Fibromyalgia is a medically determinable impairment, and can therefore provide a basis for a Social Security dsability claim.
However, many patients report that their doctors do not take fibromyalgia seriously. This was the topic of a recent fibromyalgia article in the Sacramento Bee, a California newspaper. Here is an excerpt:
Controversy swirls even as
Reconsideration is an intermediate step in the Social Security disability claim process. If DDS denies your initial claim and you appeal, the claim goes right back to DDS for Reconsideration. In 5 out of 6 claims, DDS just denies the claim again. For these claimants, Reconsideration is an unnecessary detour on the way to
This site is intended to be a resource for those looking for help with Social Security disability and SSI claims. As the site has grown, it has become more difficult to find that particular post on the exact topic your are researching. So I have added a search box to the sidebar. Please give it a try!
Unemployment insurance and Social Security disability are two separate programs, with different goals. In general, if you are receiving unemployment insurance benefits you are ready willing and able to work, and are not disabled. However, receiving unemployment compensation after your alleged onset date does not preclude a favorable finding for your Social Security disability
Sometimes a prior job is actually more than one job at the same time. You were both a RN and a nurse supervisor. You were both a receptionist and a filing clerk. You were both a carpenter and a construction supervisor. These are called composite jobs.
If your past relevant work included a composite job, it can cause problems with your Social Security disability claim. The SSA must determine, at step 4 of the 5-step sequential evaluation process, whether you have the residual functional capacity to perform your past relevant work. Not only does Social Security consider your ability to do your past work as you performed it, but also as generally performed. And this is where the composite job can cause problems with a claim.
Typically, in the short space available on the work history report, you only give the job title for part of your composite job. Then you describe what you had to do. Social Security may find that you can’t do the job as you describe it, buy can still do that job as generally performed. The problem is that the “generally performed” analysis does not consider the composite nature of the job. The SSA will just use the job title that you gave in your work history report to determine how the job is generally performed in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT). If that past job was a composite job, this approach is incorrect under Social Security’s own rules.Continue Reading Past Relevant Work: the Composite Job
I like to submit a current medications list prior to a Social Security disablity hearing. Although a claimant's medications can usually be found in the medical records, it is very handy to have the meds listed in one place.
Filing a medications list is a nice final update to the disability claim file, and it is a gesture
A reader of this site had this question: should i still appeal my ssdi denial if i did not meet the sga requirement?
The answer is: probably not, but maybe yes. Let's take a look at each part of the answer.
Probably not: If you are working above the level of substantial gainful activity (SGA)
When talking with Social Security disability claimants, I often hear a statement like "I can't work because I have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder" (or degenerative disc disease, or fibromyalgia). The claimant makes the statement like the matter is settled. The reasoning seems to be: since there is a doctor's diagnosis of my impairment, my disability claim should
Charles Hall, Esq. knows a thing or two about running a Social Security disability law practice. He is a past president of the National Association of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives (NOSSCR), and he publishes a widely-read blog, Social Security News.
In a recent blog post entitled New Kid On The Block, Mr. Hall addresses the latest “national” law
This blog is one year old today.
The blog started quite modestly on May 10, 2008. Since then this site has grown substantially, along with my Social Security disability law practice.
It seems like it has been much longer than just one year. We have covered a lot of ground. We have defined some terms, told