How To Get Social Security Disability Approved

Social Security disability insurance. SSD is a government benefit that you earn by working and contributing to it through the payment of payroll taxes. It pays monthly benefits to people suffering from chronic physical or mental conditions that cause them to be disabled and unable to work. It is estimated that one in three people just starting in the workforce will either die or become disabled before they are old enough to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits and the odds of becoming disabled only increase with age.


Only about a third of initial claims for disability benefits are approved but do not be discouraged by that statistic. Each claim presents its own unique set of facts. However, this article gives you a better understanding of what Social Security looks for when reviewing an initial claim for benefits to give you the best chance to get SSD approved.


You must have worked or been self-employed


You must have worked long enough and recently enough to qualify for disability benefits through Social Security. When you work at a job that pays wages or receive income from self-employment and pay Social Security taxes, you earn work credits based on annual earnings. For 2021, you earn one work credit by earning $1,470 and may earn up to four work credits per year.


The number of work credits you need to qualify for benefits depends on the age at which you become disabled. Someone 24 years of age or younger needs six credits earned in the three years before becoming disabled to meet the work requirements. The number of work credits increases with the age of the worker, so a person who is 44 years of age when disabled needs 22 work credits. A disability advocate from London Eligibility has the expertise and knowledge of the SSD rules to help you to determine the work requirements you must meet.


You must be disabled


Under Social Security guidelines being disabled means each of the following applies to you:


1). Have a medical condition that prevents you from doing work you did in the past.
2). The medical condition prevents you from adjusting to another type of work.
3). The duration of the disability has lasted or is expected to last for a minimum of one year or is anticipated to result in death.

A look at the process used to review your claim and determine if you have a disability that qualifies offers an insight into how to get SSD approved. First, if you are working, Social Security looks at your average earnings. For 2021, average earnings over $1,310 a month indicate that you are not disabled within the SSD definition.


If you do not exceed the average monthly earnings, your medical condition will be reviewed to determine if it is severe. It must cause a significant limitation on your ability to engage in basic activities associated with work, including lifting, standing, walking, sitting, or memory, and must have been present for at least a year.


Some medical and mental health conditions facilitate the approval process by their inclusion on a list of medical conditions maintained by Social Security. Conditions on the list are considered to be severe enough to prevent you from engaging in substantial gainful activity provided you meet the criteria included in the list for each condition.


Your medical records showing evaluations and treatment you obtained from hospitals, physicians, and clinics, including lab and diagnostic testing results, must support a finding that your symptoms meet or exceed the criteria shown on the list for the specific condition. Even if it is not on the list, the condition you have will be evaluated to determine if its severity is as great as or exceeds symptoms for a listed condition. Again, complete medical records showing that you sought and obtained treatment and evaluations are vitally important to support your claim.


Ability to engage in other types of work


If your condition is not on the list of disabling conditions and is found to not be as severe as one that is on the list, Social Security continues its review process to determine if your medical or mental health condition prevents you from engaging in any type of work you did in the past. A finding that you do past work means you do not qualify for disability benefits.


Should you be unable to return to past work, the review process looks at other work you may be capable of doing even with the impairments caused by your medical or mental condition. Among the factors taken into consideration are the following:


A). Your age.
B). Nature of the medical or mental condition.
C). Education.
D). Work experience.
E). Transferable skills you possess.

Keep in mind that this is only an overview of a complex process. A disability advocate from London Eligibility uses a combination of knowledge, skills, and a keen understanding of the SSD review process developed over years of showing people how to get SSD benefits. Let them show you how they can help you.