What Every Social Security Disability Applicant Should Know About The Five Steps Used In Determining Their Rights

The Social Security Administration (SSA) does not make it simple for disabled individuals to get the advantages they merit. SSA utilizes a five step sequential evaluation test when it audits each Social Security Disability candidate. Along these lines, if the potential claimant’s (hereafter claimant) primary care physician (hereafter PCP) has advised them to quit working, then they should apply for Social Security Disability benefits. However, before doing so, the claimant should ask themselves the following questions: 

Stage 1: IS THE CLAIMANT GAINFULLY EMPLOYED? 

The claimant should establish that their talents are no longer being productively utilized or they are no longer gainfully employed. On the off chance that the claimant continues to work after filing, earning at least the equivalent of the federal minimum wage, they would not qualify for Social Security Disability benefits due to disregarding the supposed seriousness of their disability.

Stage 2: IS THE MEDICAL IMPAIRMENT SEVERE? 

If the claimant has an ailment that results in impediments and limitations, they can then establish a severe hindrance. For instance, if they have had a medical procedure that has restricted their capacity to lift over ten pounds, they can then move forward and legally establish their disability. 

Stage 3: DOES THE IMPAIRMENT MEET OR EQUAL A MEDICAL LISTING? 

The Social Security Administration has a handbook called the “Blue Book of Disabilities,” which records and anticipates every single perceived incapacity. In the event that the claimant’s incapacity does not meet or rise to the established requirements, which one can discover at the SSA site, the SSA assessment cycle will continue to Step 4 and Step 5. 

Stage 4: CAN THEY PERFORM THEIR PREVIOUS TYPE OF WORK? 

On the off chance that the disabled individual does not meet or rise to the requirements, the claimant can be rendered incapacitated and dependent on professional components found at Step 4 and Step 5. At Step 4, they should show that they can not accomplish any past work that they performed throughout the previous fifteen years that kept going over thirty days. 

For example, if the claimant has had a medical procedure on their back and their primary care physician indicates they can not lift more than ten pounds, but the claimant’s past work over the previous fifteen consisted of stocking shelves, they should fulfill Step Four on the grounds that their job requires work they can no longer perform.  

Stage 5: CAN THE CLAIMANT RETURN TO ANY OF THE WORK IN THE NATIONAL ECONOMY? 

SSA will decide if there is other work the claimants are fit for performing after reviewing their limitations and Impairments. SSA will consider the claimant’s agony, economic distress, and mental issues from which they may consequently suffer. It is the best advise for the claimant to have a Social Security lawyer address the SSA on the grounds that most cases are chosen at the conference at Step 5. 

The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) will introduce the professional evaluator. The ALJ will ask the professional evaluator inquiries about whether there is other work this claimant may be equipped for pursuing in the public economy considering their age, education, and abilities acquired at different positions. 

Having a lawyer representing them during this stage of a social security disability application ensures that the information given to the professional evaluator is precise and correct.

What the Claimant Should Do Next?

The claimant should try not to commit the significant error of representing themselves in a Social Security Disability hearing. 

While a PCP might have told the claimant that they can not work, it takes something other than a primary care physician’s assertion to get them the Social Security Disability benefits they merit.

For further information regarding filing successfully for social security disability, please call the Logan Thompson law firm at 423-476-2251 or find them online at loganthompsonlaw.com.