Social Security Disability Intake: What to expect

Transcript

Let’s talk about the intake process at Joyce & Bary Law.

When you call in, you’ll get to talk to one of our amazing team members who will complete an intake with you. During the intake process, you’ll be asked a variety of questions. We’ll want to know about your age, about your education, at what level you might be in the claims process. Do we need to file a new application, or have you been denied, and do we need to file an appeal?

We’ll ask about your work history. It’ll be important that we know whether or not you are continuing to work, whether or not you stopped work, or possibly you’re working under special circumstances or special accommodations. We’ll ask about your onset date of disability, which is basically the date that you became unable to work due to a medical condition. That’s pretty important. That can have an impact on your back pay, your benefit amount as well as Medicare eligibility.

We’ll want to know about your impairments, your medical conditions, what you’ve been diagnosed with. Believe it or not, the severity of your condition is much more important than what the diagnosis may be.

We’ll also want to know about frequency and duration of treatment. How often are you seeing your doctor, if it’s a specialist, if it’s a primary care physician. And then we’ll ask about medications and treatment, surgical history, things of that nature.

We’ll also ask financial information. We’re not being nosy, but it’s important for us to determine what program you may qualify for under the Social Security Administration. Social Security administers two disability programs: Social Security Disability and SSI. The definition of disability is the same between the two programs. The differences are in the non-medical requirements.

To be eligible for Social Security Disability, you have to have worked and paid in enough to be what they call insured. If you’re over the age of 31, that’s roughly five out of the last 10 years. If you’re eligible and you’ve worked long enough, we’ll file that disability application for you. However, if you have not worked enough, you might qualify for SSI. SSI is a needs-based program. Not only do you have to be under a disability, but you also have to be under a certain amount of income and resources. Our team members will ask you some questions to determine what program you might qualify for.

Next, we’ll ask about other sources of benefits. We want to know if you’re receiving short- term or long-term disability benefits, workers compensation benefits, veterans benefits, are they service connected or non service connected? And finally, unemployment benefits. Those other types of benefits may impact your benefit amount, or it could possibly impact a disability determination.

Once we’ve gathered all that information, my team and I will review it to determine whether or not there’s a chance we can help. If there is, my team will reach out and set up a free consultation where we’ll get a chance to meet and discuss your case.