Next step trying to get disability-pos vibes please!

Darla,

Doctors must conform and submit whatever paperwork is requested from them by Social Security in regards to a patient. Are you applying for SS on your own or using a disability company or attorney to assist you? Reason I ask is a disability company will do deal with gathering all the paperwork for you, deal directly with your doctors offices in getting all your records and they also deal directly with Social Security, taking that burden off of you.

As I recall (it's been quite a while), there really wasn't a huge amount of "work" for my Drs to do.

Just ask if they think you are capable of continuing to work, immediately after telling them how your current symptoms impede your work. When they agree that you can't work, that tells you all you need to know, ie. that they support you in not working. The rest of it is in the form of record requests directly to the Dr from SSD, which they cannot refuse to co-operate with. There really is NOT a huge burden put on them that would influence their opinion in a way that would keep them from supporting your disability.

I didn't use a company and I didn't find it particularly burdensome to fill out the required paperwork for SSD. (To be fair, I owned my own company and had for many years, so anything about my work experience and earnings I filled out from the standpoint of both employer and employee.)

I feel like you are making it a lot more difficult than it really is, it really isn't that bad, I promise!

Darla,

Does your company offer long term disability? I went out on FMLA and then filed long term disability once my doctor told me it was in my best interest to stop working because of the toll it was taking on my body and disease. That was 10 years ago this month. After that I filed for SS. I continue to collect long term disability (until I’m 65) and now SS, so I’ve been blessed to have never been without a paycheck.

Before quitting out right you might checking to see if your company offers LTD, even if you have to pay for the premium. Once you file your premium is paid in full. Just a thought.

One last thing, I would agree with Lynnwood, you are over thinking the process really. I literally had no stress in the process. I think we hear so many bad stories they over shadow the good ones.

Today is my last day of work. Bittersweet to say the least. I hate that I was put in the position of leaving my job by these nasty diseases but I think it will be for the best. After wrapping some stuff up in the morning I will be not working for the first time in my adult life.

I too am sorry you had to make the decision to stop working Darla. Like Lynnwood and many others I’m sure, no longer working was one of the most devasting things I faced. I truly enjoyed my job and the people I worked with, so losing my career was like losing a loved one really. I wish you the very best in your fight for your disability approval, may it go through quickly!

I realize that this is a LATE post, but I
thought I’d share the experiences I had and decisions I made as I applied for disability.
I went through process 7 years ago. I was lucky enough to still be working when it became clear I couldn’t work anymore, so I had private disability insurance through my employer. Even with the disability insurance, I had no income for 6 months (I live alone). The stress of that period in my life was BRUTAL. It took years for me to get back to my shaky version of even footing financially. I almost wiped out my retirement savings during and after the process.
I have one recommendation. Find a good attorney who specializes in applying for disability benefits. I would check to see if the rules have changed, but I had a set amount I had to pay the lawyer ($6000).
The Social Security Disability process took 1.5 years for me, but once I was declared “fully disabled,” Social Security paid my monthly benefits retroactive to the date that I left my job. That was a nice size check. The lawyer was paid out of the back disability payment check.
There are laws that govern the attorney to disabled person’s financial relationship during the application process so that there’re no surprise bills at the end of the process. They can charge you for expenses. I recall that number being quite reasonable.
You need to be sure that you’ll get declared disabled, though. If you don’t get the benefits, you’ll still have to pay the lawyer the $6k fee.
Having a lawyer represent me is the only reason that I didn’t loose my mind during the wait. From the beginning, my lawyer went through my illnesses with me carefully to be sure that I had a case before agreeing to represent me. I think that process was critical. If the lawyer says you have no chance it’s a good idea to believe him or her. You can always go back to your doctor to make sure your illness(s) are properly documented and try again with the lawyer because you don’t want to wait 1.5 years, get denied and then start all over again.
I read that the chances of success with a disability being approved go up substantially when a lawyer is hired to represent the patient. I believe that’s true.
During my disability hearing, I was asked questions by the judge and the other folks working for SSD. None of them wanted to hear the lawyer speak. But that varies GREATLY, depending on what judge you get.
Truthfully, I don’t believe that I truly needed the lawyer - my illnesses spoke for themselves. But the stakes can be so high for a positive outcome in the hearings. If I had it all over to do again, I would still have the lawyer there, sitting by my side. I think it’s a worthwhile expense for the peace of mind.

Hi “straydog.”
I believe you’re correct about the no fee from a disability attorney if you lose your case. I remembered it wrong. Sorry about that.
I didn’t pay my lawyer out of pocket. I paid my attorney out of the retroactive benefits I received after being awarded disability, just as you wrote.
People go into the disability application process with many different illnesses and coming from wildly different personal and financial situations.
My recommendation was based on my personal situation and decisions. I started researching the disability process a few years before it became necessary to apply.
If I didn’t win SSD approval within 2 years, my private disability insurance would drop me. I would be facing zero income as a single person without a roommate to help with expenses.
I would’ve lost everything I’d worked so hard for in my 30 year career. My house, etc. would all be gone. I would’ve also lost one of the things I valued most besides the job that I loved - my independence.
Hiring a lawyer doesn’t guarantee Social Security Disability approval - that’s a fact. SSD only approves 30% of the applications it receives every year. Personally, I wanted to do everything possible to eliminate any chance of being in the 70% of denials that I could.
Hiring a disability lawyer was a personal decision that worked for me. I shared my story with an eye towards helping others make their own choice. I wrote in my previous post that ultimately, after the hearing, I didn’t believe that I needed a lawyer. But I couldn’t have known that when I started the disability process.
It’s not for me to tell others what decision to make, as I can’t know how sick they are or if they are in a situation where they have financial support from a spouse or family if they are denied benefits.
There is no “one size fits all,” with illness or disability.