I am working 6hrs a day 5 days a week as a Patient Experience Associate. Work registering patients all day. Tired of dealing with the attitudes…no longer have a high tolerance level. Under Social Security I’m eligible to apply for disability.
Thought I saw a post discussing a three month trial with disability payments. I know I can apply and ask for re training in another position.
Wondering if this is going to be a strenuous undertaking. I feel the need to do something different i.e. work with animals or ho back to phlebotomy.
Looking for some guidance from anyone who has been through the process already.
When I applied, the ladies at Social Security told me to hire an attorney. It was not so easy getting it. And though my doctor said it didn’t hurt the process, the office person had me allegedly returning to work two weeks after I was released from ICU on paper.
You may need to check and see how long the disability process is in your state. NC was almost two years. Things that effect getting approval in NC are age and education. I was below NC age and with a four year degree put me above. If I had no high school, the lawyer said I would have already received it. When his paralegal told me it would be another 18-23 months because of the court backlog, I called one of my Senators.
It’s amazing that a Federal Program is controlled by each individual State.
When I went to my evaluation for SSDI, it was in another county and I couldn’t drive myself. The waiting room had a family who was fighting in the waiting room. And it was bright, dry bright. By the time I saw the psychologist, I was a total mess. He said he was recommending disability but I probably wouldn’t get it and would have to go to court. It was a long, hard, frustrating process. I hope your State does it better. Good Luck!
My family Dr. Put me on temporary disability (in CA you can collect state disability for 12 months). While I was on temporary disability I filed for social security permanent disability. In CA you are automatically denied the first time, I fought it & received my second denial. At that point I retained an advocate that specializes in this. It took almost 2 years to get a court date, my advocate went with me to court, I pled my case & finally after 3 months I received my approval. It then took another 5 months to receive my back pay, but I have been receiving my monthly benefits every month since. When you’re approved forSSDI you are automatically eligible for Medicare.
I wish you luck with this, I was paid while on state disability but for the second year I was not, fortunately I’m married & we got along fine. The back pay was significant & I was able to pay off some bills. Keep in mind you have to pay taxes on it, in CA the most an attorney or advocate can receive is $6,000. This was deducted from my back pay, I received the balance.
Hi Orlitas!
I’m not sure what state your in, but in most cases, you are only allowed to work 20 hrs. or less. I did get an attorney, and after seven months of going to Doc’s, and filling out paperwork, I got approved! During the process, both my caseworker and my attorney advised me NOT to exceed the permitted hours (there is a cap on what you can make while on disability). *SSI included. ***(Check the cap in your State). I had to cut back or risk being turned down. The way they see it, too, is if you are working those kinds of hours, then your not “disabled”. If you want the process to move forward quickly, my advice is to get an attorney. There is no guarantee you’ll get approved, but at least you won’t owe the attorney, if you don’t! So it’s a “no-brainer”…pardon the pun.
Unfortunately, in most cases, people will be turned down twice, before getting approval. I was turned down once before, so I feel very blessed that I got approved within a year. Don’t get discouraged, just please do find yourself a different job! Stress is not our friend, and I’m pretty sure you already know that. Go back to phlebotomy. Nice and quiet…except for the “hard-stick’s” like me…lol
Hi,
I applied online. It took me a couole months to fill out all the questions because I had to stop when my brain said to stop. Luckily, I had all of my medical paperwork and had everything that was needed.
I had already recieved LTD from work when I started on the SS disability paperwork. I’m in NC too and luckily I had no idea about any of the things Moltroub talked about…completely clueless about that!! Thank goodness!!
And, I got disability 6 months later. I just applied online and talked several times to a case worker in Raleigh via phone and that was it. This happened in 2011.
I’ve been told since it’s all about documentation. I had all of my medical records/invoices for every procedure and all of my doctors/surgeons had been with me since 2001 basically. Some like my GP and pain neurologist, I added later (before I applied for disability) and they are still my doctors. So no doctor shopping. That’s something that can be a negative, from what I’ve learned.
Good luck…if you go the route of trying this yourself. If you find a lawyer, a friend who’s son was applying got a lawyer and she told me that social security will determine what your lawyer makes if/when you get disability. They don’t just get a % if your “back pay”. I hope that’s true. She said her son got his back pay minus what SS took out for his attny.
Anyway, goodluck. It can be daunting and I found just doing a little bit at a time really helped me get through it.
Take care, Mary
For me, the attorney could receive 25% or $6,000, which ever is less of my back pay. I tried to find it on the Social Security site, but am unable at this time. I did find this, in 2009 it was increased to $6,000. https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title02/0206.htm
Under Social Security I’m eligible to apply for disability.