The Social Security Administration denies the vast majority of disability benefit applications.  However, claimants have appeal rights, including a request for reconsideration, then a right to request a hearing and then the final administrative appeal to the Appeals Council called a request for review. 

Your Arizona social security lawyer will explain the different stages of review.  Your lawyer will then help you through each stage of the process in order to increase your chance of a successful appeal.

From a request for reconsideration to a disability hearing, to an administrative appeal and finally to a federal appeal, your Arizona social security lawyer will be your advocate and fight for you every step of the way.

Not every attorney handles all the appeals steps, including appeals to the federal courts.  This is something you should keep in mind when you hire an attorney as you may well want someone who is very familiar with the case law that controls the ultimate decision of your claim. Contact Schiffman Law for expert advice on Social Security.

The SSA requires extensive medical information when people are applying for social security disability Arizona benefits. It is not sufficient to just show you are impaired and can’t do your past work, but you also must show that you are unable to perform any work that is considered to be “substantial gainful activity.” 

To make sure you are actually qualified for disability benefits under the SSA’s standard, you should consider having your case reviewed by a social security disability Arizona attorney. If you are qualified, your lawyer will help you to gather convincing evidence to prove to the SSA that you have a legal right to benefits.

The Social Security Administration denies the vast majority of disability benefits applications in an effort to fight fraud and make sure only the truly disabled get benefits. Because of the high denial rate, there are a number of different stages of appeal that people can pursue if they really do have a legitimate claim for benefits. Your Arizona social security lawyer will explain the different stages of review, starting with a request for reconsideration. Your lawyer will then help you through each stage of the process in order to help ensure your chance of a successful appeal.

From a request for reconsideration to a disability hearing, to an administrative appeal and finally to a federal appeal, your Arizona social security lawyer will be your advocate and fight for you every step of the way.

The SSA requires extensive medical information when people are applying for social security disability Arizona benefits. It is not sufficient to just show you are disabled, but you also must show that you have a disability the SSA has identified in its “blue book” listing of impairments. Not only that, but you have to prove that you have the symptoms that the blue book specifies must be associated with the particular listed condition. People who do not have a listed condition will sometimes be able to qualify if they can prove “medical equivalence,” but this is a very tough standard.

To make sure you are actually qualified for disability benefits under the SSA’s standard, you should consider having your case reviewed by a social security disability Arizona attorney. If you are qualified, your lawyer will help you to gather convincing evidence to prove to the SSA that you have a legal right to benefits.

In addition to Arizona workman’s comp, another program called social security disability can also provide you with disability benefits. Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits (SSDIB) and Arizona workman’s comp are very different, however, even though both provide income to someone who has become too disabled to work.

The main difference between SSDIB and Arizona workmans comp is that SSDIB doesn’t care if the injury or illness that causes the disability is work related. As long as someone has worked long enough and paid in sufficient payroll taxes, he can qualify for benefits if he has a medical condition the SSA determines will last at least a year and prevents substantial gainful employment.  With Arizona workman’s comp, on the other hand, disability benefits are paid only if the injury can be shown to arise out of and in the course of the job.  (It is also true that some recreational and personal activities may be found to be job related, depending upon various factors that may be present.)

When you become disabled, it can be hard to know whether your best option is to apply to Arizona workmans comp (Arizona workers’ comp), social security disability or both. An experienced Arizona workmans comp attorney (Arizona worker’s comp attorney) can help you to make this choice and can assist you in maximizing the benefits available to you.

The SSA has a program called social security disability insurance benefits, or SSDIB for short, which is intended solely for those who have a medical condition, an injury or an illness that prevents them from working. To qualify for SSDIB, it is necessary to have worked and paid into the social security system, since SSDIB is supported via payroll tax. The length of the required work history is going to depend upon your age at the time when you become disabled.

A social security disability Arizona lawyer can help you to make an assessment of whether you can qualify for SSDIB or not based both on your work history and on whether your condition is both long-term and severe enough. If you are disabled but do not have a sufficiently long work record, your SSDIB lawyer will also help you explore other options such as supplemental security income.

Whenever you are injured because someone fails to follow the rules of the road, an accident attorney Arizona can help you to seek financial recovery for your loss. Tort and personal injury laws in the state of Arizona allow for accident victims to make a claim against the responsible driver in a car accident so that the victims may be “made whole” or compensated fairly for all that the accident caused them to lose.

An accident attorney Arizona can assist an auto accident victim in recovering the cost paid out for medical bills as well as any money in lost income that resulted from being unable to work. An accident attorney Arizona can also help victims to recover money to compensate them for their pain and suffering, and can even help those who have lost a loved one to seek justice.

To qualifying for social security disability Arizona benefits you must prove that your condition is severe and has lasted or is expected to last for a year or more, or that it is expected to result in death.  Whether your condition is severe or not is determined by whether your condition, including your symptoms, has more than a slight impact on your ability to perform basic work related activities, such as how long you can sit, walk or stand, how much you can lift, how well you can see, etc.     

The Social Security Administration has also prepared a list of medical conditions related to different body systems, such as the musculoskeletal system, pulmonary and cardiovascular systems.  If you have a condition or combination of conditions that meet or equal all of the requirements of a condition in the list, you will be found disabled, so long as you are not working and earning more than the permissible limit.  If you do not have a condition that meets or equals a listed impairment, further analysis of your claim is required, including a determination of whether you can perform your past relevant work (work performed in the 15 years before your disability began) and whether there is any alternative work you can perform based upon your present functional capabilities (“residual functional capacity”) and your age, education and work experience.

In addition to these requirements, you must have worked enough under the Social Security system (paid in enough FICA taxes) to have insured status. 

An experienced social security disability Arizona attorney can help you to understand what the criteria are and can assist you in proving your entitlement to benefits.

The Social Security Administration will find a person disabled if they either meet or equal the requirement of what is referred to as the “Listing of Impairments” or the person proves that (s)he is unable to perform either her/his past work (usually work performed in the last 15 years) and is unable, because of medical impairments, to perform any alternative work after considering the claimant’s age, education and work experience.

The Listing of Impairments is contained in the Social Security Administration’s regulations.  It is a comprehensive list of different body systems and conditions that afflict both adults and children. If your condition is listed, you must meet the specific criteria spelled out in the Listing or have a combination of impairments that equals a listed impairment. 

In addition to proving your condition is severe enough, you must also prove it is long term (has lasted for 12 or more months or will last that long), and you must also meet other specific criteria dependent upon whether you apply for benefits through supplemental security income (SSI)(which requires you to be indigent and disabled) or social security disability insurance (SSDI) (which requires you to be insured and disabled). An experienced attorney can help you to determine if you meet the social security disability Arizona requirements based on your medical condition and financial/work status.

Eligibility for workers’ compensation benefits hinges upon whether you are able to prove the injury is work related or not. This is usually easiest when an accident happens at your normal place of business while performing work duties. It is, however, also possible to prove your entitlement to workers’ compensation benefits for injuries that develop over time as a result of repetitive work stress, or for injuries that manifest year later as a result of exposure to toxins at work. Activities that have a combined personal and work relationship can also be covered, depending upon consideration of various factors.  Proving entitlement to workers’ compensation benefits in such cases is more challenging and the assistance of a qualified workers compensation attorney will likely be required.

It is important to note, however, that under no circumstances do you need to prove your employer was negligent in order to receive workers compensation benefits. This is because Arizona workers compensation is a no fault system and no negligence is required for an employer to be responsible for a work injury.