These changes may have significant impact especially with regard to past work in the past five years. Listen to my video below.

Beginning June 9, 2024, Social Security has announced that they will be changing how they consider a claimant’s past relevant work when adjudicating the claim. Previously, when we went to a Social Security hearing or when Social Security was evaluating the case, they would need to determine if you could return to any of your work that you had performed in the last 15 years. Now, they will only consider if you could return to work to any job that you had performed in the last five (5) years. While this may be difficult to understand, in plain English, it means that fewer people will be denied SSDI benefits just because they had an easier or lighter job that they had performed over six years ago, or before the claim was adjudicated. If your claim was denied within the last 10 years, because the decision said that you could return to work in some job that you had done in the past, please give me a call. I will take a look at your case to see if you may qualify for benefits under the new rule. I’ve included a link below that will direct you to a Social Security announcement regarding this new, exciting benefit.

https://www.ssa.gov/regulations/recentregulatory.html

Because of Issues with Social Security, we are experiencing significant delays in the processing of claims.    There is a backlog of claims that have been delayed at the initial application and reconsideration levels.  Please don’t get discouraged.  We are doing all we can to help Social Security process claims more quickly.

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If you know anyone who may need Social Security disability benefits, please share this article with them and give them my number,

888-551-1190

I will listen to them and help them understand Social Security Disability and if they may qualify. Remember, I never charge for consultations, and there is never a fee unless we win.

Take care and God bless! 

Randy Adams, Accredited Disability Advocate

www.AdamsDisability.com

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“And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God.”  Micah 6:8

To obtain and keep your Social Security disability benefits, you have to have consistent medical treatment.  It is the key to winning a Social Security case and, just as importantly, keeping your Social Security disability benefits after you are in pay status.  Listen to my video to gain more insight about how important this is.

Medical treatment records are required by Social Security to support your Social Security claim.  A Social Security judge, even if you believe you, cannot award your claim if you do not have medical records that he can support his decision.  Medical records demonstrate the severity of your condition.  Consistent medical treatment is a key factor in demonstrating the severity of a disability.  If you have a severe condition but are not going to the doctor, then Social Security will assume that it is not very severe.  If it is bad enough, you will seek treatment.

I realize that treatment is expensive and often it is hard to afford.  Efforts to get treatment through free clinics, indigent care at hospitals,  community mental health, is considered by Social Security, but medical records are still needed.   If you do not have medical records SSA will give the CE great weight and those evaluations are very brief and inaccurate.

Every time you go to the doctor you should discuss with him or the nurse that comes in prior to the doctor’s visit, the functional problems you have caused by your impairment.  Here are some examples: If you have a back injury, you may discuss the problems you have standing, walking, sitting, or lifting.  It is best to use examples from everyday life such as, “I can’t walk through a grocery store anymore because of the pain.  I must use the electric scooter.”  Or, “I can no longer go to church because sitting upright increases my back pain too much.”

If you have a mental impairment is important to talk about how it affects you.  For example talk about how often you must stay in your home and not socialize because of your depression or anxiety.  It’s important to provide examples to the doctor of how your condition affects your ability to function in everyday life.  This will go into the doctor’s notes and it will help you immensely when Social Security is reviewing your claim.

Because of Issues with Social Security, we are experiencing significant delays in the processing of claims.    There is a backlog of claims that have been delayed at the initial application and reconsideration levels.  Please don’t get discouraged.  We are doing all we can to help Social Security process claims more quickly.

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If you know anyone who may need Social Security disability benefits, please share this article with them and give them my number,

888-551-1190

I will listen to them and help them understand Social Security Disability and if they may qualify. Remember, I never charge for consultations, and there is never a fee unless we win.

Take care and God bless! 

Randy Adams, Accredited Disability Advocate

www.AdamsDisability.com

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“And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God.”  Micah 6:8

Categorized: Disability Benefits

Every week I have people calling me telling me that they should get disability because they know somebody else who is getting it and that person is less disabled than they are.  This just does not seem fair!  Check out my video below.

In order to qualify for Social Security disability or SSI benefits you have to have a physical or mental disability or combination of those that are severe and would keep you from performing any job in the national economy and has lasted or can be expected to last at least 12 consecutive months.  That’s a tough criteria to meet. 

Not all disabilities are apparent.  Someone suffering from mental illness may look and sound totally normal.  Many times people suffering from autoimmune disorders can look and do almost anything a nondisabled person can do.  Many people with disabilities such as Crohn’s disease, end-stage renal failure, cancer, COPD, may look and act normal at times.

However, they can still be found disabled if they are not able to sustain activity or meet the mental or exertional requirements of full-time work.  Many of these impairments result in excessive fatigue after short periods of exertion.  Some impairments only affect the individual for periods of time during which nobody is going to see them, such as migraine headaches.  Autoimmune disorders can flareup resulting in weeks of absenteeism.  If impairments cause an individual to be absent from work more than 3 days a month or need to take frequent breaks during the day or have to work in an accommodated position, they can still be found disabled.

Social Security reports that there is less than 1% of abuse of the system.  It is my opinion that Social Security’s evaluation of claims is too conservative and unfortunately there are people who cannot work, yet are not found disabled.

We work hard throughout the process to make sure Social Security understands the severity of your impairment and how it would keep you from performing work.  And, if you lose, we are here to help you through the appeals process.

Because of Issues with Social Security, we are experiencing significant delays in the processing of claims.    There is a backlog of claims that have been delayed at the initial application and reconsideration levels.  Please don’t get discouraged.  We are doing all we can to help Social Security process claims more quickly.

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If you know anyone who may need Social Security disability benefits, please share this article with them and give them my number,

888-551-1190

I will listen to them and help them understand Social Security Disability and if they may qualify. Remember, I never charge for consultations, and there is never a fee unless we win.

Take care and God bless! 

Randy Adams, Accredited Disability Advocate

www.AdamsDisability.com

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“And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God.”  Micah 6:8

Please remember that it is income tax season.  It is beyond the scope of my representation and I cannot give you tax advice, but I do not want you to be caught unaware.  Some SSDI/SSI benefits are taxed. If you are not sure if your benefits will be taxed it is important that you talk to a tax advisor.  Please watch my video below for more information:

You may have to pay federal income taxes on a portion of your Social Security benefits if you have other substantial income in addition to your benefits (such as wages, self-employment, interest, dividends, and other taxable income that must be reported on your tax return). You can choose to have federal income taxes withheld from your Social Security benefit.  

You will pay federal income taxes on your benefits if your combined income (50% of your benefit amount plus any other earned income) exceeds $25,000/year filing individually or $32,000/year filing jointly.  You can pay the IRS directly or have taxes withheld from your payment. 

Below is a link directly to the Social Security website which will give you information on how to have taxes withheld from your benefits.

While I cannot help you with your taxes, I certainly want you to be aware of the requirements.  If you cannot determine from the information on the Social Security website: 

https://www.ssa.gov/manage-benefits/request-withhold-taxes

or from the information below, A tax preparer will be able to look at your specific income to help you determine if you have to pay taxes. 

Each January, you will receive a Social Security Benefit Statement (Form SSA-1099) showing the amount of benefits you received in the previous year. You can use this Benefit Statement when you complete your federal income tax return to find out if your benefits are subject to tax.

If you currently live in the United States and you misplaced or didn’t receive a Form SSA-1099 or SSA-1042S for the previous tax year, you can get an instant replacement form by using your online my Social Security account. If you don’t already have an account, you can create one online. To get your replacement Form SSA-1099 or SSA-1042S, select the “Replacement Documents” tab to get the form.

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If you know anyone who may need Social Security disability benefits, please share this article with them and give them my number,

888-551-1190

I will listen to them and help them understand Social Security Disability and if they may qualify. Remember, I never charge for consultations, and there is never a fee unless we win.

Take care and God bless! 

Randy Adams, Accredited Disability Advocate

www.AdamsDisability.com

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“And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God.”  Micah 6:8

Why are we talking about work when you are disabled?  Your work history is one of the most important factors Social Security considers when evaluating your claim.  To win your claim or to make sure you keep your benefits from being ceased, you need to understand how your work history and skills that you’ve developed in the past, will either positively or negatively affect your case.  This video is important!

One of the 1^st determinations in any Social Security case is, “can this individual return to their past work”?  Many times, how claimant’s report their work history negatively affects their claim.  I want you to be fully aware of the importance of this issue.  When you complete the work history report (form 3369) is important to describe all of the jobs that you performed, in detail.  Make sure you talk about the heaviest things that you had to lift in the job, not just what you lifted most of the time.  If you talk about what you lifted most of the time and it wasn’t but maybe 20 pounds but the heaviest things that you had to lift or 30 or 40 pounds, and you failed to report that on your form, Social Security may determine that you can return to this job, and you will lose your case!

If your past work had a number of different tasks to it such as a “Hotel Desk Clerk” which is a light job, but you also had to clean rooms, carry laundry, trash bags, stock food for the breakfast area, clean the breakfast area with moving chairs and mopping, suddenly your job becomes a much heavier job and it will be harder for Social Security to say that you could return to this work.  It is Important to be complete!

Understanding this one simple thing, may increase your chances of getting Social Security benefits and decrease the amount of time it may take by months or even years!

Because of Issues with Social Security, we are experiencing significant delays in the processing of claims.    There is a backlog of claims that have been delayed at the initial application and reconsideration levels.  Please don’t get discouraged.  We are doing all we can to help Social Security process claims more quickly.

If you know anyone who may need Social Security disability benefits, please share this article with them and give them my number,

888-551-1190

I will listen to them and help them understand Social Security Disability and if they may qualify. Remember, I never charge for consultations, and there is never a fee unless we win.

Take care and God bless! 

Randy Adams, Accredited Disability Advocate

www.AdamsDisability.com

“And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God.”  Micah 6:8