Live Your Life To The Fullest
Aging and disability does not mean you need to resign yourself to a life of mundane repetition and poverty. SSDI and SSI claims can be your path to a full and thriving life.
You may have heard of the “grid rules,” formally known as the Medical Vocational Guidelines, which is a regulation that makes it easier for people over 50 (and people who can’t communicate in English over 45) to qualify for benefits. Because of these rules, it can be...
Most of us know that public disability benefits are a thing that exists, and most of us know at least one person who is “on disability,” but in my daily conversations about my work, I often observe that people know very little about these benefits. So here’s a quick...
And now we come to the main event that you have been waiting for: your medical hearing. We call it a medical hearing because the subject matter is your medical qualification for benefits. The hearing is your opportunity to tell your full story to someone empowered to...
We’ve now reviewed the initial application and the appeal to reconsideration, both of which frankly deny most claimants, and come to the stage of the process where the largest proportion of claimants are approved: The hearing. It may not actually be the case that more...
This will be a very short article, but I’m including it for completeness. For many years, New York was one of a few “prototype” states that skipped the review stage known as “reconsideration.” That was great because it saved time in getting cases to a hearing, where...
People often come to me for help within a few months or weeks of becoming unable to work because of a medical disability, and for the most part people don’t know where to start. Why would they? This stuff isn’t common knowledge, and it’s not taught in school, unless...
It occurred to me this morning that while I know how to run a Social Security case from beginning to end, I don't actually use a comprehensive written step-by-step checklist or task list. I am working on improving the efficiency and accountability of my practice as...
In my earlier post, I addressed the first half of the process to apply for Social Security benefits: what it means to meet the legal standard for the benefits, and how to file and follow up on the initial application. If you haven’t read that post, make sure to take...
There’s a great article today in the Washington Post exploring in detail the stories of some SSI recipients struggling to get by in rural parts of America. This is a sad truth about our disability benefits system and social safety net in this country: very often the...
Potential clients often ask me what it is that I will do for them, and in a lot of ways the main answer is that I know how to win Social Security benefits, and I take them through the process. It's true that, if the steps are followed carefully, you may not need help...
