Expediting SSD Benefits

Most people who can no longer work need Social Security Disability (“SSD”) benefits as soon as possible to help compensate for the loss of their employment income. The majority of SSD claims are denied leaving, and the typical wait for a hearing is about two years. Under these circumstances a claimant should consider making a request for a fully favorable decision On The Record (“OTR”).

An OTR summarizes the medical and vocational evidence together with the appropriate legal arguments and asks the hearing office to approve SSD benefits without a hearing. My strategy, which is usually successful, is to provide supportive medical evidence from as many treating and consultative sources as possible, even if they do not pertain to the claimant’s primary impairment.

I just had another OTR approved within a month after it was submitted. I obtained medical reports from both of the claimant’s orthopedists, chiropractor and physiatrist, even though from a technical legal basis only a single report is needed to establish entitlement to SSD benefits. However, by submitting four reports, each doctor’s opinion corroborates another, and it would have been very difficult for an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) to come up with excuses to reject the opinions of all four doctors.

While an SSD claim may eventually be approved based upon support from a single source, the chances of avoiding a hearing by obtaining an OTR increase as the number of supporting medical opinions increases. If SSD benefits are needed sooner rather than later, then the extra work involved in preparing an OTR should not be a consideration.