Increase in Benefits

In a time where everything seems to be going wrong, something actually went right.  This year, people with disabilities who receive benefits from the Social Security Administration ("SSA"), will see a 5.9% increase in their checks, starting this month.  This is the largest annual increase to the cost of living adjustments ("COLA") since 1982.   Beneficiary's will receive a letter in the mail from the SSA, and can also check the amount of their increase through their online account at ssa.gov.

Objective Medical Evidence Remains Key

People usually seek disability benefits because their symptoms are too severe for them to work.  As a result, these disability claims require adjudicators to make credibility determinations.  When it comes to Social Security Disability (“SSD”) benefits, an administrative law judge (“ALJ”) frequently has to make that determination.

We represent a 55 year old claimant from St. Albans who worked as a mail processor and home health aide with musculoskeletal impairments.  I supplied the ALJ with legal opinions where the vocational experts testified those occupations provided no transferable skills.  As a result, the Medical-Vocational Rule required finding the claimant disabled if she were limited to sedentary work.

I had previously filed a report from the claimant’s orthopedist, who provided less than sedentary functional assessments.  Moreover, I had filed an EMG report that revealed chronic L5-S1 and C5-C6 radiculopathies, and eight (8) MRI reports revealing serious impairments in the thoracic, cervical and lumbar spine, both shoulders and elbows, and the right knee.  That wealth of objective diagnostic test data is uncommon.

In light of the quantity and quality of the test reports, and the fact that the claimant had a 35 year work history, the case seemed ripe for an on-the-record (“OTR”) decision.  Both of those factors strongly support a claimant’s credibility.  ALJ Crawley agreed, and approved the OTR, which eliminated the claimant’s need to attend a hearing.