Roeschke Law, LLC

About Roeschke Law, LLC

The United States government provides financial benefits to those who are disabled through the SSA. But how does the SSA define a disability? A disability is defined as the inability to engage in substantial gainful activity due to a medically determinable impairment that has lasted or is expected to last a minimum of 12 months or result in death. This is important because it sets out certain limitations on what can be claimed as a disability or not. For example, a broken arm may leave you temporarily unable to engage in substantial gainful activity but it will not last a minimum of 12 months.

The government offers two main types of benefits to disabled citizens. The first is SSD or SSDI. This is a benefit that is earned by paying into the system through income tax contributions. However, it’s important to note how it calculates this number. If you’ve only worked a part-time job up until you were disabled, you might be worried that you haven’t paid enough money through income tax contributions. But this system doesn’t track your money, it tracks the duration of your payments. SSI benefits, on the other hand, are available to those with a few financial resources but who are unable to work. This approach is means-tested, which ultimately means that you don’t need to have ever had employment in order to qualify.

So while there are systems in place to offer benefits to disabled citizens, the downside is that these benefits are not easy to obtain. There is a rigorous administrative process that you must subject yourself to in order to receive benefits. The first step is to determine whether you are eligible for SSDI benefits, SSI benefits, or both. Once this is settled, you have to file an initial Social Security Disability application. This application will require a lot of background information and documentary evidence. A failure to provide all the necessary data will result in a denied claim. But even a claim with all the necessary information can be denied. Determining whether you are eligible and ensuring that your application has all the necessary information can take a lot of research and planning. But as a disabled individual, chances are you aren’t up for that challenge. Luckily, Roeschke Law can handle this for you so you don’t have to worry about overexerting yourself.

The whole process of getting disability benefits is a long and often frustrating one. Even with the assistance of an attorney, claims still get turned down. But as we mentioned before, there is an appeal process. However, you must act quickly since you only have 60 days following a denial to request a reconsideration. An application for reevaluation is considered by a SSA medical consultant and a examiner who did not participate in the initial decision. This does mean that there is a chance of a reevaluation going through on its own but more often it requires a new diagnosis or a worsening condition. But a denied reconsideration claim allows you to request a disability hearing that would be presided over by an Administrative Law Judge. If that fails, you can request the Appeals Council to conduct a review which could result in a reconsideration, an overturned decisions, or another denial of the claim. There’s a lot of steps in the process to fight for your disability benefits and Roeschke Law is happy to help you every step of the way.