Disability question: our laundry lady was denied

[alkemyst]

Today she is in the hospital coughing up blood. The county/state Palm Beach, Florida denied her claim for disability.

She is black, around 50 give or take a couple years, and very poor.

She is a very hard worker, but working causes her a lot of pain and she is usually at the point of falling over.

Anyone have experience in this/resources I can explore?

Å

 

[Auryg]

I've heard nearly everyone gets denied the first time, to weed out people (which is stupid..but anyways). So I'd tell her to reapply.

 

[alkemyst]

She is...I talked to the other lady at the laundry and she has fired her attorney...supposedly he didn't seem to be really interested in any of it.

This lady is the prime example IMHO of who should be actually on disability.

Working in the mortgage business I am surprised how many seemingly able-bodied people are collecting it.

 

[Wreckem]

Disability is ALWAYS denied the first time. You have to keep trying.

 

[BoomerD]

The office of one of my work comp attornies also handles Social Security Disability claims...they say that it's not uncommon to be denied 5 times before the claim is accepted...

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
The office of one of my work comp attornies also handles Social Security Disability claims...they say that it's not uncommon to be denied 5 times before the claim is accepted...

WTH kind of system is that?

 

[bctbct]

I have been told by someone who processes these claims that it is more difficult to get before the age of 57.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie

Originally posted by: BoomerD
The office of one of my work comp attornies also handles Social Security Disability claims...they say that it's not uncommon to be denied 5 times before the claim is accepted...

WTH kind of system is that?

Well...it's gotten MUCH more difficult to qualify since 2001 if that tells you anything...

 

[se7en]

In our hospital we refer accounts that may qualify for disability all the time. Basically yes in most cases the first go around is denied and subsequent ones can be as well.

I've seen claims denied for incomplete information, inaccurate information and various reasons similar to those. Anything from they used "Ap" for apartment rather than "Apt" and the search america software didnt provide an exact match.

Tell her to keep on trying and yes she will have to appear in court to appeal usually but once she does get accepted it becomes much less of a hassle. There is a ton of red tape involved mainly due to our current administration but from what I've seen I would say of 1000 legitimate accounts we refer that should be on disablity I aso see about 1300 who are medically able to work.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie

Originally posted by: BoomerD
The office of one of my work comp attornies also handles Social Security Disability claims...they say that it's not uncommon to be denied 5 times before the claim is accepted...

WTH kind of system is that?

Well...it's gotten MUCH more difficult to qualify since 2001 if that tells you anything...

*waits for dave to come in

 

[Azraele]

Ouch, what's making her cough up blood?

 

[waggy]

with SSDI its

apply
get denied about a year latter
appeal (DO NOT REAPPLY!)
get denied about a year latter
hire a attorney
appeal (get denied)
go to ADJ court. ( roughly 3-4 years after first application)

either get denied or fully favorable (about 6-12 months after ADJ court)
most people who deserve SSDI get it here. but many still get denied.



but who is to say she deserves SSDI? how long has she been o ut of work? what exactly is wrong?

SSDI is damn hard to get. even for those that should be getting.

 

[jupiter57]

It has been 20 years since I helped my Dad with his disability claim.
Back then, the normal procedure was: Initial claim would always be denied, period.
Then you hired an attorney & his 1st. appeal would be denied,
then, your attorney would request a hearing with an "Administrative Judge" who would then make a decision. Most usually ending with a decision in your favor if your attorney was good enough.

Think about it, if they granted all initial claims, a great deal more people would be on disability. (There are far too many on it now! Matter of fact, I have a great-nephew receiving disability at 13 years old! What kind of thinking is that?)
Make them work for it & you can determine whether they are truly needy or just too lazy to work!

And yes, I personally know more people receiving disability who do not deserve it than I do who really do need it!

Tell her to hang in there, she certainly won't get it if she gives up!

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: jupiter57
It has been 20 years since I helped my Dad with his disability claim.
Back then, the normal procedure was: Initial claim would always be denied, period.
Then you hired an attorney & his 1st. appeal would be denied,
then, your attorney would request a hearing with an "Administrative Judge" who would then make a decision. Most usually ending with a decision in your favor if your attorney was good enough.

Think about it, if they granted all initial claims, a great deal more people would be on disability. (There are far too many on it now! Matter of fact, I have a great-nephew receiving disability at 13 years old! What kind of thinking is that?)
Make them work for it & you can determine whether they are truly needy or just too lazy to work!

And yes, I personally know more people receiving disability who do not deserve it than I do who really do need it!

So why not have the application be simply an application for a hearing?

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: jupiter57
It has been 20 years since I helped my Dad with his disability claim.
Back then, the normal procedure was: Initial claim would always be denied, period.
Then you hired an attorney & his 1st. appeal would be denied,
then, your attorney would request a hearing with an "Administrative Judge" who would then make a decision. Most usually ending with a decision in your favor if your attorney was good enough.

Think about it, if they granted all initial claims, a great deal more people would be on disability. (There are far too many on it now! Matter of fact, I have a great-nephew receiving disability at 13 years old! What kind of thinking is that?)
Make them work for it & you can determine whether they are truly needy or just too lazy to work!

And yes, I personally know more people receiving disability who do not deserve it than I do who really do need it!

you do understand that the 3-5 year waiting time is silly. the goverment makes people who deserve SSDI wait. causing them to lose houses, family and in some cases there life.


they need to better system. weed out the false claims and approve real ones. makeing them jump through hoops is not doing anyone any good.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Azraele
Ouch, what's making her cough up blood?

i am not sure, she has problems...she has bumps all over her as well.

We have been going there 5 years now, but if I saw her on a street I would avoid her.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: jupiter57

Think about it, if they granted all initial claims, a great deal more people would be on disability. (There are far too many on it now! Matter of fact, I have a great-nephew receiving disability at 13 years old! What kind of thinking is that?)
Make them work for it & you can determine whether they are truly needy or just too lazy to work!

I understand what you are saying, but at the same time how about just create benchmarks and monitoring.

 

[KK]

Thank god we pay into SS so we can get it when we need it. What a crock of sh1t, this whole SS garbage needs to go away.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: waggy
how long has she been out of work?

Her problem is she's never not worked. She cannot stand up straight...she's really messed up for a normal life, but she still does alot. She busts her tail in that laundry and struggles. I can't wait to buy a house again to not deal with it. Working a Coin-o-Mat = worst job IMHO.

 

[tcsenter]

Back then, the normal procedure was: Initial claim would always be denied, period. Then you hired an attorney & his 1st. appeal would be denied, then, your attorney would request a hearing with an "Administrative Judge" who would then make a decision. Most usually ending with a decision in your favor if your attorney was good enough.

That was how my disability process went, exactly to the letter.

Except I can say now that I was denied initially because I didn't understand the burden required to meet the criteria for being disabled. Most people don't get an attorney until they have been denied at least once, because they don't want to pay the $5300 max that an attorney is permitted to take from any disability settlement/payments, since most disability attorneys work on contingency basis (they only get paid if you win). So most people go it alone without really understanding the system as well as they need to, until they are ready to accept that they need an attorney.

I've talked with a few persons who were awarded disability on the first try, either because they retained an experienced disability attorney from the outset or they did enough research to fully understand the burden that must be met to prove disability.

 

[compuwiz1]

Poor lady. It sounds like she needs an advocate, or someone who will fight for her, pro bono.