The American Association for Disability Policy Reform
— rehabilitation first —
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Playing to Win
If you are applying for disability benefits and want to win, you have to play the game right. Here's what you need to do:
Be very careful about forms because the clerks (examiners) who process cases are pressured to do too much in too little time. They have to take shortcuts to avoid getting fired. They generally can't read everything in the record and they have to make decisions quickly. For example, many times I have seen a claimant state that he or she shops only to have that interpreted (distorted) to mean that the claimant can stand, walk, lift and carry without limitation. At the disability determination services production triumphs over quality (details).
In order to avoid the pitfalls caused by examiners working too fast,
- Provide job titles that describe your work as it actually was. Since job titles are commonly inflated by employers to make employees feel good and since employers almost never look job titles up in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles before using them, the job titles they give employees are commonly inaccurate. If the job title your employer used did not fully and accurately describe your actual work OR you don't know the correct job title (as defined in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles), give "not sure" or "don't know" as a job title. If your job included a variety of duties write down "combination of ... and ..." for a job title. You can also put down "combination of ..." for a job title and write "Call me for more information." on the form.
- Describe your past work in detail. Mention all the duties which were included in your past work, even occasionally.
- The Function Report - Adult, Form 3373 (and very similar Function Report - Third Party, Form 3380), are defective because they do not ask questions about your ability to sustain work effort 8 hours a day and 5 days a week, as needed in a job. When filling out the Function Report first answer all the questions briefly and honestly. Then add comments which address limitations on your ability to sustain effort. For example, "I can shop but only for a few minutes at a time and I have to lean on a cart." If you are able to function on some days but not on other days, mention that. Be repetitious - the more you say something about your limitations, the more they tend to believe you.
Some lawyers suggest you describe your worst day ever. WRONG! The issue to be decided is not whether or not you have had really bad days (everyone has) but whether or not you can sustain work effort 8 hours a day and 5 days a week as needed in a job. Talk about that.
If you are applying for disability benefits and have money, you can increase your chances of being declared disabled. If you don't have money, or don't at least have generous health care coverage, the system is stacked against you (details).
If you have money or generous health insurance, here is what you can do to win:
- Assemble a set of medical records. To those who make decisions regarding disability, medical records showing a history of complaints over time are considered to be evidence of disability. Without the right records, you won't be considered disabled. Therefore, you may need to go to more than one doctor. Tell your doctors about your symptoms and ask them to make notes. Get copies of your records. Drop any doctors who do not seem sympathetic or do not make good notes. Stick with the ones who do.
- Get lots of tests, as appropriate to your condition. Some will show evidence of problems. If you have the money for MRIs and CAT scans, you have a big advantage here. If you don't, the Social Security Administration won't help.
- Get lots of prescriptions - these are equated with disability. You don't have to have your prescriptions filled or take any medications. The Social Security Administration will almost never check. (Consult your doctors carefully about which are really necessary and take those.) Be careful not to get prescriptions for opiates (narcotics) from more than one doctor because opiate abuse will kill your disability application. It also isn't good for you.
- In all the above steps, be careful about the medical care you engage in. The wrong medical care, or no medical care when you actually need it, can hurt or kill you.
- If you drink alcohol, don't mention it if you don't have to. Certainly don't abuse alcohol. Alcohol abuse makes it easy for a disability decision-maker to turn you down. It can kill your disability application and is not good for you anyway.
- If you live in a state which has a low award rate (for disability applications), move to one with a high award rate. This can more double your chances of approval with the first application. Southern states tend to be the worst and New England states tend to be the best. Puerto Rico is particularly good in this regard. Again, it helps to have money and hurts if you don't.
- If you live in an area where the administrative law judges have low award rates, move to an area where the judges have high award rates. The award rates for administrative law judges and the hearing offices in which they work are available from http://www.ssa.gov/appeals/DataSets/03_ALJ_Disposition_Data.html. Check the "Archived Data Files," near the bottom of the page.
- Hire a representative who will meet with you and spend time with you in person early in the process. Those who have worked for a State disability determination service are usually the best. Many are non-attorney representatives. Recommendations are available at www.nadr.org. Be very cautious about signing up with a lawyer that advertises on TV.
- If you lose, keep applying. Eventually you'll win the disability lottery. If you have the money to endure, the wait won't hurt. If you don't have money, you may lose your house, have to go without medical care, and may become homeless (details). Meanwhile Congress and the Social Security Administration won't help.
You can see that most of these steps require money, or at least good medical insurance. If you don't have either of these, you're likely to suffer the discrimination the disability program inflicts on the poor (details).
Serious question: Is it legal to exploit the government's incompetence to get disability benefits? Absolutely! Is it right? We're not so sure. But surely it is right to reform our national treatment of the disabled so that those who are seriously disabled get the careful evaluation they deserve and the support they need (details) while those who might return to work are given the help they need returning to work (details). For over one-half trillion dollars a year, we could do much better than we are doing now.
Last updated on 1/17/2020.