WHY YOU GOT DENIED

Initial decisions on Social Security disability applications are made by a state agency called the Disability Determination Service, or DDS. This agency makes a rather mechanical decision which results in a denial of most claims. Why?

The DDS is looking at your medical record and checking off boxes on their list, basically. They are looking for obvious cases of disability in claimants who have severe, listing level impairments. Most individuals who qualify for Social Security disability benefits do not have Listing level impairments. Therefore, DDS will deny their claim. They are not capable of making more detailed, discretionary decisions. They leave those decisions up to an administrative law judge (ALJ) in a hearing.

The ALJ will dig much deeper into your case at your hearing. Even though you may not meet a Listed impairment, the judge may approve you based on a grid rule. Or, he/she may simply determine that you are not able to perform full-time remunerative work because of your combined impairments.

For every 100 persons who are denied by the state agency, 42 of them will be approved by an administrative law judge. This is according to the national average in 2016.

There are 2 very important points to this story:

1. A lot of qualified and eligible persons get denied.

2. The best response to a denial is to appeal and take your case to a judge.

You only have 60 days to file an appeal once you are denied. If you wait longer than 60 days, you may not file an appeal unless there are severe circumstances which made it impossible for you to file. So, file your appeal promptly and get in line for a hearing.