MAKING IT HARDER TO GET BENEFITS

In 2010, about 62 percent of claimants who came before an administrative law judge (ALJ) with a denied Social Security claim were approved and paid. In 2016, that number had fallen to the lowest level in the modern era--to about 42 percent. A loss of 20 percentage points in less than six years.

Now, Social Security is poised to use a new rule to potentially deny even more disability claims. The new rule has to do with the way Social Security considers medical evidence.

In the past, a claimant's treating physician was given more weight than other doctors. The idea was that a doctor who has treated the claimant for years is in the best position to know his or her medical condition.

However, beginning with claims filed after March 27, 2017, the claimant's treating doctor will not be given any special weight. Decision makers can review evidence from all doctors and decide which one is most persuasive.

What's the danger? The problem is that Social Security may send you for a one time "consultative examination" with one of their contracted doctors. That exam may last 15 minutes. The consultative doctor may say you have no disabling impairment. His opinion can be given equal weight to the opinion of your doctor who has treated you for years.

Even worse, an in-house Social Security doctor in Birmingham may review your medical file, having never seen you at all, and offer an opinion that you are not disabled. His opinion may be given just as much weight as the opinion of a physician who has examined you a hundred times and treated you for fifteen years.

This new rule, I suspect, will cause the approval rate for SSDI claims to keep falling. This makes it all the more important for claimants to use professional representation to protect themselves.