If you’re living with some type of disability and you’re considering your Social Security benefits options, you may have heard that this system can be complicated and difficult to get through. This is true, and many applications are denied.
The good news is that a lot of these denials don’t happen because the Social Security Administration doesn’t think that you have a disability. They’re not telling you that you have to work or that you aren’t disabled. The denial may simply mean that they don’t have all the information they need to approve it.
Getting evidence from your doctor
One of the most important things that you can do is to gather the correct medical information and evidence from your doctor to show that you really do have the condition that you claim and that is as limiting as you claim. Your doctor is a professional source, and they can weigh in on the true condition of your health. The Social Security Administration does not just want to hear what you think about your condition, but what a medical professional believes and what type of healing they think is possible.
This Medical Source Statement will ask your doctor a lot of questions about your condition, such as whether the limitations impact you occasionally, frequently or continuously. It can also ask about your physical abilities, such as having the doctor give their account of how much weight you can lift. It will delve into things like whether or not you can stand for extended periods of time, how well you can use your hands and much more. Obviously, the answers are going to be very different from one condition to the next.
In other words, it’s one thing for you to tell the SSA that you have a severe back injury and you’ll never be able to return to work, but it’s quite another thing for a doctor to confirm that you do have a spinal cord injury, and it means that you are constantly facing serious physical challenges that make it impossible to continue your career.
Working toward your benefits
A Medical Source statement is just one thing you need to consider as you look into all of the legal steps you’ll have to take to get the benefits you deserve.