Hiring a social security disability attorney in Utah increases your chance of success. Over 64 percent of people applying for disability claims are denied, meaning only 36 percent of the initial claims go through. If your application is rejected, you can appeal the decision.
However, the reconsideration appeal has an even lower rate of success than the initial application. The national approval rate stands at a paltry 13.8 percent, the lowest in all Social Security disability cases. If there was no error on the part of Disability Determination Services, there’s little room for an overturned decision.
Get the work credits
You must have worked in jobs that are covered by Social Security to be eligible for Social Security disability benefits. Fortunately, Social Security covers most of the available jobs in the country, from white to blue collar jobs and everything in between. In other words, you need to prove that you were a productive member of the society before a disability got in the way.
Your annual wages or self-employed income determines your eligibility for social security work credits. As of 2019, you need to make $1,360 in wages or salary to earn a work credit. You can receive a maximum of four work credits per year. To hit all the four credits, you will need to make at least $5,440 in the year.
On average, you need at least 40 work credits to qualify for disability, but the number varies with age. You need to have earned about half the credits in the last ten years before suffering a disability. Naturally, younger workers will need fewer work credits to qualify.
Meet the disability requirement
The Social Security Administration sets strict guidelines as to what they consider to be a disability. They will only believe you to be disabled if you can no longer go back to the same kind of work you were doing before. Or if your disability has persisted or is expected to continue for more than a year or result in your death. The program doesn’t cover short-term disabilities as it assumes that working families have other resources to tide them over during such a period. If you make more than $1220 a month, then you’re not considered disabled.
Get the documentation right
You need to attach the relevant medical documents alongside your application forms. Doing so helps to make a strong case and increases your chances of getting it right the first time. You need to compile a disability report detailing the names and the contacts of all the hospitals that you’ve visited. It should also include the names of the medicine you’re taking and the names of the doctors who prescribed them.
The report should include the dates when you took a medical test as well as the name of the referring doctor. Be sure to include a list of jobs that you’ve held in the past 25 years before suffering the injury. You should also include the compensation claims you’ve filed and the name of someone who can confirm your medical condition.
Many people don’t realize the complexity of the process of applying for Social Security disability insurance. Unfortunately, that only serves to decrease their chances of success as they don’t make a compelling case to the administration.
