The Pre-Hearing Conference

Most people who apply for Social Security Disability are initially denied benefits. If you are denied at the initial level, or in most states a secondary “reconsideration” level, you can file a request for a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who will make a ruling on your claim independently from the decisions made at the earlier stages.After you request a hearing by submitting the proper SSA forms, the ALJ may decide to hold what is called a “prehearing conference.” These conferences are usually done by telephone. The ALJ does not have to hold a prehearing conference, but if the ALJ does, he or she will look to whether or not there is anything can be done to speed up the hearing process.

If you get a notice of a pre-hearing conference, do not ignore it.  We recommend that you seek the representation of a qualified advocate or attorney who can help you prepare the strongest case possible.

At a pre-hearing conference, you will be asked about the medical treatment you have been receiving.  The burden to provide evidence to support your disability is on you, and so it is up to you to provide the medical evidence about your mental and physical conditions that keep you from being able to work. The ALJ may also consider matters such as simplifying or amending the issues, obtaining and submitting evidence, and any other matters that may expedite the hearing.

If you or someone you know is unable to work due to a medical condition, please contact us for a free evaluation of your claim!

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC®

April Health Awareness: Irritable Bowel Syndrome

April is National Irritable Bowel Syndrome Awareness Month!

If you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), you are not alone – IBS is actually quite common, with prevalence estimated at approximately 10% to 15%. Yet many people remain undiagnosed and unaware that their symptoms indicate a medically recognized disorder.

What is IBS?

IBS, a relative of ulcerative colitis, is a form of inflammatory bowel disease that affects millions of individuals, women more so than men. Characterized by alternating periods of diarrhea and constipation, the debilitating symptoms of IBS also include abdominal cramping and bloating, and sometimes a significant amount of anxiety and stress. Between 20% and 50% of all visits to the gastroenterologist involve IBS.

Individuals who are not able to control the symptoms of IBS usually have significant restrictions in their daily activities. Although IBS is a commonly diagnosed condition, it can nonetheless be a severe impairment.

IBS and SSA

IBS is not currently included in the Social Security Administration’s Listing of Impairments (medical conditions that listed are eligible for benefits if the applicant meets the criteria in the listings). However, if you can prove that your symptoms are painful, disruptive, and distracting enough to keep you from working a full-time job, you may be able to get benefits.

If you or someone you know is unable to work due to a medical condition, please contact us for a free evaluation of your claim!

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC®

Social Security Receives Funding to Help with Backlog

Social Security’s current state

Buried in the recent spending bill that kept the U.S. government operating is $100 million for the Social Security Administration (SSA) that is meant, in part, to fix a multi-year backlog of people waiting to hear if they qualify for disability benefits. The Social Security Disability Insurance program is supposed to provide a safety net for people unable to work due to injury or illness.

According to the latest SSA statistics, nearly 1 million people remain stuck in a hearing-decision backlog that averages 599 days (20 months). In some areas, wait times are up to 772 days.

In September 2017 testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, Bea Disman, the acting chief of staff at the SSA, said the agency was implementing several measures to address the massive backlog. But by the end of 2017, almost no progress had been made on reducing the wait times for applicants.

Furthermore, in 2017 alone, more than 10,000 people died waiting to hear if they would be awarded insurance benefits that they had worked for years to earn – a 15 percent increase over the previous year.

Why the long wait for hearings?

There are several factors that have taken the backlog to a crisis level. First, the SSA has been without a Senate-confirmed leader since 2013, which has limited its ability to tackle this and other challenges.

In addition, the agency has failed to meet its own hiring goal for administrative law judges and support staff who conduct the review hearings, even though it told Congress extra hiring would be a primary tool for reducing the backlog. In fact, only 600 ALJs have been hired over the past three years and only 132 in the fiscal year 2017.

Additionally, the SSA requires that applicants provide duplicative medical records of various sorts and then states that it’s overwhelmed by the volume of records. Due to SSA concerns about subjectivity and physician bias, the agency also no longer assigns greater weight to the opinions of doctors who treat applicants when assessing an individual’s condition and his or her ability to work.

Instead it can choose to rely more on the opinion of its own, more cursory, processes to examine the patients or review medical evidence.

What this means for the SSA

The new funding is certainly welcome. But recent data from the SSA indicates that the agency is anticipating a dramatic rise in disability applications in 2018 and 2019. So, this story is far from over. Social Security disability benefits remain a complicated mess with no one at the helm to provide strategic leadership to the staff or to the judges who must assess the claims of former workers and their families.

If you or someone you know is unable to work due to a medical condition, please contact us for a free evaluation of your claim!

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC®