ssd question

Hi Denise:

According to my attorney and his clerk the judge can take up to 1 year to make his ruling on your hearing. I had my SSDI hearing Sept 26, 2007 and still do not have an answer as to whether I was approved. I believe it can take up to 3 to 4 months before you get your check once you've been approved. As far as taking your husband's income into consideration that would only apply to SSI not SSDI. SSDI is based on how much money you've paid into your social security fund. They do take into consideration if you've got children under the age of 16. If you do then I believe you get something extra for their care. Hope this helps you.

Take care,
Barbara

I watched the documentary "Sicko" for the first time this week. It makes me so angry to see what those of you who need to get SSDI have to go through. It you haven't seen it yet, be sure to watch it. We need to make changes in our health care system in this country.

The social security benefits you receive are based on your past earnings. Your SSDI benefit will be the same as your SS benefit at retirement age.  I don't believe that an SSDI benefit is based on what your spouse makes.  My wife was still employed and I received the maximum SSDI benefit even though I was only 63 at the time.  Retirement age for me is 66 in another year.

Here is a link that might explain it.  I would suggest you call the SSDI number.  They have actually been very helpful when I have called and cleared up questions that I had.  Call mid week and you will have a better chance of getting through quicker.

http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10029.html#part1

Once you are approved I believe that the law says you must get your first payment within 60 days. 

Getting approval is getting tougher now as I have heard there is a backlog of 3/4 million applicants waiting for a hearing with an ALJ.  Apparently, more are applying and SS does not have the funds to hire enough ALJs.  Some states are worse than others.

When I applied for the 3rd time in Sep 2006 using a SSDI lawyer the judge read my application and approved it within 2 weeks without a hearing.  I was surprised but elated.  I got my retroactive pay within 30 days and everything has been smooth since then.  My attorney said that if your case is very strong some of the judges will just approve it and move on to the next due to the backlog.  If your case is questionable or the paperwork has not been filled out in a favorable way (that includes doctors letters) a case just has to wait until a judge is available.

The system is really broken and focuses on finding ways to deny the first and second applications unless you have something termainal like ALS or stage 4 cancer.  The denial percentages are about 65% on 1st application and 85-90% on the 2nd.  The approval rate on the 3rd application when it goes before an ALJ is about 65%.  I guess they figure that making the process difficult and denying almost everyone will weed out the slackers and leave only the deserving.  Problem is that it penalizes patient who really need the  income and do not need the stress of dealing with SSDI.

Hopefully, you have a good attorney.  Most who specialize will not take a contingency case unless they feel it is winnable.

By the way, the stats I quoted came directly from an exec with SS who is a good friend of a friend.  Those were national ones and since the states do all the approval work it varies from state to state.

Good luck,

Bill

My lawyer did everything he could to get the records that the state agency failed to request. He also got my doctors to fill out a RFC form for the judge. I ended up having my hearing delayed because the judge I was initially assigned to retired. Then because things were really hitting the fan financially my lawyer requested they either make an on the record decision or move up my hearing. My senator's office got involved too and I got a hearing date within 2 months of the letter from the lawyer and senator. At the hearing the judge asked me 3 or 4 questions and my lawyer 4 or 5. The guy there to say what I could do never opened his mouth. The judge then said he was ruling in my favor (very rare to actually get the decision in the hearing). A month later I got the letter and in 10 days I had back pay because I was about to lose housing. I am on SSI and my husband's income counts. If I had 3 more credits I would have been on SSDI and his income would not matter. It used to be I could have gotten disability on his credits but they changed the laws and now I can't unless he dies after we have been married 10 years. Since I don't want to lose him this is not an option I want happening. Once the baby comes a lot more of his income won't count anymore and I will get the full SSI benifit.

I would make sure your lawyer's office has every supporting piece of medical stuff they can get their hands on. I know my case went really fast at the end because of my housing situation. If you have a serious risk of losing heat, electric, water, or your home the lawyer could request an on the record decision or simply make the judge aware of the problem. Once you have your letter in hand if you need the money really fast go to the local SS office with proof of why you need the money right away and if it is within the guidelines they will have to release the money as fast as possible.

Bsime,

Wondering what your problems were with the Imuran. I'm trying to figure out my latest round of joint pains and I swear it's related to the 6MP (sister drug to Imuran). My Rheumy is having me restart it while on 10 mg. of prednisone also. Still doing tests, x-rays, etc., trying to figure this out.

I wish I were back on imuran sometimes. I cannot take it during the pregnancy, but it controlled some of my nerve issues and the memory problems I have thanks to the lupus. The fact I notice these symptoms slowly returning likely means I am losing my remission but my other lupus symptoms have not returned and my liver function is still normal so I am not overly worried. The way my rheumy explained it Imuran takes 3-4 weeks to begin showing benifits and can take 4-6 months for full benifits. Since she says plaquenil takes 6wks-2 months to show benifits and 6-12mo for full benifits Imuran is not quite as slow acting as the plaquenil so many of us take. Ironically my white and red cell counts are chronically mildly elivated so I never had blood count problems except that when I got a nasty infection my white cell count did not rise as much as my regular doctor expected an infection to increase the white cell count. That meant I went untreated for 2 months until my rheumy looked at my counts and realized why I had been so ill was an overlooked infection. I fired that regular doctor really fast.

Pain increase is usually the result of inflammation. We found the hard way that a lot of my joint pain was not the lupus, instead I have rheumetoid arthritis and lupus. I suggest tracking the pain you are experiencing Judy so that you can describe the symptoms, when it happens, what you had been doing, what foods you ate, and how the painful area looks. This is very important because not all of our pain is caused by the primary disease diagnosed. I know a lot of doctors try to blame everything on the easiest thing (usually the first condition dxed) but the truth is that so many other things can be going on that get overlooked after a dx. just because it is easier for them to blame the known condition rather than look for the cause. If they just blame everything on what is already dxed your condition could become worse if there is another problem/condition causing the symptoms.

Having been diagnosed with one autoimmune condition makes you much more likely to be dxed with another. Never allow anyone, even yourself, to assume that the answer to a new symptom is easily explained away as medication side effect or the already dxed condition. Sometimes it is the med or condition but others it is a sign that something has been overlooked.

I wish you much luck.