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Call or visit a Social Security Office

Claims are processed faster if you include the following medical information

1. Medical records from your doctor, therapist(s), hospital, clinic

2. Lab and test results as proof of disability

3. Include names, addresses, and fax numbers from your providers of medical record

4. List of all medication and prescriptions

5. List of past employers and jobs for the last 15 years if possible

6. Copy of your most recent tax return and pay stub

7. A letter from your physician claiming why you’re unable to work and for how long

Almost 60% of disability claims are denied the first time, you may have to either file again or try to appeal the denial

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According to the Social Security Act, the definition of disability is the “inability to engage in any substantial or gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 month”(www.ssa.gov).

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States establish and administer their own Medicaid programs and determine the type, amount, duration, and scope of services within broad federal guidelines. Federal law requires states to provide certain “mandatory” benefits and allows states the choice of covering other “optional” benefits. Mandatory benefits include services like inpatient and outpatient hospital services, physician services, laboratory and x-ray services, and home health services, among others. Optional benefits include services like prescription drugs, case management, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.

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People with disabilities have been stigmatized throughout history. In many cultures, disability has been associated with curses, disease, dependence, and helplessness. Disability stigma can play out in a number of ways, including:

Social Avoidance – People with disabilities may be left out of social activities, or they may find that friends become more distant after they develop a disability. People may be hesitant to make eye contact or start a conversation with someone who has a visible disability.

Stereotyping – People with disabilities may be presumed to be helpless, unable to care for themselves, or unable to make their own decisions. People with one disability, such as a speech impairment, may be presumed to have other disabilities they don’t have, such as an intellectual disability.

Discrimination – People with disabilities may be denied jobs, housing, or other opportunities due to false assumptions or stereotypes about disabilities. This still occurs today, despite disability rights laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Condescension – People with disabilities may be coddled or over-protected due to perceptions of their helplessness.

Blaming – People may be blamed for their disability, or accused of using their disability to gain unfair benefits.

Internalization – People with disabilities may themselves adopt negative beliefs about their disability and feel ashamed or embarrassed about it.

Hate Crimes and Violence – People with disabilities may be targeted in hate crimes. They are more likely to be victims of physical or sexual violence than people without disabilities.

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(1960-present

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The Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) is a part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), located in Washington, D.C.  The Board’s mission is to conduct hearings and decide appeals properly before the Board in a timely manner.  The Board’s jurisdiction extends to all questions in matters involving a decision by the Secretary under a law that affects a provision of benefits by the Secretary to Veterans, their dependents, or their Survivors.  Final decisions on such appeals are made by the Board based on the entire record in the proceeding and upon consideration of all evidence and applicable provisions of law and regulation.

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The Physical Disability Board of Review, or PDBR, was legislated by Congress and implemented by the Department of Defense (DoD) to ensure the accuracy and fairness of combined disability ratings of 20% or less assigned to service members who were discharged between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2009.

The PDBR uses medical information provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the military department.

Once a review is complete, the PDBR forwards a recommendation to the secretary of the respective branch of the armed services.

It is up to the individual service branch to make the final determination on whether to change the original disability determination.

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Depending on your circumstances, there are several government, employer-based, and charitable benefits which may be available to help you make ends meet until your Social Security disability benefits are approved. These include:

Worker’s Compensation. If you were hurt at work, you are entitled to collect a portion of your former wages. If you are having difficulty collecting these benefits, your Social Security disability lawyer can either help you with those claims or recommend someone who can.

Disability Income Insurance. Many employers offer supplemental disability income insurance which is designed to pay you a portion of your wages should you become disabled and unable to work. Additionally, these policies are available privately. There is nothing wrong with collecting these private disability benefits while you are applying for (or even after you are receiving) Social Security Disability benefits.

Welfare. The exact requirements for welfare programs vary from state to state, but every state has some form of welfare available to those who are in dire financial need. Check with your state’s welfare agency (often the Department of Health and Human Services).

Charitable Programs. Organizations such as the Salvation Army and other charitable organizations often provide benefits of sorts for those who are unable to pay their bills due to extenuating hardships. In most cases, your state’s department of health and human services will have information regarding charitable organizations in your area which may be able to help you while you wait for your benefits to be approved.

Unemployment benefits. Depending on what state you live in, you might be able to collect unemployment benefits while you are applying for Social Security disability benefits. Be careful, though. Some states require you to be “ready, willing, and able” to accept full time employment before they will approve unemployment benefits and claiming that you are able to work could negatively affect your disability claim. Check with a Social Security disability lawyer in your area to see whether claiming unemployment benefits and disability benefits at the same time is a viable option in your state.

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These headlines are focused on the rising population of Americans that may qualify for disability status. Many are skeptical because disability status fraud has also been a rising scandal.

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Democrats hit Rand Paul for disability comments

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Democrats hit Rand Paul for disability comments

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Recent Headline

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Speaking at a New Hampshire diner about government waste, the Kentucky Republican said "there's always somebody who's deserving" of entitlement programs, "But everybody in this room knows somebody who's gaming the system."

"What I tell people is, if you look like me and you hop out of your truck, you shouldn't be getting a disability check. Over half of the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts -- join the club," he said, drawing a few laughs from the audience. "Who doesn't get a little anxious for work everyday and their back hurts? Everybody over 40 has back pain."

Paul qualified his comments, saying there are people who are legitimately disabled but reiterated that there are also "malingers" who are essentially taking money "from the people who are paraplegic, quadriplegic."

"We all know people who are horrifically disabled and can't work, but if you have able-bodied people taking the money then there's not enough money left for the people who are truly disabled," he added.

Ray Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, was quick to pounce on his comments, saying in a call with reporters that the remark was "ridiculously reminiscent" of Mitt Romney's controversial argument in 2012 that nearly half of Americans back Obama because they rely on government support.

Buckley acknowledged that there is fraud in the system but argued that Paul's estimation that more than half of beneficiaries shouldn't qualify was "way out of nowhere" and a "detachment from reality."

According to a December 2014 report from the Social Security Administration, 14% of those who were issued disability benefits were diagnosed with "mood disorders," while 28% reported "musculoskeletal system and connective tissue" diseases, which would be related to back problems.

Critics argue that the list of ailments covered by disability benefits is bloated and far too easy to take advantage of, resulting in millions of dollars in over-payments.

Proponents say there are strict standards in place to approve applicants. According to a 2013 SSA report, denied disability claims have averaged 59% from 2003-2012.

Asked to respond to Democratic attacks, Paul later reiterated that the government "should take care of those truly in need of help" but stressed that the "system is broken."

"We absolutely should take care of those truly in need of help," he said in a statement to CNN, responding to a request for a response to Democratic attacks. "But the system is broken, and when people can game the system, they are stealing from those who are truly disabled and won't receive the care and aid they need. We must reform the system to ensure that those who really need help receive it."

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paul says 'over half' on disability are gaming the system - cnnpolitics

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Paul says 'over half' on disability are gaming the system - CNNPolitics

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Speaking at a New Hampshire diner about government waste, the Kentucky Republican said "there's always somebody who's deserving" of entitlement programs, "But everybody in this room knows somebody who's gaming the system." "What I tell people is, if you look like me and you hop out of your truck, you shouldn't be getting a disability check.

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How Americans Game the $200 Billion-a-Year 'Disability-Industrial Complex'

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How Americans Game the $200 Billion-a-Year 'Disability-Industrial Complex'

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Forbes point of view on the rising population of people with disability status

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If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that America's health-care entitlements-Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare-are the biggest drivers of our exploding federal debt. What you may not know is that there is a fourth program, that pays disability benefits through the Social Security Administration, that is also growing at an alarming pace. While part of that growth can be explained by the aging of the U.S. population, the largest factor in the proliferation of disability spending comes from the fact that Congress has dramatically expanded the definition of who gets called "disabled." As a result, many able-bodied Americans have been granted government paychecks for life, crowding out our ability to direct needed resources to the genuinely infirm.

The story of the growth in federal disability spending has been percolating for years. The Great Recession of 2008 led to a spike in unemployment; many people who had difficulty finding work discovered that they might be eligible for Social Security disability benefits, benefits that would replace a significant portion of their previously earned wages, while also qualifying them for Medicare, our generous health-insurance program for the elderly. Today, the United States spends around $200 billion a year, literally paying Americans not to work.
Disability insurance has replaced welfare
As the below chart shows, the last three times the unemployment rate has gone up due to recession-in the early 1990s, the early 2000s, and the late 2000s-applications for Social Security Disability Insurance have spiked. The green line is the unemployment rate; the blue line is the number of disability applications per 1,000 adults.

Some people-most notably the trustees of the Social Security Administration-argue that the growth in disability spending is driven by the fact that the Baby Boomers are starting to retire. Older people tend to have more health problems, of course, than younger people.

But two prominent disability researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Mark Duggan and Scott Imberman, have come to a different conclusion. In a 43-page paper on the topic, they found that only 13 percent of the growth in the receipt of disability benefits in men was due to aging of the population; for women, it was 4 percent. (The difference between men and women comes from the fact that women only recently entered the work force in large numbers.)
Reagan relaxed disability eligibility criteria
But the biggest driver of all, according to Duggan and Imberman, was relaxation of the medical eligibility criteria, which accounted for 45 percent of growth for men, and 36 percent for women. The second biggest driver was the economic value of the disability payments, which has grown over time, due to quirks in the formula used to generate them. Other drivers included payments into the Social Security system; overall economic conditions, like the recessions we discussed above.

However, contrary to various rumblings on the right, President Obama is not responsible for relaxing the eligibility criteria for Social Security disability payments. In fact, the sea change that has brought about what NPR calls the " disability-industrial complex " was signed into law by...Ronald Reagan.

In 1980, Jimmy Carter had signed the Disability Amendments Act of 1980, which encouraged tighter oversight of Social Security disability benefits. Early in Reagan's first term, the Gipper asked the Social Security Administration to step up enforcement of the new law, leading to the revocation of benefits for over one million people. There was a substantial political backlash to these efforts; as a result, in 1984, Congress unanimously passed the Social Security Disability Benefits Reform Act. "It maintains our commitment to treat disabled American citizens fairly and humanely while fulfilling our obligation to the Congress and the American taxpayers to administer the disability program effectively," said Reagan upon signing the bill into law.

The SSDBRA instructed the government to place greater weight on applicants' own assessments of their disability, especially when it came to pain and discomfort; to replace the government's medical assessments with those of the applicants' own doctors; and to loosen the screening criteria for mental illness, among other things. The overall effect was to create a giant loophole, by which an applicant's subjective claim that he was in pain, or mentally incapacitated, would be enough to claim disability.

The numbers back this up. While Americans may be gaining weight, they suffer from fewer disabling conditions than they did 40 years ago, thanks to advances in medical technology. Two charts illustrate this phenomenon. The first is from a paper published by the Center for American Progress and the Brookings Institution, showing that while traditional medical causes of disability-cancer, stroke, heart attacks, and the like-have stayed relatively constant, Social Security disability benefits have exploded for people with musculoskeletal and mental disorders.

The second chart, from a new NPR investigation of the issue, does a nice job of mapping out the difference in who the government gives disability benefits to today, relative to 50 years ago. Diagnoses that lend themselves to subjective manipulation, like back pain and mental illness, have grown substantially.

And it's not just medical diagnoses that are driving growth in disability payments. Being a high school dropout now increases one's likelihood of gaining disability benefits, because high school dropouts are considered to have a lower likelihood to rejoin the workforce.
The other big driver is increased disability payments
The other key driver of growth in federal disability spending, Duggan and Imberman found, is the size of the government payouts. The Social Security Administration pays out benefits in relation to how much money you made when you were working, with some means-testing considerations thrown in. The overall effect is to replace the majority of your income if you're poor, and a smaller fraction of your income if you were well-paid in your previous jobs.

The problem, according to Duggan and Imberman, is that two changes-an expansion of the amount of money that is subject to Social Security taxes, and a growth in the dispersion of income-have resulted in low-income Americans gaining higher disability benefits, relative to their prior income.

Indeed, the Duggan-Imberman analysis underestimates the impact of the disability benefit, because they didn't count the value of health insurance. Every American who qualifies for disability insurance through the Social Security program also automatically qualifies for Medicare, regardless of age. And as Medicare spending has gone through the roof, the value of that Medicare benefit has skyrocketed also.

The authors acknowledge this limitation in their work. Medicare growth suggests "that the incentive to apply for [disability insurance] will increase with the rising value of health insurance through Medicare. Some recent research has...suggested that it can explain as much as 20 percent of the growth in [Social Security income] receipt."
SSDI program to go bankrupt in 2016; reform is urgent
Like all of the other federal entitlements, Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI, spends more money than it takes in. The SSDI trust fund is set to go broke in 2016. The only way to change that trajectory is to raise taxes, or to reduce future disability spending.

We all want to make sure that people who are truly disabled get the help they need. But as the NPR report shows, there are a lot of people gaming the system, people who are taking needed money away from those who have no ability to rejoin the workforce.

There are dozens of things we can do to create a fairer and more rational system for protecting the disabled. Two of the most obvious would be to revisit the 1984 changes to the medical eligibility criteria for disability, and to reform the payout formula such that the disability trust fund avoids bankruptcy.

There are many other avenues for reform. I was on MSNBC last Friday with Michael Astrue, who recently stepped down as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Astrue adamantly defended the disability program-insisting that "less than one percent" of federal disability spending was the result of waste, fraud, or abuse-a figure that strains credulity. Astrue also co-signed a histrionic letter, penned by a group of former Social Security commissioners, accusing NPR of encouraging "drastic changes" to the disability program that would "threaten to pull the rug out from under millions of people with severe disabilities."

Quite the opposite, in fact. Reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in the disability program through modest, incremental changes would allow us to devote more resources to the severely disabled, not less. Indeed, on MSNBC, Astrue did say that he had asked Congress for more funds to conduct medical examinations of people on disability benefits today, to make sure they were truly disabled, and that Congress refused. This seems like something that Congress should revisit.

This article has already gone on long enough, so I'll stop there. But this is a large and growing issue, and I will have more to say about it in the near future. It's not just about the fact some people are taking advantage of the system. It's about the fact that taxpayers are paying able-bodied Americans to drop out of the work force, increasing the burden on those who are still working. That, in turn, makes it that much harder to keep our fiscal situation under control, and harder to provide for the truly disabled. If these issues matter to you-and they should-keep an eye on this space.

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How Americans Game the $200 Billion-a-Year 'Disability-Industrial Complex'

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If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that America's health-care entitlements-Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare-are the biggest drivers of our exploding federal debt. What you may not know is that there is a fourth program, that pays disability benefits through the Social Security Administration, that is also growing at an alarming pace.

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Disability backlog tops 1M; thousands die on waitlist

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Disability backlog tops 1M; thousands die on waitlist

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Addresses the controversy of the long waitlist for disability approval

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WASHINGTON -- More than 1 million Americans await a hearing to see whether they qualify for disability benefits from Social Security, with the average wait nearly two years -- longer than some of them will live.

All have been denied benefits at least once, as most applications are initially rejected. But in a system where the outcome of a case often depends on who decides it, most people who complete the appeals process will eventually win benefits. The numbers come from data compiled by the Social Security Administration.

About 10.5 million people get disability benefits from Social Security. An additional 8 million get disability benefits from Supplemental Security Income, the disability program for poor people who don't qualify for Social Security. The disability programs are much smaller than Social Security's giant retirement program. Still, the agency paid out $197 billion in disability payments last year.

Recipients won't get rich as the average benefit is $1,037 a month -- too small to lift a family of two out of poverty.

For some, the benefits come too late.

Chris Hoffman worked as a mason, laying bricks and tile and pouring concrete. He had terrible back pain for much of his life, but he kept working until a series of heart attacks. He applied for Social Security disability benefits in 2014 but was denied. He appealed to an administrative law judge.

In November, Hoffman died at 58, following his fourth heart attack. Ten months later, the judge ruled that he was entitled to benefits.

"It wasn't that he was limited, it was that he wasn't able to do anything," said Hoffman's son, Dustin.

Last year there were 7,400 people on waitlists who were dead, according to a report by Social Security's inspector general.

For someone to qualify for Social Security disability benefits, a doctor must determine that the disability is severe enough to prevent an applicant from working. The disability must last at least a year or could result in death.

If applicants can't perform their old jobs, officials see if they can adapt to new ones.

The Social Security Administration says it is working to reduce the backlog by hiring 500 new administrative law judges and more than 600 support staff. The judges, who now number about 1,600, hear appeals from people who were initially denied benefits. The agency is also expanding a program that quickly awards benefits to people with serious illnesses and conditions, including certain cancers, said Bea Disman, the agency's acting chief of staff.

But advocates say budget cuts over the past five years have frustrated efforts to reduce the disability backlog.

Last year, the agency's budget was $12.6 billion, roughly the same as it was in 2011, even though an additional 6 million people receive either retirement or disability benefits from Social Security.

"No search for efficiencies, reprioritization of tasks or technological improvements can substitute for adequate resources," said Lisa Ekman of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives.

To get benefits, applicants first apply to state agencies that work with the Social Security Administration. These agencies approve, on average, about one-third of the applications they receive, Disman said. In most states, applicants who are denied benefits can ask the same state agency to reconsider, though very few of these applications get approved.

The next step is to file an appeal with an administrative law judge. This is where the backlog swells, with 1.1 million applicants waiting for a hearing before a judge. That's slightly down from last year, but a 31 percent increase from 2012.

The average wait for a hearing is 602 days. Five years ago, it was less than a year.

The delay is an "unfair hardship for people already living with disabilities," said Mike Stein, assistant vice president of Allsup, a firm that represents applicants.

Chris Shuler couldn't attend his hearing.

Shuler was working as an airplane mechanic in Oklahoma when he was exposed to some chemicals and developed severe respiratory problems, said his wife, Elizabeth Shuler. The medicine he took for his lungs affected his bones and he eventually had two hip replacements, she said.

Chris Shuler applied for Social Security disability payments in 2012 and was denied almost immediately, his wife said. He died in July 2015 from an infection that started in his hip, just before his 40th birthday.

Four months later Elizabeth Shuler attended her husband's hearing on his behalf.

"I wanted to make sure I at least saw a judge," she said. "The judge said it was a no-brainer."

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Disability backlog tops 1M; thousands die on waitlist

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WASHINGTON -- More than 1 million Americans await a hearing to see whether they qualify for disability benefits from Social Security, with the average wait nearly two years -- longer than some of them will live. All have been denied benefits at least once, as most applications are initially rejected.

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The OIG handles disability fraud
The OIG investigates a variety of situations that may be considered fraud. Examples include when an individual:

Conceals work activity while receiving disability benefits

Receives Social Security Benefits for a child not under their care

Fails to notify SSA of the death of a beneficiary and continues to receive and cash the checks of the deceased

Conceals their marriage or assets from the Social Security Administration while receiving Supplemental Security Income payments

Resides overseas and is receiving Supplemental Security Income Payment

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I recognize how important it is for those who truly qualify for disability status to receive benefits, and I think the board of review needs to process applications more efficiently they also need to detect disability fraud

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Implicit Personality Theory: people assume that if one is disabled that also make asumptions from the stigmas listed above that they possess those traits as well

Learned Helplessness: People that develop a disability but it is fraud so they can get benefits from the government and not have to work

Stereotypes: stigmas related to people that have disability status

Discrimination: hate crimes targeting people who have a disability

Self Fulfilling Prophecy: (example) knowing that someone has disability status, and they don’t work and stay at home, so you assume that they’re lazy and they conform to it by continuing to not work and watch tv

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Ap. “Disability Backlog Tops 1M; Thousands Die on Waitlist.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 17 Sept. 2017, www.cbsnews.com/news/social-security-disability-backlog-tops-1-million-thousands-die-on-waitlist/.

Website

“Disability Benefits Center.” Taking Advantage of Other Benefits While Applying for SSDI or SSI, www.disabilitybenefitscenter.org/common-disability-mistakes/other-benefits-while-applying-ssd.

“Disability Benefits Center.” Taking Advantage of Other Benefits While Applying for SSDI or SSI, www.disabilitybenefitscenter.org/common-disability-mistakes/other-benefits-while-applying-ssd.

“Disability Stigma and Your Patients.” Disability Stigma and Your Patients | Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging With Physical Disabilities, agerrtc.washington.edu/info/factsheets/stigma.

Killough, Ashley. “Paul Says 'over Half' on Disability Are Gaming the System - CNNPolitics.” CNN, Cable News Network, 14 Jan. 2015, www.cnn.com/2015/01/14/politics/rand-paul-disability/index.html.

“Medicaid Purchase Plan (MAPP).” Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 13 Mar. 2017, www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/medicaid/publications/p-10071.htm.

“Physical Disability Board of Review.” Military Health System, health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Conditions-and-Treatments/Physical-Disability/Disability-Evaluation/Physical-Disability-Board-of-Review.

Reddy, Madhu. “Board of Veterans Appeals.” Board of Veterans Appeals, 11 Dec. 2009, www.bva.va.gov/.

Roy, Avik. “How Americans Game the $200 Billion-a-Year 'Disability-Industrial Complex'.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 27 May 2013, www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/04/08/how-americans-game-the-200-billion-a-year-disability-industrial-complex/.

“Social Security.” Disability Planner: How We Decide If You Are Disabled, www.ssa.gov/planners/disability/dqualify5.html.

“Submit a Report.” Submit a Report | Office of the Inspector General, SSA, oig.ssa.gov/report-fraud-waste-or-abuse/fraud-waste-and-abuse.

“What Do We Investigate?” What Do We Investigate? | Office of the Inspector General, SSA, oig.ssa.gov/report-fraud-waste-or-abuse/what-can-oig-investigate.