Reviewing your Social Security exhibit file – Part 1: Medical Records
How do you begin to review your Social Security exhibit file? Here is a quick guide to finding the really important parts.
Start with the “F” section to review the medical records.
If you do not review anything else in the file, you need to know what medical records are there (and what records are missing).
Here is what I look for:
Are all the doctors and hospitals listed? If the doctor or hospital is not listed, …
How parent’s income effects children’s Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits
If you have a child or grandchild with a disability, you may be thinking about applying for Social Security disability benefits for the child. The most common type of children’s disability benefits is Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
However, proving disability in only half of a SSI case. All SSI cases have two parts:
The individual (adult or child) has to be medically disabled (this includes psychological disabilities).
The individual has to be financially eligible to receive SSI benefits.
It is quite possible for Social Security to decide that a person is disabled, but then deny that individual on financial grounds. See my article …
What is in a Social Security file?
Just before your Social Security hearing, you will be given a cd and pointed at a computer. If you ask, someone may help you load up the disk and get you to a screen that looks like this:
Ok, now what?
What is all this stuff and what do I do with it?
Social Security uses electronic case files. The image above is the “Exhibit List Index” which may automatically come up when you insert the disk into the computer (if it does not, you may have to browse to your cd and double click “index.html” If in doubt, just ask your kids.
The Exhibit List Index is a “table of contents” for the documents in the file.
In the above image, you can see there are 4 exhibits in the “B” part of the file. The first one, 1B is a request for hearing and that document is 5 pages long. By clicking on any link (blue underlined text) you will be taken to that exhibit.
I know how to move around in the exhibit file, but I don’t know what I am looking at!
Ok. The file is divided into different sections, labeled A through F. Here is what you can find inside each section.
Social Security benefits decreasing in 2010 and 2011?
The news has been going around for some time that there will be no cost of living adjustment in Social Security benefits (including retirement and disability benefits) for the next two years, 2010 and 2011. However, it looks like the real amount of benefits will actually decrease for many.
The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won’t be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. … By law, Social Security benefits cannot go down. Nevertheless, monthly payments would drop for millions of people in the Medicare prescription drug program because the premiums, which often are deducted from Social Security payments, are scheduled to go up slightly.
Ouch!
Keep in …
Social Security Debit Cards
There is a new Social Security blog written by a 34 year veteran of the Social Security Administration.
One of his recent articles talks about the pros and cons of Social Security debit cards
… paying benefits digitally rather than by paper is a big savings to SSA. It cost about $1.00 to mail a paper check and only 10 to 12 cents to do it by automated transfer. With the 500,000 people already signed up for the debit card, it is saving the SSA about $440,000 each month. And SSA needs every one of those dollars!
So far so good. A more efficient Social Security benefits …
Will it hurt my child if I apply for children’s SSI Social Security disability benefits
I was asked to address some of the issues parents should consider when deciding whether to start an application for Social Security disability benefits (typically children’s Supplemental Security Income – SSI – benefits) for their disabled child.
Many parents worry that if their child receives Social Security disability benefits, they will be labeled as “disabled,” and carry that for the rest of their lives. Even beyond being on disability, the child may be diagnosed with a socially stigmatizing condition such as mental retardation.
I want my child to have a normal life. I want my child to overcome this. Will being “disabled” make my child stop trying?
I believe that disability can …
The Social Security disability hearing decision says my case will be reviewed in 12 months
In some disability decisions, the judge ask Social Security to review the case, sometimes as short as six months, sometimes the judge asks for a review in a couple of years.
I thought you said that most Social Security disability cases were for “open” disability — where there is no foreseeable end to the disability.
Compared to a “closed period of disability” case, that is true. In a closed period case, either you, or the judge, picks a date when your disability ended, and it is always a date in the past.
Here, …
Bionic hand commercially available
While it does not seem as useful as Dean Kamen’s Luke arm, this prosthetic arm is commercially available today.
Trying to work can sometimes help a Social Security disability case
Working while applying for Social Security disability benefits is a topic I have previously discussed. However, reading that article, you might come to the conclusion that it is never a good idea to work if you are either on, or applying for Social Security benefits (including Supplemental Security Income – SSI benefits).
However, there are circumstances where trying to go back to work may help a individual’s case.
For adults, the closer you are to 18, the more likely it is that Social Security will expect you to be able to perform some type of a substantial gainful activity (SGA), typically full time work.
If you are in your late teens or 20s, the issue often comes up of whether you are unable to work, or if you are just unwilling to work.
If you have a spotty work history with minimal, or no earnings, Social Security may wonder if you are simply trying to get disability benefits to get a regular source of income.
The same is true if your Social Security benefits would pay you the same amount, or more, than what you have earned while working.
In any of these examples, you have a serious credibility problem!
What is a “closed period of disability” in a Social Security case
What happens to your Social Security case if your condition improves and you can go back to work? If your disability meets the “durational requirement,” you may still qualify for a closed period of disability and still be entitled to Social Security disability benefits.
Most claims for Social Security disability benefits ask for an “open” period of disability: you are disabled now and for the foreseeable future.
A closed period of disability has a definite beginning and ending date for your disability, and has to last at least 12 months. In a …
