3 Things To Consider Before Appealing A Denial Of Disability Benefits

The severity of your injuries isn't the only thing the Social Security Administration (SSA) will consider when you lodge an appeal against a denial of benefits. Knowing what the other factors are will help you to decide whether to lodge an appeal or not. Here are three examples of some of these factors:

Disability Prognosis

Temporary health conditions do not qualify as disabilities. The longer your injury is expected to last, the higher the chances that you may succeed with in an appeal. In most cases, conditions lasting less than a year aren't considered as disabilities.

However, there is a caveat: your short term injury may be considered a disability if it is leaves you with long lasting consequences. For example, broken ankles aren't usually counted as disabilities because they usually heal within 12 weeks or so. However, if your broken ankle fails to heal properly, then you may suffer from painful complications such as nerve damage, arthritis or compartment syndrome (neuromuscular pain). If that the case with your situation, then you should lodge an appeal because the complications may turn the temporary injury into a disability.

Level of Education

Another thing to take into account is your level of education. Although education has no bearing on the severity of your injuries, it does affect the quality of work you can do. As you know, your disability benefits appeal may be rejected if you have a high chance of landing a job in spite of your injury.

For example, you may not have many options as far as sedentary work is concerned, most of which you can do even with a disability. On the other hand, if you don't even have a high school diploma, then most of your possible occupations will fall in physical labor category. Since most manual labors don't pay well, your chances of a successful appeal increase if you don't have stellar educational qualifications.

Age

The third consideration is your age. In simple terms, the older you are, the more likely you are to receive social security benefits. In fact, disabled people who have reached the retirement age have the best chances. The reasoning is that younger people can easily go through vocational readjustment to get into sedentary jobs.

Just because one of these factors is against you doesn't mean that your appeal will be declined. You should do the evaluation taking into account the combination of all these factors.  For example, if you have a severe disability that may last your lifetime, then you may get the benefits even if you are middle aged. Be sure to contact a social security lawyer, such as one from Law Offices Of Russell J. Goldsmith, for further assistance.


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