Premature and low birth weight babies may qualify for Social Security disability benefits
Under Social Security regulations low birth weight babies may qualify for Social Security disability (Supplemental Security Income – SSI) benefits.
It is important to note that Social Security does not specifically consider whether the child is premature or not. Social Security considers the birth weight of the child:
“Low birth weight” is defined as a birth weight under 1,200 grams (2 pounds 10 ounces) or under 2,000 grams and small for gestational age.
Social Security does provide SSI disability benefits to certain low birth weight infants, whether or not they are premature. A child who weighs less than 1200 grams (about 2 pounds, 10 ounces) at birth can qualify …
Can Social Security immediately pay disability benefits to children?
Yes. Under some circumstances, Social Security can immediately start Social Security disability benefits, and continue to pay benefits for up to six months, while the state agency component of Social Security makes a formal decision of whether the child is disabled. These are called “Presumptive Disability” cases.
Basically, Social Security is saying that the child is probably disabled, and as such will pay benefits, while it reviews the case to confirm the presumed disability.
Here are the conditions that may qualify:
Getting your prior Social Security files
If you are looking at your Social Security exhibit file and you notice that all the exhibits are numbered with a letter in front, such as “B1A, B2A, B1B, B2B,” etc, this means that you are looking at the “B” file — a file for the second application for Social Security disability benefits.
In other words, the first time you file for benefits, Social Security creates an “A” file. Since this may be the only file you ever have, it is not referred to as the “A” file. However, if you file a second application, the second file becomes the “B” file. The …
Social Security disability benefits and borderline age cases
My previous article discussed how Social Security makes it easier for people over 50 years old to receive disability benefits, even if they can still perform some kind of work.
I am 49 years old! I am about to turn 50. Isn’t that close enough?
It might be. If you are within a few months of an age when the Social Security rules change (50, 55, 60), you might have a “borderline age” case.
Using the example above, if you are 49 years old and within a few months of your 50th birthday, Social …
Guest post on Bob Kraft’s P.I.S.S.D. website
As part of my series on how to prove you are disabled and eligible for Social Security disability benefits, my latest article, “Winning Social Security Disability Benefits After Age 50” is now on Dallas Texas Social Security disability attorney Bob Kraft’s P.I.S.S.D. (Personal Injury Social Security Disability) website.
Click the link and check it out!
Winning Social Security disability benefits under age 50
If you are between 18 years old and 50 years old, you are in the most difficult age range to get Social Security benefits.
Before you turn 18, Social Security uses the “child” standard for disability evaluations.
After you turn 18, though, Social Security uses the “adult” standard. You have to show that you are unable to do any type of work which exists in substantial numbers in the national economy. That bit of legalese basically means that you have to show that you can’t do any kind of work anywhere, anyhow so long as it is a …
Reviewing your Social Security exhibit file – Part 3 work history
Now that I know the critical dates and the medical history I review the work history. Social Security reviews cases using the 5 step sequential evaluation process. At step 4, if you are still able to do any of the jobs you performed in the last 15 years before you became disabled, you can be denied benefits. There are a couple more wrinkles to this, such as the job has to be a substantial gainful activity, but the general idea is that if you can still do a …
Reviewing your Social Security exhibit file – Part 2 Critical Dates
What’s the next thing to review in the Social Security exhibit file after the medical records? Check these critical dates: Alleged Onset Date (AOD) & Date Last Insured (DLI)!
The E section usually contains for two documents that provide this information:
“Disability Report – Field Office”
“Disability Report – Appeal”
These reports also tells you whether Social Security thinks there should be a later (or earlier) alleged onset date and Social Security also discussed whether work after the alleged onset …
Do you have to give bad evidence to Social Security on your disability benefit case?
One of my colleagues in the fight to help disabled individuals get their Social Security disability benefits, attorney Johnathon Ginsberg, tackles whether you have to submit unfavorable medical evidence to Social Security.
I see this frequently in cases where there was a workers’ compensation case. “Company doctors” often minimize symptoms and generate records indicating that a claimant has the capacity to return to work. Other times I see unhelpful records in cases where my client just did not “click” with his or her physician or psychiatrist.
…
I do not believe that a claimant or a claimants attorney has any obligation to submit unhelpful medical records. This issue periodically comes up on listservs that go to claimants lawyers and the general consensus among most attorneys seems to be that an attorneys obligation is to represent his clients zealously, meaning that there is no affirmative burden for that lawyer to submit unhelpful information. I do know some lawyers, however, who take the opposite position, but it appears to me that they are in the minority.
Even Social Security judges encourage attorneys not to submit every scrap of paper when representing a claimant on a Social Security case. I have attended continuing legal education programs where administrative law judges suggest that attorneys do not submit evidence if it is not relevant.
But there is a crucial difference between not submitting irrelevant evidence, and not submitting unfavorable evidence.
My Social Security file is missing records
Let’s say you are reviewing your Social Security exhibit file before your disability hearing and you discover that some of your doctor’s (or other records) are not there. I have mentioned before that it is not unusual for the medical records in a Social Security file to be a year or more out of date.
What can you do if the records are not complete?
You can ask Social Security to update the records. If you do not have a lawyer Social Security has a higher responsibility to make sure that your hearing is fair, which includes …
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, …
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 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 …
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!
