What Are Some Common Reasons to Get Disability Benefits?

Not every medical condition qualifies someone for disability benefits. In reading through someone’s medical records and insight from their doctors, the SSA employee evaluating the case will also be seeking out the book of listing impairments they maintain as a resource. This resource is the most commonly used one in the process for someone to get disability benefits. 

The Social Security Administration contains a listing book, also known as the blue book, to determine whether or not someone meets the basic qualifications for disability. In the United States, there are over 10 million people currently receiving Social Security benefits because of a qualifying disability. The legal definition of disability per the government is that an individual can be classified as disabled if they're not able to perform any gainful and substantial activity, as a result of physical or medical impairments.

The listings of medical impairments from the Social Security Administration can be confusing. It may be relatively clear to you that you are unable to work and need the support of disability payments, but this does not mean that you will necessarily get automatically approved. It is your job to gather all of your medical records and to submit a comprehensive application, showing the reasons for your disability application. When it comes to the reasons to get disability, you need to speak with a knowledgeable disability lawyer as soon as possible to protect your rights and give you the best possible chance for recovering compensation.

The sooner that you contact a lawyer, the quicker this person can begin working on your disability case. There are multiple, disabling conditions that meet the terms of the Social Security Administration. These include musculoskeletal and connective problems like fibromyalgia, arthritis, or reflex sympathetic dystrophy. Physical disorders are not the only conditions that serve as reasons to get disability. However, mental disorders including PTSD, schizophrenia, autism, or depression may be severe enough that an individual is unable to perform any work and qualifies.

Other medical conditions commonly included in the disability listings include blindness, hearing loss, cancer, hypertension, angina, and Parkinson's disease. If you have a condition that is considered to be equal in terms of severity to a listed impairment, you may also be able to get disability benefits. However, even if you don't have a currently listed impairment or one equal and severity to one listed in the blue book, you could still be classified as disabled if you were able to show in your application that your medical condition keeps you from being able to work in a current job or any other type of position.

If you are not sure whether or not your condition qualifies, you'll want to consult with an experienced lawyer, who can guide you through the process and help provide more information so that you are clear on what is involved and how to create the best possible chance for getting disability benefits. When it comes to your personal reasons to get disability benefits, the primary one is likely to replace the income that you would've had from working in a position. Another reason to get disability is because you'll also qualify for medical benefits. For example, if you are approved for Supplemental Security Income, you'll receive Medicaid immediately.

Those recipients who are approved for SSDI will get Medicare health support two years after their disability started. A big reason to get disability is because many applicants won't just be tapping into the monthly cash payments, but will also get medical support that they need to care for those treatments. If certain situations apply for you, you should consider consulting with a lawyer to get disability benefits first, if you have a physical or mental condition that is severe in nature. Second, if that medical condition or multiple medical conditions are expected to last for a year or even longer.

And finally, if your condition is severe enough that it prevents you from doing any amount of work, you might meet the grounds for disability and can tap into these important benefits. Not being able to work includes situations when you're not able to be productive at least 15% or more of the time on the job, or your condition requires you to be absent 10% or more of the time. The primary reason for this is that you would be unable to maintain gainful employment in either one of those situations.

You may need to collect additional evidence and have it documented in your medical records that either one of these situations applies to you, because it is not necessarily easy for the Social Security Administration to see this. The income to support yourself and your family is a big reason to get disability. A health crisis can require multiple years of treatment and rehabilitation to reach stability. Some medical conditions might last for your entire life. Getting disability benefits also empowers you to tap into something known as the retirement freeze.

In order to calculate your Social Security retirement benefits, the Social Security Administration evaluates all of the earnings you've had over the course of your working career. Any years that you don't work as a result of a disability, turns into $0 in earnings. However, if you are approved for SSDI, those years with $0 earnings are not factored into your overall retirement benefit, which means that you may be able to receive more funds in retirement as a result. Social Security disability supplemental income both provide important financial benefits, but they also help you get support for going back to work again, if your medical condition gets to the point to allow you to do this.

This is a serious benefit when applying for disability payments because of the return earned to work protections. You can tap into numerous incentives when you are approved for SSDI benefits, such as a trial work period, which means that you have nine months over the course of five years to attempt to work and earn as much as you can while still getting SSDI benefits. You would also be able to use an extended period of eligibility of three years to be able to work, earn money, and receive SSDI benefits if your earnings fall below a certain level. You can always discuss the specifics of your situation with an experienced and qualified lawyer to learn more about the reasons to get disability benefits and how these could factor into your life.

The truth is that you should hire a lawyer to help with your application as soon as you decide to file one. You might assume that because there are no challenges in your case just yet that you don’t need an attorney. But if you can better understand the review and approval process from the beginning, your chances of getting disability benefits approved are much higher. 

Likewise, your lawyer will know where to look in your application for omissions or questions that the reviewing agent might have. This information is very powerful so that you can spot mistakes much earlier and submit the most complete and comprehensive version of your benefits application. 

Even if you were past this point already and your application for disability benefits was originally denied, you can still benefit from the inside of a lawyer. In fact, far too many people give up on their initial application for disability benefits. They can also get frustrated by unnecessary delays. In both of these circumstances, retaining an experienced lawyer can help you to sort through some of the challenges and to Fast Track your application that has a better chance of getting approved. While no lawyer can guarantee a positive result, a lawyer can assist you and dramatically increase our chances.

Contact our offices today when you want an attorney who has appropriate SSI and SSDI application experience. You deserve to know your rights and to protect them with a lawsuit where applicable.