Social Security Disability Qualifying Conditions Early
Alzheimers is classified as early-onset when it develops before the age of 65, according to the SSD Blue Book. This neurological condition can have various detrimental effects on short-term memory, communication skills, reasoning, and behavior. Since Alzheimers is degenerative, victims often gradually lose the ability to work and even care for themselves. When this occurs, victims may be eligible for Social Security Disability benefits.
Medical Criteria
Victims of early-onset Alzheimers may receive SSD benefits by proving they meet criteria in the Social Security Administrations Blue Book. The book includes a listing of organic mental disorders, which claims examiners use when evaluating claims involving any form of dementia.
Early-onset Alzheimers may be considered disabling if victims can document one recognized symptom of reduced cognitive function. Acceptable symptoms include memory problems, IQ loss, personality changes and loss of awareness of time and place. In addition to one of these symptoms, people seeking SSD benefits must document two of the following issues:
- Inability to act appropriately in social environments
- Difficulty maintaining focus and pace to complete tasks
- Limited ability to perform regular daily activities, including self-care
- Recurrent episodes in which symptoms become markedly worse
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Qualifying For Social Security Disability Benefits For Asthma On The Basis Of Low Residual Functional Capacity
If your asthma does not match the description in the Listing of Impairments, you must prove that your RFC is so reduced that you are unable to perform substantial gainful activity .
Your treating physician can complete a Physical Residual Functional Capacity Assessment that details your abilities and proves that you are unable to perform work on a sustained basis.
An RFC Assessment asks your physician to evaluate the following:
- Exertional limitations how much you can lift, stand, walk, sit, push, and/or pull.
- Postural limitations your ability to climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, and/or crawl.
- Manipulative limitations your ability to reach, manipulate objects, and/or feel.
- Visual limitations including near acuity, far acuity, depth perception, accommodation, color vision, and/or field of vision.
- Communicative limitations your ability to hear and speak.
- Environmental limitations your ability to tolerate extreme cold, heat, wetness, humidity, noise, vibration, poor ventilation, and/or hazards.
People with asthma typically have limitations in multiple areas, including exertional and environmental limitations.
Obtaining Cancer Social Security Disability Benefits
A diagnosis of cancer can be devastating. Cancer can result in major upheaval to all facets of your life, including your ability to work and earn a living. If you are in this situation, you may be able to replace some of your lost income with disability benefits for cancer.
The Social Security Administration understands that cancer can be debilitating. Even the treatment for cancer can make you very ill. If your pain and symptoms become so overwhelming that you cannot work for a sustained period of time , you may qualify for disability benefits.
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Qualifying For Disability Benefits With Multiple Sclerosis
Applying for disability benefits is a long and arduous process regardless of the disease you are fighting. Multiple sclerosis can be particularly challenging because there is no set course for how the disease will progress. Some people are completely functional and can manage the disease with medication. In other cases, the disease progresses rapidly and the patients condition continually worsens. There is no cookie cutter approach for MS disability cases and you need a New York long term disability lawyer who has experience handling complex medical disability cases.
Obtaining Social Security Disability Benefits When You Have Multiple Sclerosis
If you have multiple sclerosis , you may have experienced severe symptoms that interfere with your ability to work. The Social Security Administration recognizes that MS is a potentially disabling condition that could qualify you for Social Security disability benefits. If you have MS and want to apply for Social Security in White Plains or elsewhere in the metropolitan New York area, the Hermann Law Group can help.
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Listing 900 Endocrine Disorders
An endocrine disorder is a medical condition in which the endocrine glands function abnormally, resulting in a hormonal imbalance. The primary endocrine glands are the pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal and pancreas and diseases that qualify for this category typically affect those specific glands such as Diabetes, Thyroid Disorders,Hyperglycemia and Hypoglycemia. The SSA will evaluate your disorder to determine if the condition is severe enough to preclude you from performing the basic requirements of work to decide if you will qualify for benefits. View full Blue Book List here
Please Answer A Few Questions To Help Us Determine Your Eligibility
The Social Security Administration has created a list of medical conditions or “impairments” that it considers serious enough to automatically be disabling. The SSA uses the listings in the Blue Book to determine whether someone has a disability that prevents them from working.
At step three of the five-part disability evaluation process, the SSA will review your medical records to decide whether your impairment meets the requirements of a disability listing found in the Blue Book . If you meet the requirements, you’ll be found disabled.
The Blue Book covers both physical and mental impairments, and it discusses many serious diseases that can be disabling. Part A has 14 categories of disability listings and Part B has 15 categories.
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How Claims For Disability Due To Mental Illness Can Get Approved
To improve your chances of getting the SSA to approve your application, you should see your psychiatrist or psychologist regularly. Inform them how your condition affects you on a daily basis and take the medicine that they prescribe.
Even if the official disability listings does not include your mental illness, you could still be able to obtain disability benefits. More than likely, you will win on appeal. And only if you can prove you cant perform even the simplest, unskilled job due to your disorder.
Depending on the severity of your illness, your age, education, and skills, you could receive a medical-vocational allowance.
How To Obtain Social Security Disability Benefits For Mental Illness
Getting Social Security disability for mental illness is often much difficult than for a physical illness. There are many reasons for that, which this post will get into. But it is possible to have your Social Security disability application for a mental disorder approved. That is why having a lawyer on your side at the start of the process is a good idea.
The experienced disability attorneys at Hermann Law Group, PLLC have successfully helped disabled workers apply for and receive Social Security disability benefits for mental illness. Contact us today for a free consultation.
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Qualifying Without The Impairment Listing
The impairment listing isnt the only way to obtain disability benefits for depression. Instead, claimants can be granted a medical-vocational allowance, which in fact is how the Administration approves most disability claims for depression.
To determine whether to grant disability benefits under a medical-vocational allowance, the Administration considers how depression symptoms affect the ability to do unskilled work that demands abilities to
- Comprehend, remember, and execute simple instructions,
- Make simple decisions necessary for the work,
- Respond properly to supervision and cooperate with co-workers, and
- Adapt to changes in routine.
If depression is the only impairment claimed on the disability application, an award of benefits is a long shot unless the condition is a major case, severe, and obviously disabling. But with a concomitant physical or another mental impairment in addition to depression, there is a better chance for benefits.
If the Administration decides that the mental impairment makes even simple, unskilled work impossible, the claimant will receive disability benefits. If the Administration decides that the claimant has the mental and emotional ability to do unskilled work but that a physical impairment requires sedentary work, the claimant could receive disability benefits if not qualified to do any available sedentary jobs.
Lupus Treatment And Long Term Prognosis
Given the variety of symptoms that can be evidence of lupus and the overlap between lupus symptoms and many other common diseases, lupus can be very difficult to diagnose. Without the diagnosis, developing a treatment plan can be tricky. Your doctor will run a variety of diagnostic tests depending on your symptoms. These could include blood tests, x-rays, or rheumatology tests.
Because the cause of your lupus may not be firmly identified your doctor may have to try several treatments to find the best fit for your symptoms. If the lupus is organ specific, it is easier to form a treatment plan by process of elimination.
During the course of diagnosis and treatment, it is important to regularly remind your doctor to document all of your ongoing symptoms in your medical records. If you see multiple doctors, it is important to explain any treatments or diagnoses to all of them so that there is consistency throughout your medical records. This will assist your New York Social Security attorney with proving a continuous track record of the disease.
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Medically Determinable Physical And/or Mental Impairment
What is a “Medically Determinable Impairment”?
A medically determinable physical or mental impairment is an impairment that results from anatomical, physiological, or psychological abnormalities which can be shown by medically acceptable clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques. A physical or mental impairment must be established by medical evidence consisting of signs, symptoms, and laboratory findings-not only by the individual’s statement of symptoms.
The Listing of Impairments
The severity of the illness/condition must meet or be equivalent to the criteria, or requirements, of a medical condition
- This is generally referred to as The Listings or The Blue Book, and can be accessed on the Social Security Administration’s Medical/Professional Relations page.
- The Listings are categorized by body system
- The Listings are separate for adults and children
- They are updated to reflect advancements in treatment, prognosis, and recovery
Talk To A New York Disability Attorney To Learn More About What Qualifies As A Disability
By working with a disability attorney, you can increase the odds that you will present a complete picture to the SSA and DDS when you apply for benefits. Hermann Law Group, PLLC will work tirelessly to help you. We will collect data, reach out to doctors, and ensure that your application shows as complete a picture as possible. Contact us today.
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How Can You Get Help With The Blue Book
Since the Blue Book contains a lot of complex information about disabilities and their criteria, it can be difficult to decipher. If you want to understand the terms of the Blue Book better, you can consult with a disability advocate also, a physician or medical professional or Social Security representative may be able to help you understand it.
Before filing a claim, we recommend you consult with a disability advocate so that they can help you to get the appropriate medical records to support your claim. An advocate can also help you to understand the terms and requirements of the listings.
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Meeting The Medical Criteria For Social Security Disability With Heart Failure
When applying for Social Security Disability benefits, the SSA will compare your condition to a listing of conditions known as the Blue Book. Each condition that could potentially qualify an individual for disability benefits is listed in this Blue Book, along with the criteria that must be met to qualify with each specific condition.
Chronic heart failure is addressed in Section 4.02 of the Blue Book. According to the Blue Book, in order to qualify for Social Security Disability benefits due to heart failure, you must be able to prove that:
- You have been diagnosed with chronic heart failure while undergoing prescribed treatment and
- There is medically documented evidence of systolic failure with left ventricular end diastolic dimensions greater than 6.0 cm or ejection fraction of 30 percent or less during a period of stability or diastolic failure with left ventricular posterior wall plus septal thickness totaling 2.5 cm or greater on imaging with an enlarged left atrium greater than or equal to 4.5 cm with normal or elevated ejection fraction during a period of stability and
- Persistent symptoms of heart failure are present that seriously limit the ability to independently initiate, sustain, or complete activities of daily living or there are three or more separate documented episodes of acute congestive heart failure within a 12-month period or you suffer an inability to perform on an exercise tolerance test at a workload equivalent to 5METs or less.
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The Blue Book Doesnt List My Condition
Youre not alone. There are a number of conditions that arent listed in the Blue Book that nonetheless should and do qualify an applicant to receive disability benefits. One such condition is migraines. If you have persistent migraines that your doctor has well documented, you can apply for disability. The SSA will grant you benefits if your migraines severely impair your ability to sustain gainful employment.
Obtaining Social Security Disability Benefits For Asthma
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 25 million Americans have asthma. Obtaining Social Security disability benefits for asthma can be difficult most cases of asthma are controllable. However, a small percentage of people with asthma are unable to work because of their condition. If you are one of them, you may be eligible for benefits.
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What Are Social Security Disability Benefits
The SSA offers two forms of benefits for people with disabilities. The medical criteria that you must meet to be eligible for disability benefits are the same for both programs. Their technical requirements, however, are different.
The first type of benefit, Social Security Disability Insurance , has eligibility criteria that are based on your previous work history. To be eligible for SSDI, you must have worked recently and for a long enough time at a job that required you to pay Social Security taxes. This is because taxpayers fund SSDI, so only those who contribute to the system may receive benefits. The SSA calculates the amount you may receive each month by averaging your previous incomes. The average payment for SSDI recipients is $1,100 per month, with a maximum of about $2,600.
The second type of benefit, Supplementary Security Income , is needs-based. It is only available to people who have extremely limited income and resources. To be eligible, an individual may earn up to $733 per month and have assets valued up to $2,000. A couple may earn up to $1,100 per month and have assets valued up to $3,000. Applicable assets include cash, stocks and life insurance, but do not include one primary home and one vehicle.
Working With Disability Lawyers In Winston Salem
The list does not contain every disabling condition that qualifies for disability benefits. If you are living with a medical condition that doesnt fall into the above categories, you can also qualify for SSDI benefits if you meet the programs definition of disability.
Working with Collins Price disability lawyers in Winston Salem makes the claims process as easy as possible for you. Below, you can find links to more information about common impairments we see frequently in our practice. Keep in mind, this is not a complete list and we routinely work with claimants with all kinds of impairments.
To discuss your Social Security Disability claim, please schedule a free consultation by calling us at or toll free at . You can also complete our Contact form at the bottom of this page and well be in touch promptly.
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Revisions To Rules Regarding The Evolution Of Medical Evidence
From March 27th 2017, the SSA revised its medical evidence rules. This includes redefining several key terms related to evidence and the use of acceptable medical sources , the acceptance of certain medical opinions and prior administrative medical findings as well as revising the rules about medical consultants and psychological consultants .
Traumatic Brain Injury Social Security Disability Claims
Traumatic Brain Injury occurs when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain, such as when the head is violently struck by an object or when an object pierces the skull and enters the brain tissue. Symptoms vary widely from mild to severe . TBI may also cause functional short- or long-term changes affecting thinking, sensation, language and emotions. Roughly 1.7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury each year, the majority of which is concussions or other mild forms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . While repeated mild TBIs occurring over an extended period of months or years can result in cumulative neurological and cognitive deficits, the CDC warns that repeated mild TBIs in a short period of time can be catastrophic or fatal.
Established in 2003, Hermann Law Group, PLLC is a New York Social Security disability law firm with offices in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Our attorneys have more than 50 years of experience representing disabled persons, including those suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury, in Social Security disability claims.
At Hermann Law Group, we do only one thing: represent disabled individuals. We will take the hassle and burden off you by completing and filing all forms for you, obtaining the necessary medical documentation to support your claim and representing you on appeal, if necessary.
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Getting Disability Benefits For Cancer Patients
A cancer diagnosis can be frightening for patients and their families, but whether a patient will qualify for Social Security disability benefits is determined by how the condition affects the persons capacity to work. To be sure, life-threatening and terminal cancer diagnoses usually result in the automatic and, in some cases, hastened award of disability benefits. However, cancer that has not metastasized beyond the localized lymph nodes, has responded to therapy, or has been surgically removed may, in some situations, allow an individual to return to work in the eyes of Social Security. It might be difficult to obtain disability compensation in certain situations. However, it is possible that even effective cancer therapy might result in significant residual restrictions that would qualify an individual for disability benefits.
The Social Security Compassionate Allowance
The Social Security Compassionate Allowances List is a collection of major medical issues, many of which are life-threatening, that automatically qualify a Social Security application for expedited payment approval. Instead of waiting up to a year for a disability hearing, a client diagnosed with a diagnosis on the CAL can sometimes obtain disability approval within a few weeks.
Getting SSDI Benefits for Cancer according to Blue Book Listings
What if you dont qualify for Blue Book Listing?
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