What are the ways to File an Appeal for a Social Security Disability or SSI claim denial?

How to prove you are disabled
and win disability benefits

There are several ways to appeal a denial of a claim if you have applied for social security disability or SSI, or if you have filed your first appeal (a reconsideration request) and need to file your second appeal (a request for a disability hearing).

1. The first way would be to call the SSA toll-free line at 1-800-772-1213. My own advice, as a former disability examiner, would be to never call this number. It has been the experience of many individuals who have worked to assist disability claimants, including myself, that the toll-free services operated by SSA often lead to incorrect information being provided to claimants, sometimes with unfortunate and time-costly results.

2. The second way to file an appeal would be to simply contact the social security office where you did your application for disability (or did a prior appeal), either by phone, or by visiting that local office in person. After you contact the social security office, they can either send you the necessary appeal forms for you to return to them (in person or by mail), OR you can print these forms yourself from the social security website and then return them to the social security office.

Printing them yourself will save you a few days time that would be consumed by mail, but if you print your own forms you will need to make sure that A) you print the correct forms from the SSA site and also B) that you print out the medical release forms (form SSA-827) that social security will need from you to obtain any additional medical records. For most people, it will probably be less problematic to simply contact the social security office and have them mail the appeal forms and the medical release forms to you.

3. The third way, and the simplest way, to file an appeal would be to have your disability attorney, assuming you are represented, do the appeal. Individuals who have simply filed an application for disability will not generally need an attorney.

Individuals who have already been denied and are now at the reconsideration appeal stage OR have been denied on a reconsideration and need to file a request for a social security hearing should probably consider getting representation. Of course, if you are represented, your designated representative should handle your appeal paperwork for you.

Note: There are some attorneys who actually put in a strong effort toward winning a claim at the disability application level--so, yes, sometimes having a lawyer at the earliest stage possible can be of great benefit, but it really depends on getting a pro-active person to represent your claim.

If you are represented and receive a notice of disapproved claim (i.e. a notice of denial), then your first step should be to contact your disability lawyer (or your non-attorney advocate if this is the case) and advise them that you have been denied. Your rep will usually receive copies of whatever notice you receive, but this does not always happen and sometimes the claimant will get the notice first; therefore calling is always a good idea to ensure that both parties know exactly what is happening on the case.

continued at: Can you file an Internet Appeal for a Social Security Disability or SSI claim denial?

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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