Best Time to Apply for SS

You work hard your entire life, and want to make sure you get the most out of your retirement benefits. Max Richtman's article in Newsweek discusses your options, and how to choose the optimal time to claim your retirement benefits from Social Security.

Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s Disease (“PD”) is a neurodegenerative brain disorder. According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, about a million Americans have PD.

The Social Security Disability (“SSD”) regulations provide that your statements about how your pain or other symptoms effect your ability to work will not be rejected solely because the available objective medical evidence does not substantiate your statements. In practice however, especially before you reach the hearing stage, SSD benefits are rarely approved without objective evidence.

I represent a 52 year old former social worker with PD whose SSD application was approved today. The claimant had already provided medical records to support the opinion of the treating neurologist that the claimant was unable to work due to PD, yet the claim had been denied.

On appeal, we submitted the claimant’s DaT Scan, which provided definitive objective proof that the claimant had PD. Less than a week later, the claimant’s SSD benefits were approved.

PD is progressive and incurable . It appears that once the DaT scan provided objective proof of the progressive and incurable disease, there was no need to hold a hearing.

SSA in Crisis

I have posted many blogs regarding the outrageous backlog of disability claims at the Social Security Administration (“SSA”). This article highlights some of the reasons for the backlog, and for the increase in denials of claims. According to Judge Marilyn Zahm, National President of the Association of Administrative Law Judges, the government is not treating the disarray at the SSA as a crisis, which is how they should be treating it. There are not enough Judges or staff to assist the Judges. Perhaps most importantly, the Judges are being pressured to deny more claims. It is a dire situation for the millions of disabled people applying for disability benefits, and nothing is being done to fix it.

SSD Reform Needed

This article, written by Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) in The Hill, succinctly sums up the problems with Social Security and the back log in waiting for Social Security Disability benefits.

Applying for SSD Benefits

This article appeared in the Tribune Star and has good information for anyone thinking about applying for Social Security Disability benefits.

Headaches

Technically, when seeking Social Security Disability (“SSD”) benefits, you are not required to have objective evidence to establish your disability. Otherwise, a person with medical conditions such as fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome would never qualify for SSD benefits.

As a practical matter, without objective evidence, Social Security makes it very difficult to get approved for SSD benefits. When an administrative law judge (“ALJ”) assesses a claimant’s credibility, they are required to determine if there is a medical condition that could reasonably produce the symptoms that limits the claimant’s ability to work.

Headaches can cause pain, and can result in becoming unable to work on a full time basis. However, it is difficult to establish disability due to headaches because the ALJ will ask what evidence shows you actually have headaches, and are not simply making it up.

I represent a former 59 year old nursing assistant who had to stop working because of headaches. ALJ Weiss indicated that he agreed that the claimant’s 32 year work history supported that she was credible regarding her ability to work. However, a Medical Expert (“ME”) rejected many of the conclusions of the treating physicians.

Besides treating with a pain management specialist for headaches, the claimant had been treating with a neurologist. The neurologist concluded that the claimant was disabled by migraine headaches. In addition, the neurologist had sent the claimant for an MRI of the brain, which revealed abnormalities consistent with migraines according to the radiologist who performed the MRI.

Surprised by ME Pierko’s opinion, ALJ Weiss confirmed that Pierko was aware of the MRI. He even pointed out that this was a somewhat unusual case in that there was objective evidence, the MRI, to explain the etiology for the headaches. Pierko could not explain why she would not change her opinion regarding this issue.

ALJ Weiss rejected the ME’s opinion about the claimant’s headaches. There may well have been a different outcome if the claimant’s work history was not as strong. ALJ Weiss may have accepted the ME’s opinion without the MRI, which illustrates the difficulty getting SSD benefits without any objective evidence.

Disabling Fibromyalgia

There is no diagnostic test for fibromyalgia. According to the American College of Rheumatology, fibromyalgia is diagnosed based on the patient’s relevant symptoms, not simply tender points. So what can a claimant do to strengthen a fibromyalgia claim? 

If a claimant has a good work history, then I emphasize that point. The more years you work, and the more money you earn, the better. The commonsense argument is that if you have a strong work ethic, or made a lot of money, you have no incentive to stop working. 

I also obtain support letters from friends and relatives to describe how the claimant’s fibromyalgia has progressively affected her ability to function. Support letter are especially important if the claimant is unable to bring a witness to testify at a hearing. 

I represent a former collector with fibromyalgia, whose Social Security Disability (“SSD”) claim was approve today. She had worked for many years, and earned over $100,000. I questioned the claimant about these points in detail during the hearing. I had also submitted support letters from friends and relatives, describing their observations about how the fibromyalgia limited the claimant’s perform tasks. 

The administrative law judge (“ALJ”) found that the claimant had consistent complaints. However, the ALJ professed that, “the medical record is not extensive, and includes a number of normal studies.” Nonetheless, the ALJ approved SSD benefits after concluding that the claimant’s documented complaints were consistent, and were supported by her “very long work history.”