SHOCKING SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY DATA

Did you know that 72 percent of Social Security disability claims are denied in Alabama and Tennessee?

Did you know that you can increase your chance of winning by 3X if you hire a lawyer or professional representative?

Many claimants don't know that they only get one hearing. If you go into your hearing unprepared or unrepresented--and it doesn't go well--you don't have the option to get a lawyer and come back and do it all over. A decision will be made based on the result of that one hearing. The next appeal is very, very difficult to win! So, think of your hearing as the one and best chance to win your lifetime benefits.

Hearings are NOT just a matter of sitting down with a judge and answering a few simple questions. It isn't just a matter of convincing the judge that you are disabled! It's a matter of PROVING disability under very specific regulations, watching out for all the exclusions, loopholes and legal maneuvering that can deny your claim (even if you are disabled). Proof is the key.

Hearings give you, the claimant, the opportunity to PROVE that you meet all of the federal regulations and rules to get benefits. Some questions that you must answer effectively at your hearing will probably include:

1. Do you claim to meet a Social Security listing? If so, which one? What evidence in your medical files supports a Listing level impairment?

2. Do you claim to meet or equal a grid rule or Medical-Vocational Guideline? If so, which one? Where do we find evidence in your medical exhibits to prove or support this?

3. Your Date Last Insured expired on (month/day/year). Can you provide evidence that you became disabled prior to that date? If not, you must be denied.

4. The vocational witness testifies that you are able to perform light and sedentary work. If that is true, you do not meet the rules for disability. Do you know the specific demands of light work? Can you prove medically why you cannot perform light or sedentary work, giving exhibit numbers and page numbers?

5. You were examined by a Social Security consulting doctor who says that you are unrestricted in range of motion, bending, reaching, handling, and sitting. You have normal hearing and vision. You are able to follow instructions and your concentration appears to be unrestricted. Are there other reasons you feel you cannot perform light or sedentary work? Are there records in the medical exhibits to support this?

6. Do you have non-exertional limitations? Are they severe? Where in the medical exhibits do we find evidence for them?

7. What postural or environmental restrictions would prevent you from performing the jobs of document preparer, food and beverage order clerk or light parts inspector, as examples?

These are a few of the things (among many others) that you will have to address under pressure at your hearing. A legal representative answers these questions every day and knows how to make effective arguments. The chances are almost 100 percent that will not be able to do so.

Winning a disability appeal hearing alone and unrepresented is about as difficult as my landing a Boeing 737 (not likely at all). Get some help and get paid.