Social Security

Abalone · 10-31-2007, 10:57 AM

So who knows anything about applying for SS disability benefits ? The process and the chances for success ???

bassin · 10-31-2007, 11:33 AM

Been trying to walk my kid brother thur the maze. So far is been a test of wills. Chance of him getting it, With the history and time lines THEY look are slim. And their Contract Dr. WELL that would have been a joke if the steaks were not so high. I hope S.S does not know what they are paying for.
Am a Fed. So I know a little about bureaucracy. But I think they wrote the book.

brshooter · 10-31-2007, 11:33 AM

My wife has been through it twice. First time was back in 1986 after her two brain tumor surgeries. We did it ourselves and had to go through appeals, letters from senators and representatives, doctors. A real hassle. She was able to return to work two years later. A little over a year ago, she applied again. Because of the hassle we had and my job was very demanding at the time, we hired a social security attorney. Her current doctor did a good evaluation and used Providence Home Health to help with the evaluation. It went through on the first application. I think the key is your doctor and the evaluation he presents. Our attorney did very little but help us fill out some forms online and make a few calls. He made 2300.00 on the deal. Fortunately, Gini's long term disability policy picked up the tab for the attorney as they figure he got the settlement sooner.

Good luck.

bluebackbil · 10-31-2007, 11:36 AM

Good Luck!! IUnless there's absolutley nothing wrong with you ,you won't qualify. My wife has degenerative rheumatoid arthritis and she applied and was turned down. While some of our relatives reap the benefits (bad back, etc.) the people who really need it can't get it.

3riversBob · 10-31-2007, 12:12 PM

Quote:

So who knows anything about applying for SS disability benefits ? The process and the chances for success ???

Talk to Jenni!

Bob

Lou · 10-31-2007, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3riversBob

Talk to Jenni!

Bob

Yes talk to Jennie. My wife has had a battle with them.
She has all the problems, cancer, arthritis and more.
Denied. Gave it to an attorney. We will see.
If you do it make sure you can last a couple years
in the denial process. We have a good friend who
fell off a ladder (at work). He got it from WComp
and does not have the means to wait out SS.
He is in bad shape and back on the ladder.
Good luck

PapaHog · 10-31-2007, 03:50 PM

I think you have to be really really really bad off to get SSD.

I applied on my own at the Beaverton SS office and got it on the first try. With in a month I received instructions for setting up direct deposit.
So it is not impossible.

I do not think an attorney would have helped me much. The people at the SS Office helped me fill out the forms and assisted me with the application. I had documentation about my condition when I went into the office. One visit and thats all.

Lou · 10-31-2007, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PapaHog

I think you have to be really really really bad off to get SSD.

I applied on my own at the Beaverton SS office and got it on the first try. With in a month I received instructions for setting up direct deposit.
So it is not impossible.

I do not think an attorney would have helped me much. The people at the SS Office helped me fill out the forms and assisted me with the application. I had documentation about my condition when I went into the office. One visit and thats all.

You were lucky or you must be realy messed up
(no offense intended).
If you have your ducks in order, they still mess with
you (at least in my case--and my wifes).
I went to a hearing and the judge told them to
issue it imeadiatly and gave the SS rep the
dickins for holding me up. Got it back for three
years. Heart, kidneys,
lung and more.

Herring Problem · 10-31-2007, 07:20 PM

I lost my court battle and appeals for SSD.

Lawyer had six cases before Judge and she lost all of them. The SS judge ruled against every case brought to her.

Every appeal was voted down.

Lawyer came back and told me I needed to be over 55 ,blind, missing my brain, and have a alcohol addition with suicied complications tendanceies and we might have won with this judge.

The judge was sent up to Oregon to clear cases. boy did she.

Very hard in some areas.

Lou · 10-31-2007, 07:30 PM

When I went in, with my wife, there were several
folks there, who did not look disabled. I ask
the clerk about them, 'alcohol and or drugs'
was the reply. One family did or chose not to
speak English!

PapaHog · 10-31-2007, 08:04 PM

Tell me Lou what does disabled look like.

Does someone with a bad heart, kidneys, lungs usually look disabled?

skybuster · 10-31-2007, 08:13 PM

Part of the problem is the abuse of the system. It has led to the pendulum swinging to far the other way.

If you want to see part of the reason so many claims are denied, do this.

Go to your local Wal-mart and park near the disabled parking spots one day. Then take careful note of all the people with disabled placards that park in those spaces. Most of these people will appear to be under 50 years of age and perfectly healthy.

At the same time you will see elderly folks walking an acre or two back to their cars because they are too proud to let anyone classify them as "disabled".

It's a sad reflection of the current state of our society.

STGRule · 10-31-2007, 08:20 PM

Skybuster: My mother was way under 50 years of age and looked fine. For about 1000 feet. Then she was gasping for air. She only got to use her disabled placard for a few months before she died. Left 5 children, the youngest was 8. If you saw her pull into a handicapped spot and walk into the store you might very well have thought she was fine. I sure wish she had been.

PapaHog · 10-31-2007, 08:39 PM

Skybuster I do not look disabled either but I would trade most any 80 year old my heart for theirs. I wish I could walk for an acre or two every time out.

I quit bank fishing not because I could not get down a 15 foot bank but because I couldn't get back out.

Most days are three nitro days and some walks into walmart cause me to have to sit down and take a nitro and wait scared to see if I need another nitro or 911. Not fun... But I do not look disabled.

skybuster · 10-31-2007, 08:47 PM

I didn't mean to imply that anyone without a wheelchair or a walker wasn't actually disabled. You are absolutely correct that some conditions don't present visually.

That being said, just go park at Wal-mart one day and eat lunch while watching the people parked in those spaces. Watch as they come out and load a big screen tv into their truck all by themselves, it will happen, and it will make you wonder what their disability is.

toas243 · 10-31-2007, 09:31 PM

Wow I love the Judgemental people ,who are not a Dr nor been through severe trauma ,I suffered a severe Brain injury,I was in a coma for 10 days ,I spent 2 years in a rehab hospital ( not for addicts spinal and brain injury patients ) ,for the first 1 1/2 I could not sleep lying down I had to sleep in a chair ,and the vertigo was wicked so bad I could barely walk in a strait line ( thats why I could not sleep lying down ) ,and was harrased and joked at by people thinking I was drunk ,I first applied in 1993 ,well I finaly got it in January of this year ,at first I thought my attorney was joking with me when he told me we won .so don`t quit or give up use a good attorney . and first and foremost don`t be an expert on judging others disability ,cause you never know when you might get hurt

, BTW I was 29 when this happened to me

chinookin · 10-31-2007, 09:55 PM

I am currently on my third appeal. I was in a car wreck and was really beat up. I have had 7 surgeries since 1-31-07, and just found out when my knee ligaments heel enough I will have to have a hip replacement as I shattered my pelvis in 7 places and it is being held together by 2 plates and 9 screws. My pcl, and mcl were torn in half and lcl was torn 3/4. My acl wasn't torn but the bone that it attaches to was pulled off of my femur. My dominant left hand was rebuilt with 2 cables, and 3 pins, and five new ligaments made from extra tendons you have in your forearms. I also have nerve damage in my leg. I look forward to the day I have my last surgery. Meanwhile..... both the state and s.s. egghead dr.s say that I will not be able to qualify for benefits due to my injuries wont keep me from working for at least one year. Even with my 3 major surgeon Dr.s notes and note from physiatrist?(spelling) pain dr.s note about the nerve damage. They still didn't listen.
I do have to give the state some cudo's though, finally, as they just deemed me disabled and qualified me for benefits. BUT.....disqualified me for the $1,200 per month from my auto insurance, even though $852 per month goes to health insurance. That doesnt leave much for bills, car insurance, property taxes, ect......
I know so many people collecting that don't really need it, they fake stuff for the hearing then go back to partying, or what ever it is they do. I have family members collecting on my wifes side and my side that are way better off then I am by their own addmission but yet they still get theirs. I don't know how they do it. And now before the "judge appeal" I was told it was a 17 month average wait time. I just pray I don't loose my house by then.

reeldick · 11-01-2007, 09:27 AM

My brother got his on the first try but he had some experts from the school district who deal with SS all the time do the paperwork. He has replaced hip, knee and heart bypass by age 54.

Lou · 11-01-2007, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PapaHog

Tell me Lou what does disabled look like.

Does someone with a bad heart, kidneys, lungs usually look disabled?

That's me and I can't get back up the bank also.

But I do have one eye that works, in the day light.

Radke · 11-01-2007, 11:59 AM

Wow, I've never felt so lucky to have my health as I feel after reading these comments. I'm not trying to be sarcastic here, I'm being honest.

If nothing else, I think I'll guard it a bit closer in the future. I've been pretty lucky in my 56 years of walking this planet.

chinookin · 11-01-2007, 05:19 PM

This post got me all up in arms again

So I called the local office and complained again, and all the guy could say after he looked at my paper work was maybe it was my age. I am only 42. What the heck does that have to do with anything. If your disabled, your disabled. With a lot of physical therapy and a good surgery in Jan. I don't plan on being disabled my whole life, but NOW is when I need the money that I have paid into since I was 14 yrs old, not 17 months from now........

OK.....bloodpressure going back down now. Just had to rant.
Mike

Norski · 11-01-2007, 06:38 PM

My son, some how has or is in remission, multiple Myloma (cancer of the blood).

We came real close to loosing him, after many a trip to the Dr's and up to OHSU, and Chemo therapy, and to this day still many a visit to the Dr's, he is 100%.

He can walk, think, do small thing around the house, but gets real tired, has to stop and rest, but if you were to look at him, you would not know he is reviving SSI.

Abalone · 11-02-2007, 05:49 AM

We aren't talking abouit welfare here !

In most cases these are benifits that we have paid into for life. Considering the rigorous effort you have to make to qualify it seems to me
SSD are earned not Welfare.

Social Security is a beaurocratic, ( Ineffeciant ) and I am sure the governance would rather see the money's used for other things so they try to make things difficult.

What does disabled mean ? Totally disabled ?

Personally I believe if you have a trade a skill or a proffesion and you can no longer do the work even in a small capacity then you should be able to qualify. That includes issues where employeers are discrimminating against you.

But I don't set the policy.

I am just curious how the system works.

3riversBob · 11-02-2007, 07:06 AM

My doctor wanted to put me on disability and retire me after my second back surgery didn't work. Herniated disc pressing against the nerve. I could hardly walk, sit, or stand. I didn't really have a skill or trade other than physical labor. I was tested and sent to school to learn a trade. Not by SS but workers comp insurance. That was over 10 years ago. I'm a computer geek now with the flexibility to get up and move when I need to, sit when I need to, or take a walk. I've missed maybe 4-5 days of work in the past 9 years because of my back. It's tough, for sure. I have to force myself to move sometimes and my feet and legs are like dead weight most of the time. I have to pick and choose what I do and don't do both on and off of the job.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that from the view of SS it is possible for people to still be functioning contributing members of society even with a disability. That's what makes their job tough. Who can and who can not do it?

I really thought about it when my doctor offered to help me get on SS. My thinking was that SS would look at me and say if you can't go to work you can't go fishing.

It wasn't worth the hassle. I, along with alot of others here don't appear to have a problem that requires a parking permit. (and I don't have one) Boy there are so many days though I pull up and park way out in a parking lot, go in and do some shopping and can't hardly get back to my car. But I know that there are those that are a lot worse off than myself and I'd rather see those spaces used for the more needy.

Ok, done rambling now. Just wanted to share some of my experiences.

Bob