disability determination services agency. Processing the Reconsideration appeal At DDS, social security may request your medical records again, particularly if you indicate on the appeal forms that you have had new treatment with your current physician or physicians, or that you have a new source of treatment. Of course, you may be sent to a consultative medical examination (CE for short). These exams are performed by independent doctors and psychologists and generally serve the purpose of providing recent documentation to a decision-maker on a claim if the claimant does not have recent medical records in their file ("recent", for social security purposes, means having at least some evidence that is not older than 90 days) How long does it take to process a reconsideration appeal? Ordinarily, no longer than a disability application. Typically, a reconsideration decision on a disability claim is made faster than on a disability application and it is not unreasonable to expect a decision within eight weeks. Unfortunately, in most cases, you are even more likely to be denied on a reconsideration than on a disability application. In prior years, the average national rate of denial on a request for reconsideration was 85 percent. Recent reporting of federal statistics indicates that it is now approximately 87 percent. Bear in mind that this is a national average and that the denial rate on a reconsideration may be higher in some states, and lower in others. Why are reconsiderations turned down so often? Simply because the reconsideration decision is made by the same agency (DDS) that denied the claim in the first place. The only real difference is that a different disability examiner makes the decision, usually using the exact same medical evidence, and usually within just a few weeks of the first decision--which was a denial of the claim--having been made. In most cases, given this type of setup, it would be illogical to think that any decision that was different from the first would be reached. In cases where a claim is approved on a reconsideration appeal, it is often because the disability examiner who decided the initial claim, a.k.a. the disability application, so clearly flubbed the decision (so much so that the reconsideration-level examiner who takes a second look at the claim cannot ignore the incompetence of the decision) OR because new medical information has surfaced, such as a new diagnosis or a downgrade in the claimant's condition by the claimant's doctor or doctors. The real reason you should file a reconsideration Reconsideration appeals are practically doomed to fail. But that doesn't mean that they are not worth doing. First of all, a small percentage of them do get approved. This by itself makes a reconsideration worth filing. However, in most cases, the tactical value of a reconsideration is that if a person gets denied on this appeal, they can then file the next appeal which is a request for a disability hearing. And at hearings, those with representation have a substantially higher chance of being approved. This is even more so if the case is properly prepared (obtaining medical record updates and submitting them to the judge, getting statements from the claimant's doctor or doctors and submitting them as well, and also being prepared to counter statements raised by expert witnesses called to the hearing by the administrative law judge). Disability hearings involving representation are typically won more than 60 percent of the time. You may contact your local Social Security office to request your reconsideration paper work and if you have a disability lawyer you can simply contact this individual to handle your request for reconsideration. Whether you submit a reconsideration or your attorney does, the reconsideration appeal must be submitted to social security within sixty-five days (the sixty day appeal deadline plus 5 days allowed for mailing). This means it must actually be received by the Social Security Administration, not just post marked, by the sixty-fifth day. 
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 |