Mental health conditions can be just as disabling as physical ones May 2023 is Mental Health Awareness Month across the country, as it has been for 74 years. It is an appropriate time to recognize and honor our clients who face with dignity and grace challenging symptoms from mental impairments.…
When the Social Security Administration (SSA) reviews the medical evidence supporting a claim for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, it has long been required that the decisionmaker consider the entire record as a whole. When SSA fails to meaningfully weigh all the evidence, it may deny a claim based…
The Social Security Administration (SSA) for decades has been notoriously slow in its processing of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications. Ill and injured claimants who cannot work may languish for months and even years without cash assistance, placing them in perilous financial conditions. Sadly,…
It does not seem like the question of whether someone is disabled from working and eligible for monthly Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits should be a complex one. But the Social Security Administration (SSA) has its own definition of disability for purposes of SSDI (and Supplemental Security Income or…
COVID-19 has only been with us a couple of years, but it has had a devastating impact on our collective health and psyche. For some individuals, it has turned into something more than a week of being extremely sick. A person may develop a condition called long COVID-19 in which…
First, a little history. Before 2003, the Social Security Administration (SSA) conducted hearings largely in person. For an in-person hearing, the Claimant and the attorney meet at the Office of Hearings Operations (hearings office) and appeared before a judge who was in the same room as the Claimant and the…
Ask anyone who has applied for Social Security Disability benefits (either disability insurance benefits or supplemental security income). They may tell you about a lengthy and frustrating process that required completing an in-depth application, filling out information forms for the Disability Determination Bureau (DDB), attending one or more examinations by…
This weekend, our family followed our Nation’s custom of decorating the graves of family members who gave their lives while fighting for our country during their service in the military. The decoration of the graves included not only family members who died in battle but also those who, during their…
Yes, it is true! After nearly two years of being closed to the public, the Social Security Administration has announced that our Nation’s Social Security offices are reopening. The hope is that by March 30 the over 1,200 local Social Security offices will be reopened to the public for appointments…
On March 17, 2020, the Social Security Administration, like many of our country’s businesses, closed its offices in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The closing of the Social Security offices included not just the 1,230 field offices in the nation, but also the 169 hearing offices. The motivation behind the…