Personal Injury and Social Security Disability Blog

Featured Link - American Association Of People With Disabilities

The American Association of People With Disabilities (AAPD) is just what it sounds like — an organization of and for people with disabilities. There are some good resources and tips here. Here is their description:

AAPD is the largest national nonprofit cross-disability member organization in the United States, dedicated to ensuring economic self-sufficiency and political empowerment for the more than 50 million Americans with disabilities. AAPD works in coalition with other disability organizations for the full implementation and enforcement of disability nondiscrimination laws, particularly the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

"Fatal" Mistakes Social Security Disability Clients Make

This is a short list of mistakes we have seen our clients make over the years. Whether you are our client, another lawyer's client, or simply trying to represent yourself in a claim for Social Security Disability benefits, you should read this list carefully and maybe you can avoid making one of these "fatal" mistakes.

Please call or write us if you have questions about this or any other legal matter.

    * Not being completely honest with the lawyer regarding medical conditions, work status, and drug or alcohol use.

    * Not going to the doctor regularly or not taking all the medications prescribed by the doctor.

    * Not attending all meetings scheduled with the lawyer.

    * Not keeping Social Security and the lawyer informed of the client's current address and telephone number.

    * Committing a crime that would cause Social Security to question the client's credibility.

    * Saying anything untruthful during the hearing with the Administrative Law Judge.

    * Continuing to smoke while claiming disability for heart or respiratory disease.

    * Not reading all letters from Social Security or from the lawyer, and missing a deadline contained in a letter.

    * Using illegal drugs or abusing legal drugs and alcohol.

    * Not attending medical examinations scheduled by Social Security.

    * Failing to tell the lawyer about every doctor the client has seen.

Average Processing Times For Social Security Disability Claims

The list of the most recently available average processing times for Social Security disability claims throughout the nation has been published by NOSSCR. The Dallas and Forth Worth offices rank closer to the top than to the bottom, but processing times across the country are abysmal and unfair to claimants.

The times as of the first of March 2008 range from 258 days in Harrisburg, to 816 days in Indianapolis. Fort Worth ranks 43rd out of 143 offices, with an average processing time of 405 days. The North Dallas office ranks 57th, with an average processing time of 437 days, and the Downtown Dallas office ranks 66th, with an average processing time of 460 days.

Arthritis And Social Security Disability

According to the Arthritis Foundation, more than 27 million people are effected by Osteoarthritis and another 1.3 million people live with rheumatoid arthritis. These people can be your parents, your siblings, or even you!

Arthritis is broken up into two listings by Social Security. The first, Listing 1.02 for the Major dysfunction of a joint, covers disability caused by Osteoarthritis. Disability caused by inflammatory or rheumatoid arthritis is covered by Listing 14.09.

It is very difficult to meet a listing for osteoarthritis, particularly in a person under the age of 65. Generally, the best approach is to document the existence of osteoarthritis and then document the actual physical limitations it places on a claimant. These physical limitations are referred to as a claimant’s physical residual capacity to perform work related activities. They include activities such as sitting for a long period of time, standing for a long period of time, lifting, pushing and pulling, and walking.  Also, osteoarthritis often presents in the hands of a claimant. If the claimant has had a long history of performing desk jobs requiring manual dexterity, the claimant’s in ability to perform that type of work can be the basis for a finding of “disabled.”

The second listing covering arthritis is 14.09 for inflammatory arthritis. It should be noted that Rheumatoid Arthritis is found in the series of listings covering the immune system. That is because Rheumatoid or inflammatory arthritis is actually a systemic disorder, which can manifest itself in all parts of the body, not just the joints. It is however, most common in the joints. As with osteoarthritis it is very difficult to be found disabled based simply on the Listing for inflammatory arthritis. To be found to “meet or equal a listing” a claimant would have to provide a medically documented history of (1) joint pain, (2) joint swelling, (3) joint tenderness, (4) current joint inflammation, (5) occurring in two peripheral joints or one major weight bearing joint, (6) resulting in the inability to ambulate effectively or inability to perform fine or gross movements, and (7) ongoing for 12 months or being expected to end in death.

A finding of disabled based on rheumatoid or inflammatory arthritis, like osteoarthritis, is more likely to be based on a claimant’s decreased ability to perform work activities. A claimant needs to be prepared to offer credible testimony as to his or her ability to function in the workplace. What job function could the claimant not perform any longer? What adjustments or allowances did the claimant’s workplace make for him or her? Did the claimant need to rely on his or her co-workers for assistance? Additionally, arthritis is often treated with powerful steroids such as Prednisone, which can have severe side effects. The side effects of this type of medication are not in and of themselves disabling, but can be considered a contributing factor.

If you have arthritis and are considering seeking either SSI or SSDI you should first start going to the doctor for treatment. If you reach a point, after going to the doctor on a continual basis, that you cannot work, then contact Kraft and Associates at 214-999-9999 for a free consultation.

Disabled Often Wait Years For Social Security Disability Payments

The Dallas Morning News today published an article decrying the absurd delay between the time a disabled person files for Social Security disability benefits and the time an Administrative Law Judge finally makes a decision on the claim. Here are excerpts from the article, headlined  "Disabled often wait years for Social Security payment":

Now that most of the nation's 78 million boomers have entered their prime years for illnesses and disabilities, they're flooding Social Security with claims and creating an unprecedented backlog. Pending requests for a hearing before an administrative law judge have more than doubled to 750,000 in the last decade.

Nationally, the average wait for a judge's decision has stretched to 502 days this year, compared with 258 in 2000. At some hearing offices, the average wait approaches 800 days. In North Texas, claimants wait an average of 461 days at the North Dallas office, 453 days at the downtown office and 411 days in Fort Worth.

Even under the best circumstances, the boomers' claims would strain Social Security's workforce. But years of congressionally mandated belt-tightening have left the agency's staff at its lowest level since the 1970s. It now has fewer judges than a decade ago.

There are also allegations that private disability insurance companies are unnecessarily clogging the public system by requiring many of their applicants to file separate, and often questionable, claims with Social Security.

Social Security's new administrator, Michael Astrue, has made reducing the backlog of disability cases a priority, acknowledging that people have died before receiving a decision. His efforts have brought the first significant increase in funding in 15 years for his agency's operations.

Today, 7.2 million Americans collect Social Security disability benefits because of a medical condition that prevents them from working for at least one year. The average monthly check is $1,004.

Two of three disability claims are initially denied. Most of those who are rejected give up, but the others appeal, first to another claims examiner and then to an administrative law judge.

People who request administrative hearings often hire attorneys or other professionals, who customarily charge 25 percent of the retroactive benefits, up to $5,300, and collect only if the clients win.

Patience and tenacity can pay off. About 60 percent of those who request hearings go on to win their cases.

As frustrating as the delays have been, experts say, it's hard to blame all of them on the overworked, underfunded Social Security Administration.

At times in recent years, the agency has had only enough money to hire one employee for every three who leave. Since 2001, Congress has appropriated an average of $150 million less each year than the president requested.

"We're an agency under stress," said Greg Heineman, president of the National Council of Social Security Management Associations, whose members are the agency's managers. "We have 5,000 fewer employees than in 2005, yet more work to do."

Mr. Astrue wants to hire 50 to 75 more administrative law judges next year, but he has also pushed a number of initiatives to improve efficiency.

The reforms have included converting the remaining paper files to computer files, paying particular attention to the oldest pending cases, expediting decisions on clear-cut cases like late-stage cancer and increasing judges' productivity by relying more on video hearings, such as in remote areas.

Frivolous Disability Claims Are Overloading The Social Security Disability System

Lawyer who represent Social Security disability claimants have always known that the disability system is clogged up with frivolous claims. People, for one reason or another, who file a Social Security disability claim when they know they don't qualify. Some people file claims even though they're able to work full-time, and other people file claims even though they haven't worked long enough to qualify for benefits.

But we've also known that many of these frivolous claims are from people who have been forced to file by their long-term-disability insurance carriers. Now word is getting out to the general public about this problem of LTD carriers filing frivolous Social Security disability claims and causing people with legitimate claims to have to wait longer for resolution.

The Dallas Morning News carried a long article about this problem recently. Here are excerpts from the story:

The Social Security system is choking on paperwork and spending millions of dollars a year screening dubious applications for disability benefits, according to lawsuits filed by whistle-blowers.

Insurance companies are the source of the problem, the lawsuits say. The insurers are forcing many people who file disability claims with them to also apply to Social Security – even people who clearly do not qualify for the government program.

The Social Security Administration defines "disabled" much more stringently than the insurers generally do, so it rejects most of the applications, at least initially. Often, the insurers then tell their claimants to appeal, the lawsuits say, raising the cost.

The insurers say that requiring a Social Security assessment is a standard practice and that there is nothing wrong with it. The policies they sell allow them to coordinate their benefit payments with others to make sure no one is paid twice. Thus, if a disabled person can get benefits from somewhere else – like workers' compensation, a disability pension or Social Security – the insurance company can reduce the benefit check by that amount.

The flood of referrals, however, is making it hard for Social Security to respond to people who are truly disabled, said Kenneth Nibali, the former top administrator of the Social Security disability program.

"Anybody who is forced to come into this system, and who doesn't need to be there, is affecting someone else," said Mr. Nibali, an expert witness for the plaintiffs. "They're holding up cases for the people who have been waiting for months and years, who in many cases are much worse off."

The number of people waiting for hearings on their disability claims by an administrative law judge has more than doubled since 2000, and the average wait has grown to 512 days in that time, from 258 days.

April 2nd Is World Autism Awareness Day

Today is World Autism Awareness Day. One of many good resources for family members of those with autism is the AutismSpeaks Web site. Here are excerpts from the Wikipedia entry on autism:

Autism is a brain development disorder that impairs social interaction and communication, and causes restricted and repetitive behavior, all starting before a child is three years old. This set of signs distinguishes autism from milder autism spectrum disorders (ASD) such as Asperger syndrome.^[1]

Autism is highly heritable, although the genetics of autism are complex and it is generally unclear which genes are responsible.^[2] In rare cases, autism is strongly associated with agents that cause birth defects.^[3] Other proposed causes, such as childhood vaccines, are controversial and the vaccine hypotheses lack convincing scientific evidence.^[4] Most recent reviews estimate a prevalence of one to two cases per 1,000 people for autism, and about six per 1,000 for ASD, with ASD averaging a 4.3:1 male-to-female ratio. The number of people known to have autism has increased dramatically since the 1980s, at least partly due to changes in diagnostic practice; the question of whether actual prevalence has increased is unresolved.^[5]

Autism affects many parts of the brain; how this occurs is poorly understood. Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child's life. Early behavioral or cognitive intervention can help children gain self-care, social, and communication skills. There is no cure.^[6] Few children with autism live independently after reaching adulthood, but some become successful,^[7] and an autistic culture has developed, with some seeking a cure and others believing that autism is a condition rather than a disorder.^[8]

Featured Link - The American Chronic Pain Association

The American Chronic Pain Association has a great deal of information and resources on their Web site. Many of our personal injury clients and Social Security disability claimants must deal with chronic pain for long periods of time, and sites like this help our clients cope with their pain.

Here is the Mission Statement of the American Chronic Pain Association:

• To facilitate peer support and education for individuals with chronic pain and their families so that these individuals may live more fully in spite of their pain.
• To raise awareness among the health care community, policy makers, and the public at large about issues of living with chronic pain.

Danger Ahead For The Social Security System

According to a CNN story today, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is warning about the same dangers I mentioned in a January post on this blog — we're about to run out of money for Social Security and Medicare. Here are excerpts from the article:

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, saying that Social Security is "financially unsustainable," called Tuesday for quick action to keep the system strong and released a report detailing the program's funding shortfalls.

The federal government will have to start paying back what it owes the Social Security trust fund in 2017 so the program can continue paying 100% of benefits. By 2041, if the system is left unchanged, Social Security will only be able to pay out 78% of benefits promised to future retirees.

Shoring up Social Security is one of the main economic issues that will face the next president. Most proposals involve raising taxes or reducing benefits. Democrats typically have opposed benefit reductions while Republicans have opposed tax increases. 

"This year's Social Security Report again demonstrates that the Social Security program is financially unsustainable and requires reform," Paulson said at a briefing. "The sooner we take action ... the less drastic needed changes will be."

Borrowing from the future

For years, the Social Security program has been taking in more in payroll taxes from existing workers than it needed to fund benefits. The government borrowed that surplus and promised to pay it back with interest by issuing special issue bonds to the program.

But the proceeds from those bonds are finite, which is why the trustees estimate that the trust fund will run dry by 2041. Without that cushion, Social Security would only be able to pay out the money it collects in payroll taxes.

Demographics are a major reason for the funding shortfall. The number of workers, compared to retirees, has begun to shrink. That means the system will produce a smaller surplus, then none at all, and eventually it won't be able to pay out all benefits promised to future retirees.

Last year, the trustees also estimated that the government would need to start paying back the program in 2017, and that the Social Security trust fund would be exhausted by 2041.

Currently, the first $102,000 of wages are subject to the 12.4% payroll tax that funds Social Security. Typically, half the tax is paid by workers, and the other half is paid by employers.

To keep the system solvent over the next 75 years, the trustees estimated that the Social Security payroll tax rate would need to increase to 14.1%, up from the current 12.4%. Or lawmakers could bring it into balance by cutting benefits by 12%.

Nonpartisan experts say the pain of fixing Social Security can be lessened in two ways: Make changes soon so that they affect more people but in a less dramatic manner, and implement a combination of tax increases and benefit reductions so that neither is particularly steep.

Medicare a bigger problem

Medicare, which was also addressed in Tuesday's report, has an even larger and more immediate funding deficit to address.

The Medicare program is already taking in less than it has committed to pay out, and the trustees forecast that the Medicare trust fund will be depleted by 2019, at which point Medicare would only be able to pay out 78% of costs.

Medicare was designed to be funded by three sources: payroll taxes; Medicare premiums paid by beneficiaries; and general revenue or money from income taxes.

The payroll tax portion of that funding comes from a 2.9% tax on all wages - half of which is paid by workers and half by their employers. To make Medicare solvent over the next 75 years, the trustees estimate that 6.44% of wages would need to be taxed.

Peripheral Arterial Disease And Social Security Disability

Arteries carry blood from the heart to the body. In some cases a person’s blood pressure can be too low to push the blood through the extremities. This problem is most commonly found in the lower extremities. When the blood supply is cut off or severely restricted to a body part, that part of the body “dies” and gangrene can set in, which can eventually lead to amputation. The condition in which your body does not push enough blood to your extremities is called Peripheral Arterial Disease.

Social Security recognizes Peripheral Arterial Disease as disabling under listing 4.12. The Listing requires intermittent claudication with at least one of the following:

1) A resting ankle/brachial systolic blood pressure ratio of less than .50
2) A decrease in systolic blood pressure at the ankle on exercise of 50% of pre-exercise level
3) A resting toe systolic pressure of less than 30 mm Hg
4) A resting toe/brachial systolic pressure ratio of less than .40

Typically, a person with Peripheral Arterial Disease will develop pain in the calf or thigh after walking a certain distance and the pain will increase to a level that causes that individual start limping or to stop walking all together. The limping is called claudication.

Most people with Peripheral Arterial Disease will not meet the listing as described. Instead, that person’s best chance to be found disabled will be to show that he or she cannot walk effectively to keep pace with others in the competitive job market.

If you think you have Peripheral Arterial Disease please go see a Doctor immediately! The doctor will perform tests such as Arteriograms and Doppler Studies. If you are found to have Peripheral Arterial Disease then you will need the results of the tests to support your claim for disability. If you have any questions please contact our office at 214-999-9999.