Just got my first turndown for SSDI

[XanaDUer2]

I'm gutted. I expected it, but seeing it in writing makes it worse. I've already contacted an attorney

[JT45242]

1. my sister was hit by a drunk driver and got rejected the first time as well

She was told -- think of this like fighting one of the insurance companies. They will reject you the first time to make most people go away. Think of it like an HMO -- don't take no for an answer.


You just get more documentation and try again.

[vanlassie]

2. It's practically routine.

[XanaDUer2]

4. I was hoping my age would help. 56

Nt

[XanaDUer2]

3. I'm so sorry about your sister

Hoping the disability attorney can help me. He was recommended by my shrinks

[Freddie]

5. I only know one person who was NOT turned down the first time

My sister-in-law, who was in heart failure after failed valve surgery. She had heart damage from childhood rheumatic fever. She died before she got her first payment. Only 53.

[Timewas]

6. I did

Got an attorney first

[XanaDUer2]

7. You got it on first try?

I've already faxed my letter to my attorney.

[Timewas]

11. Yes

I had a friend that had been through the mill with that stuff and he recommended an attorney that he had used, so I went and saw him, turned over all my paperwork and an explanation letter detailing all the stuff I knew they would ask for. It went before an arbitrator and they approved it at once..

Actually the attorney said he had never had one approved that fast..
A little more info on me though, I have been listed 100% disabled 3 times by several Drs. some where second opinions that I asked for and they all agreed each time

[XanaDUer2]

17. I'm glad for you

Personally, I'm mad and depressed. My employer and I have been paying SS for decades. Now I need it

[XanaDUer2]

8. That's terrible nt

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. What people don't understand about getting SSDI is the enormous amount of

Last edited Wed Jan 26, 2022, 12:47 AM - Edit history (1)

documentation they need.

Several years ago I worked for an attorney who did SSDI appeals, and one of my tasks was to photocopy the records her clients had. Often they were at least ten inches thick, sometimes even more. And the forms that needed to be filled out, including a lengthy one about managing tasks of everyday life, like bathing, cooking, dressing.

It's not true that they automatically turn everyone down the first time they apply. It's just that, as I've already said, there's a great deal of documentation needed. And the condition needs to be expected to last for years, or result in death. It's not easy to qualify. You can't just quit your job and expect to get SSDI immediately after. I believe you will need to be unemployed for six months or more before you can apply.

I used to work with a woman who did have real health issues, including rheumatoid arthritis that she took some major pain medication for. She'd say she should just give up and apply for disability. I kept telling her that so long as she could do her job, she'd never be approved. I'm not sure she fully understood me.

Good luck to you.

[XanaDUer2]

10. I'm really depressed nt

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. I am sorry.

Are you still working? That's actually crucial, because you can't just quit work and get SSDI, no matter what is going on with you. You actually have to be disabled and out of work and unable to return because of your disability. I know that your situation involves mental health issues, because you've posted about them here.

Please do on-line research about exactly what you need to do to qualify for SSDI. At the risk of repeating myself, it's a lot harder than people realize, and so they then go with the, "Oh they always turn everyone down the first time" because they just don't understand what is needed.

You may well want to find a local attorney who does SSDI appeals. If the first one turns you down, find a second. But if you get turned down by several attorneys, then you really are not going to get it. I listened to my attorney take phone calls from people hoping she could help them. Sometimes she said, "Yes, you have a case and we need to meet." Other times she said, "I'm sorry, but I don't believe you have a good case and so I am not willing to represent you. However, this is just my opinion and please feel free to contact another attorney."

The other thing about getting an appeals attorney is that their compensation is very strictly limited by law. Because going through this appeals process will take a number of months, you will wind up getting retroactive money, if approved. The attorney's share will come out of that, but you'll still get a decent lump sum. However, all this means you need to have some means of living and supporting yourself while all this is happening.

What I saw over and over when I worked for that attorney, was that her clients were typically in desperate straits, often close to homelessness. It was not pretty.

Again, please do lots of research and I wish you the best of luck.

[OldBaldy1701E]

14. And, when you don't have that means of living...

Then what?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

19. That's a problem.

Lots of ways to solve it, some better or more effective than others.

But again, it's not that easy to get SSDI, and you can almost never get it as soon as you stop working.

[XanaDUer2]

16. I spoke to an attorney 2 years ago

Who agreed with my doctors about my disability. I faxed his office my turn-down letter yesterday, five mins after I got it. I have 60 days to appeal.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

20. Is the attorney one who does SSDI appeals? If not, his opinion may not be

all that helpful. Find an attorney that does the appeals. Of course, if this attorney does appeals, then presumably he'll take your case.

Are you still working? How long have you been not working? The doctors probably don't know the details of how a person actually qualifies for SSDI.

Did you submit all the pages and pages of medical records? Did you fill out the form detailing your jobs for the past 15 years? Is there really no other workplace where you can be employed? No other similar work you can perform.

I cannot stress strongly enough how much documentation you need to prove disability and prove that there really is no possibility of your working for quite some time. A simple statement from doctors is inadequate.

[XanaDUer2]

23. He is. Also handles LTD

If the insurance cuts you off. I'm going in Friday to signs my contracts. My shrink works with him. We're taking a paysical-mental approach now, due to ortho issues i have that also affected me working.

Just had a long intake with his lawyer wife on all doctors, meds, PT. shrinks, so, I feel somewhat better.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

26. Good. Things are moving forward.

Hang in there.

[XanaDUer2]

27. Thats what my shrink said

I called him upset.

Thank you for your input

[OldBaldy1701E]

13. You damn well should be.

It does not have to be this hard. They make it this hard because they do not want that fat SS pile to be used for its purpose. They want to raid it like any other fund and clean it out for themselves. They will never give out SSDI unless they are absolutely forced to. And, most of us cannot survive a long wait. So, we have two choices, don't we?

[XanaDUer2]

15. That's just how I feel

I hate this country

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. No, they make it hard because to qualify

a person really, really needs to be unable to work. Again, I refer to my co-worker who had various health issues and would frequently say she just ought to quit the job and go on disability. I tried to make her understand that as sometimes difficult as things were for her, she never even missed work, despite those issues, had no trouble doing her job -- and was quite good at it, I'll add -- and so would not possibly be considered disabled.

The people making the decisions about who qualifies and who doesn't are employees of Social Security, hardly going to raid the "fat SS pile" which really isn't all that fat at all.

[Timewas]

18. yes

One criteria they use is can you do a job that requires being able to stand/sit for short times and answer phones...If so you could work at something..I forget the details they quoted at the time but that was part of it..It was pretty light work.. That was 25 years ago, I was 55 which is/was one of their cut off points, younger than that harder to get approved

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

21. Right. People don't understand that they have to be

far more disabled than they probably are to qualify. And again, massive documentation, which is where most people fall short.

And being older helps, because past age 50 there's no presumption of being able to get some kind of retraining or new skills.

My brother went blind from diabetic retinopathy at age 50. In less than three months he went from being able to work (he was a cashier at a store) to being unable to see well enough to work. He stopped driving at the same time. Going blind is one of the few disabilities that will result in automatically being accepted for SSDI.

[XanaDUer2]

25. I'm so sorry about your brother

That's rough

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

29. Yes, it was rough.

He was incredibly cheerful and upbeat about the whole thing. Several years ago I was visiting him (he lived in Tucson) and I went to his pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions. The young lady who gave them to me told me how wonderful he was, how always happy and friendly. I thanked her, and told her that I was likewise in awe of his attitude. I don't think I'd have been as good if something like that happened to me.

He was also on kidney dialysis for several years, and then got a kidney from a living donor. My brother died last year, some 16 years after that donation. We found his donor's FB page and posted on it that he'd died and we were so very much appreciative that her donation had given him 16 years of life. For a year we never heard back from her. Turns out she rarely checks her FB page, but chose to do so on Christmas Day, and saw our post. She got in touch, and both I and my sister were able to speak with her. It was joyous, because we wanted so much for her to know what her donation meant.

Her donation was an example of The Kindness of Strangers.

[Timewas]

28. Correct

In my case I had a huge amount of records from several different Drs. and from the three surgeries,2 shoulder and one back... I applied shortly before my 54th birthday, it did take a while to get any action so maybe a year later they actually gave me a choice of accepting SSDI as of my 55th birthday or go before one of their judges and wait longer to get results... I accepted then just to get it moving...

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

30. Yes, you know how much is needed to convince Social Security that you

really do deserve SSDI. People who haven't gone through it, and especially who haven't gone through it successfully, have no idea.

I was constantly astonished, when working for the SSDI appeals attorney, how much was needed. I also got to sit in on a meeting with a judge for one of her clients, and that was also eye-opening.

[XanaDUer2]

24. I'm 56 nt