Video: Fibromyalgia - I’m Not Alright
Tomasz Stasiuk June 9th, 2008
We want to hear from YOU! Was this useful? Or did it miss the mark? Click Comments & tell us! Thank you!!!Video: Swing Dancing to Bei Meir Bist Du Schoen
Tomasz Stasiuk June 9th, 2008
A bit of swing dancing to put a smile on your face.
We want to hear from YOU! Was this useful? Or did it miss the mark? Click Comments & tell us! Thank you!!!I Won My Social Security Case! When Do I Get My Benefits?
Tomasz Stasiuk June 6th, 2008
After waiting months (even years) to get your Social Security hearing, and them months more to get the decison, you finally have it! Social Security has found you disabled. It is “Favorable” (either Fully Favorable or Partly Favorable).
Ok, now what? When do your benefits begin?
Here’s the thing: Social Security disability claims have two parts:
Part 1. Determining if you are disabled? That was what the hearing was about.
Part 2. Determining your eligibility for benefits, the beneifts amount, and the amount of back benefits if any.
Part 1 is done. Part 2 is just starting…
Social Security needs to determine your monthly benefits and the amount of your back benefits.
If you were applying for both Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), your benefits for each program are calculated separately by different Social Security offices. In other words, your file now flies off in two separate directions. SSDI is processed by a regional payment center, while your SSI benefits are processed by your local Social Security office.
Once the processing is complete, you will receive separate notices about your benefits for each program. In the upper left side of each notice it will either say “Retirement, Survivors & Disability Insurance” or “Supplemental Security Income.” That is how you know whether the letter is talking about your SSDI or SSI benefits.
Your SSDI benefits will probably be calculated first. Once your monthly benefits and back benefits are calculated you will receive a “Notice of Award” letter, summarizing your benefits. This is usually followed by an “Important Information” letter, which gives you more information including when you can expect payment.
Your SSI benefits are handled by your local Social Security office. You have to be disabled and qualify financially to receive SSI. Your local Social Security office will contact you to go over your income and assets to see if you still qualify. Please note: Social Security will consider your SSDI benefits in determining your financial eligibility for SSI. So, your SSI benefits may be reduced or eliminated for any months that you also receive SSDI benefits.
Just as under the SSDI program, you will receive a “Notice of Award” letter followed by an “Important Information” letter describing your Supplemental Security Income benefits and when you can expect a check.
Processing your benefits should take approximately thirty (30) to ninety (90) days.
The good news is that this part of your Social Security case is mostly automatic. You may be asked to provide paystubs, bank statements or other documents, but just remember you are in the home stretch!
photo credit: thomas_sly
Video: More on Dean Kamen’s Luke Arm Prosthetic
Tomasz Stasiuk June 5th, 2008
I previously posted about Dean Kamen’s prosthetic arm.
That was just a teaser. Here is a new video showing you much more of what the arm can do.
Opps! Bad link initially. Should be working now.
Applying for Social Security Benefits: Is It Better To Wait?
Tomasz Stasiuk June 4th, 2008
My Colorado clients sometimes tell me that they waited years to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (DIB) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. When I ask them why, I get a number of reasons:
- I did not want to appear needy.
- I did not want to believe I was disabled.
- I did not want to look like I was trying to scam the system.
Some people do not want to take a handout; even if this means not drawing on a benefit program they have paid into. Others do not want to label themselves as disabled because they view it as a sign that they will not get better. Some of my clients want to keep trying to work. They want to test themselves, and they feel that applying for benefits will make them look like they are giving up and Social Security will look down on them.
I respect the pride, individualism, and self reliance that this demonstrates.
Unfortunately, waiting too long to apply for Social Security benefits can severely reduce their chances of winning.
Most Social Security disability cases are won or lost on the medical evidence available. Having high quality medical treatment, especially treatment with specialists, can make all the difference in a case. Social Security primarily focuses on current, regular, and on-going medical treatment and evaluations. This shows the existence and severity of an individual’s impairments.
But, if you wait until after you you lose your insurance to apply, you may no longer be able to see a doctor, let alone a specialist on a regular basis. Your prior records have become historical records rather than reflecting your current status.
Historical medical records may also be important. However, while past medical records may show that an individual was disabled in the past, they often cannot show Social Security whether someone is disabled today.
Also, an individual will often need a medical opinion of what they can and cannot do in the workplace (a statement of limitations) to show that they are disabled.
Sometime, this can be obtained from a prior doctor, but that can cause its own set of problems. Generally, an individual will need to obtain a statement of limitations from a current medical provider.
I have seen a number of cases where a person had a team of doctors working with them at one point. But, but they time they applied for Social Security, they are only seeing a general practitioner or nurse for a few minutes at the public community health center.
Do not wait until your medical coverage runs out before applying for Social Security.
If you find yourself in the situation of applying after you lose your insurance, don’t despair. You still may be able to win your case. The only treatment option for a number of my clients is the local health center or charity clinic. I still believe in them and in their chances of winning.
photo credit: JasonRogers
I Got A Partly Favorable Decision, What Does That Mean? Am I Partly Disabled?
Tomasz Stasiuk June 4th, 2008
Getting a Partly/Partially Favorable decision in a Social Security disability claim is confusing for a lot of people.
First, lets go over what it does not mean. Under the Social Security system, there is no partly or partially disabled. Either your impairments keep you from being able to work (and therefore disabled) or not. There is no half disabled. Disability determinations under the Social Security system are all or nothing. Comment: This is also one reason why it is so hard to get on Social Security.
So, the judge has to either find you disabled or not disabled. However, even if the judge finds you disabled, the judge may not be able to give you everything you asked for. In those cases, you get a partly favorable decision.
You may be saying, “huh?” Fair enough. Lets go through the most common examples of a partly favorable decision.
If you get a partly favorable decision, it usually means one of three things:
- Social Security disagrees with the date you became disabled.
- Social Security disagrees that your disability continues.
- Social Security disagrees with the beginning and/or ending dates of your disability.
Lets take them one at a time:
Social Security disagrees with the date you became disabled.
Lets say you claimed to be disabled as of December 2003. If you kept working (at a substantial gainful activity level - i.e. full time) after December 2003, or if the medical records do not support that you were disabled back to December 2003, the Judge may only be able to find you disabled as of a later date. This results in a partly favorable decision.
Social Security disagrees that your disability continues.
The judge may agree that you were disabled, but may not think that your disability continues. Using the prior example, the Judge agree that you were disabled in 2003, but that your condition improved to the point that you were able to return to full time employment as of June 2007. In this instance, the judge might grant you a closed period of disability, that is he may find that your disability period began in December 2003 and that your were no longer disabled as of June 2007. This also may result in a partly favorable decision.
Social Security disagrees with the beginning and/or ending dates of your disability.
This is the surf and turf combo of the prior two examples. The Judge may with either the date your disability began or may disagree with the ending date (if you were requesting a closed period of disability). Again, the result is a partly favorable decision.
A partly favorable decision is still a win!
But, you need to review the decision to see where the judge disagreed with you about your disability. Is the judge choosing a later disability onset date? Is the judge disagreeing that your disability continues and choosing an ending date for your disability? Or is there some combination of those options occurring.
photo credit: justintosh
Lawyers Weekly Article: Paperless Law Offices
Tomasz Stasiuk June 3rd, 2008
I was recently interviewed for Canada’s Lawyers Weekly magazine about how I took my law office paperless.
“I have been practising on my own since 2002 and slowly filling up a wall of shelving with bankers’ boxes of files,” said Colorado Springs, CO-based attorney Tomasz Stasiuk. “When it came time to start another wall of boxes, that started me thinking of going digital.”
“Now, when I receive medical records on paper, they get scanned in, the paper is destroyed and the digital copy is all I keep. I submit records to Social Security digitally.”
Stasiuk reviews documents with visitors on computer monitors instead of printouts. “They’re impressed by the speed, the efficiency, the ‘wow factor’ of my technical set-up,” he said.
Such habits also communicate environmental responsibility, as paper, toner and electricity usage plummet. Stasiuk reckons he prints one-tenth as much paper as he did before committing to digital files.
You can read the entire article here.
My articles about the myths and benefits of going paperless are available here.
We want to hear from YOU! Was this useful? Or did it miss the mark? Click Comments & tell us! Thank you!!!Video: Cervical Spine and Disc Anatomy
Tomasz Stasiuk June 2nd, 2008
We want to hear from YOU! Was this useful? Or did it miss the mark? Click Comments & tell us! Thank you!!!How Long After My Social Security Hearing Does It Take To Get A Decision?
Tomasz Stasiuk May 30th, 2008
I went to my Social Security hearing. But, the Judge did not say if she was going to find me disabled or not. When do I get my decision?!?
As you personally experienced, in most Social Security cases, the judge does not rule on your case at your hearing. In Colorado, I only see a decision from the bench in about one in ten cases.
In most cases, you (and your attorney, if you have one) will receive a written decision about 45 to 90 days after the hearing.
We want to hear from YOU! Was this useful? Or did it miss the mark? Click Comments & tell us! Thank you!!!Is Social Phobia a Disability?
Tomasz Stasiuk May 28th, 2008
The short answer is “yes.”
Ok. Great. Latte time! Well, maybe not. Knowing that a condition can be disabling does not tell you HOW to prove that social phobia is disabling in your case.
As in any Social Security disability case, you have to show that social phobia keeps you from being able to engage in substantial gainful activity (generally full time work).
Social phobia most likely affects your ability to work by making it impossible for you to have more than very occasional contact with the public, co-workers, or supervisors. That would be the workplace limitation that would preclude most kinds of substantial gainful activity and keep you from being able to work.
You can prove this limitation by obtaining supporting statements showing isolation, difficulty interacting with others, avoiding social events, or avoiding contact with others during social events, going to the store to shop at 1:00 in the morning to avoid dealing with others. Several of my clients have shared with me that they have left their groceries at the check out line because there was suddenly too many people in line, or there was some kind of commotion, or some other problem.
These cases are very personal. There is no recipe guaranteed to win your Social Security claim. But, it you just can’t be around people, if you avoid contact, even with people you like, you may qualify for Social Security.
It is often helpful to enlist the help of an attorney, or even a family member, to help you list all the ways social phobia/social anxiety disorder affects your ability to function. Then figure out ways to document these problems.
Of course, as I have talked about many (many) times before, medical records are critical. But, especially in social phobia cases, you will need to go beyond the medical records when developing your case.
photo credit: A Touch of Glass
