Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is an integral Social Security program that provides modest but important benefits to workers who can no longer work because of a serious, long-term medical impairment. The SSDI program is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Applicants for SSDI must be insured for disability benefits, i.e., they must have worked for at least one quarter of their adult life and five of the last ten years. They must suffer from a severe, medically determinable physical or mental impairment expected to last 12 months or result in death, and the clinical finding of disability must be from acceptable medical sources.
Further, SSDI applicants must be unable to perform “substantial gainful activity” (SGA), which is any job that generates earnings of $1,130 per month for non-blind individuals, $1,820 for blind individuals anywhere in the national economy. This is regardless of whether such work exists in the area where the applicant lives, whether a specific job vacancy exists, or whether he or she would be hired. Obviously, a lack of education and skills is not considered for younger SSDI applicants but is, in fact, considered for older, severely impaired applicants who can’t change careers.
Based upon applications for SSDI benefits from 2010 to 2012, the most recent years for which nearly complete data is available, only four of ten SSDI applications are approved. To be exact, 64 percent of applicants are denied, 35 percent for technical reasons and 29 percent for medical reasons. Regarding the 36 percent of applications which are allowed, 22 percent are allowed at the initial application stage, 2 percent at reconsideration, and 12 percent allowed on appeal to an administrative law judge (ALJ).
Do you have a potential disability claim? To improve your chances of meeting all of the requirements for the allowance of a claim (and avoiding the denial of benefits), retain the services of a qualified Kentucky Social Security Disability attorney. Contact Sullivan Law Office today. We offer free consultations, so you have absolutely nothing to lose! We look forward to hearing from you. Call 888-587-0228 or visit us online.
