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…
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…
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…
Social Security offices are closed on Monday, January throughout the country. The reason for the one day closure is the observance of the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. (sometimes referred to as Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day or MLK day). This federal holiday recognizes the legacy of…
Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) issued a warning. The warning concerned the manner in which patients take certain drugs. The drugs are two commonly prescribed drugs: gabapentin and pregabalin. The FDA found after extensive study that these drugs may cause serious, even life threatening,…
Starting January 8, 2020, all Social Security field offices will open on Wednesdays from 9 am to 4 pm. On January 1, 2013, the Social Security Administration reduced its Wednesday hours for the over 1,220 filed offices in the United States. The offices, as of that date, closed on Wednesday…