WHAT IS AN SSI BENEFIT? WHO CAN GET IT?

SSI stands for "Supplemental Security Income" and it's a type of welfare for the elderly or disabled.

SSI differs from Social Security disability (SSDI) in several ways:

1)  SSI has severe restrictions on household income and financial resources.  If someone in your household earns a little too much or has too much in savings, you can't qualify.  (There are no income restrictions for Social Security disability).

2)  SSI does not require any work credits or work history to get a benefit.

3)  To receive SSI, you must have either reached retirement age OR be medically disabled.  You must also meet the income and resource restrictions.

4)  The maximum monthly benefit for SSI is currently $755.  The maximum benefit for Social Security disability is over 3 times that amount.

How are the medical disability requirements for SSI different from those of Social Security disability (SSDI)?  Actually, the medical requirements are exactly the same.  If you are medically disabled for SSI, you will be medically disabled for SSDI as well.  Only the financial requirements are different.

Other than household income, what other financial facts are considered for SSI?  The answer, your living or housing arrangement will be considered.  Usually, if someone is providing you with a place to live at no cost, this will reduce your SSI monthly benefit by up to one-third.

How does a person apply for Supplemental Security Income?  If you want to check on your eligibility for SSI or file an application, call your local Social Security office.  SSI is processed by the Social Security Administration, although it is not the same program as Social Security disability.

DON'T GIVE UP ON SOCIAL SECURITY

By Charles W. Forsythe
of The Forsythe Firm

BENEFITS ARE HARD TO GET:  DON'T GIVE UP!

With over a million Americans applying for Social Security disability benefits every year, it is increasingly difficult for disabled individuals to get a favorable decision from Social Security.  In recent years, denial rates have climbed to over 70 percent in the initial or "application" stage.

Claimants who have been denied are often unsure of what to do next.  Many simply give up and this forces them to live without adequate housing, food, medical care and other basic necessities.  As one individual told me, "I was living without hope."

My firm was founded more than two decades ago to give hope to disabled individuals.  My job is to fight for benefits that disabled claimants paid for and deserve.  The Social Security disability program is NOT welfare, is not paid for out of taxpayer money and does not increase the national debt, as some mistakenly believe.  The program is self-financing, paid for completely by a special tax on workers called a FICA tax.  FICA stands for Federal Insurance Contributions Act.  The tax is withheld from every paycheck and matched by the employer.  These withholdings go into the Social Security Trust Fund and are used to pay benefits when a worker becomes disabled.

The problem is:  Social Security is about to begin spending more money than it brings in.  This is because of three basic demographic truths concerning our population:

1.  Millions of baby boomers are becoming disabled.
2.  Millions of women entered the work force during and after World War II.
3.  The population is living much longer.

But Social Security's financial problems are not your concern.  You paid into the system for years, out of every paycheck, and now you need your benefits.

If you have been denied, I will file an appeal.  (You must do this within 60 days of the denial, however).  If I take your case, I will fight for you within the legal system to get the denial overturned, get you paid, and to get you all the past due payments you are entitled to get.
I will never charge you a penny in fees unless I am successful and recover back pay or past-due benefits for you.  My fee will be a small percentage of the back pay that you recover.  If we are not successful, you will never owe me a fee.  I will never ask you a money upfront.

A free consultation is a phone call away.  Contact our Huntsville, AL office if you have questions.  (We also have an office in Franklin, TN for our Tennessee clients).

THE FORSYTHE FIRM
Social Security Disability Counselors
7027 Old Madison Pike NW
Suite 108
Huntsville, AL 35806
PHONE (256) 799-0297

SOCIAL SECURITY JUSTICE WEBSITE

GREATEST THING YOUR ADVOCATE CAN DO - TO GET YOU PAID

There are some things Social Security disability attorneys or advocates can do.  Some things they can't do.  They can't make a massive US government agency move faster than it's inclined to move.  However, they can find and present evidence to increase your chance of approval.

There is one thing a claimant's advocate can do--that is worth everything you might ever pay him or her in fees:  find that one missing piece of evidence that will get your case approved.

If it were a murder trial, we'd call it the "smoking gun."  But Social Security adjudication is a lot more subtle.  It may be the little, quiet, easily overlooked things that win or lose.

The secret to success might be hidden away in your high school education records.  Maybe it's in your military record.  Perhaps it eludes you on page 1,273 of a doctor's record.  Or maybe it's more obvious.  Perhaps your advocate needs to send the proper form to one of your doctors and ask him or her to fill it out. 

On the day of the hearing, pieces of evidence are weighed in the balance by an administrative law judge:  the favorable and unfavorable evidence.  The judge is looking for a logical thread that runs through your story of disability--something objective that makes your testimony credible and real and believable.  Trained disability advocates are good at hunting and finding such objective threads as they sort through thousands of pages of evidence.

There are no tricks involved.  The evidence either supports your case or it doesn't.  But if the evidence is there, it's your representative's job to find it and use it convincingly.
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THE FORSYTHE FIRM
Social Security Disability Counselors
7027 Old Madison Pike - Suite 108
Huntsville, AL 35806                       FORSYTHE FIRM WEBSITE
PH (256) 799-0297

DISABLED "ACCORDING TO OUR RULES"

Individuals come to my office with Social Security denial letters hundreds of times each year.  There is one sentence, hidden away somewhere in the denial letter, that really gets to the heart of why the claim was denied.

"...You are not disabled according to our rules."

Social Security's definition of disability is very narrow.  Furthermore, their system of proving disability is very strict.  You have to know their rules and follow them to be approved.

Here are a few of the rules that you absolutely must prove in order to get Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits:

• You have not been working at a level of substantial gainful activity since you applied for SSDI benefits.

• You have a medically determinable impairment that is severe and has lasted for at least 12 consecutive months, is expected to last for that long, OR is expected to end in death.

• You must prove your residual functional capacity--that means, what is the most you are able to do in terms of work activities?  Work is measured by its exertion requirements:  sedentary work, light work, medium work, heavy work and very heavy work.  At which level are you able to perform?  Can you do even sedentary work?  (Mental or psychological factors will also enter this picture later on).

• You must prove with medical evidence that you are not able to perform ANY of the jobs you have held within the past 15-year period. 

• If you are under age 50, you must also prove that there are no other jobs in the national economy that you could perform--based on your age, past work experience, education and residual functional capacity.

Unless these five basic facts can be proven (proven, not just alleged)--then Social Security will not pay a benefit.

When Social Security says that a claimant must prove disability according to our rules, they mean it.  There are thousands of pages of complex regulations about what is "proof" and what is not.

Is it possible for a truly disabled claimant who is unable to work to be denied?  Not only possible, it is common.  Being disabled does not qualify for a benefit.  PROVING that you are disabled according to the government's rules....that's what gets a benefit.
___________________
Charles W. Forsythe is a founding partner at the Forsythe Firm in Huntsville, AL.  (256) 799-0297.

FORSYTHE FIRM DISABILITY WEBSITE