The basics of winning your SSDI claim are pretty simple.  If you do the following things you will go a long way to helping your SSDI claim.  First, don't assume SSA will get the evidence needed to win your claim.  Make sure all your relevant medical evidence is in to your local SSA office.  Try and get opinion evidence from your doctor.  Opinion evidence can be a report from your doctor explaining your medical condition, treatment, how your medical condition affects your ability to work, and if the doctor feels you meet or equal a listed impairment this should be included as well.  You can also get RFC forms from your doctor which will show the limitations on you from your medical conditions.  Lastly, hire an experienced SSDI attorney who can put all of this together and present your case to SSA.  For more tips on how to win see my page on the subject.

I have written about this subject before but I still often get asked by veterans if they can apply for SSDI benefits if they are receiving VA disability benefits.  If a veteran has the work credits to be eligible for SSDI and they are unable to work due to their medical conditions then they can get both SSDI and VA compensation benefits.  If you are a veteran and cannot work due to your medical conditions pick up the phone and call a SSDI lawyer to see if you would qualify for Social Security Disability.  Most SSDI Attorneys will give you a free consultation.  You can also find the requirements to be eligible for SSDI benefits on this website.

According to SSA statistics processing times for Social Security Disability Hearings is on the rise.  As of September 2013 the average wait time for a hearing was 396 days.  In September of 2014 the average wait time was 454 days.  These numbers are far from the goal set by SSA Commissioner Astrue of 270 days by the end of 2013.  To add to this depressing news it appears that the percentage of cases that win at the hearing stage are also going down.  I will continue to follow the statistics and make you aware of them as the year goes on.  We can all hope for an improvement in the process that will decrease hearing wait times.

I sometimes get asked if it is a good idea to handle your own SSDI hearing without the help of a lawyer.  If I was asked this question ten years ago my answer would be a little different.  Today most SSDI hearings have a vocational expert in the hearing and many also have a medical expert.  Because you are now dealing with experts, it requires you be able to cross examine them if their testimony does not go your way.  This is difficult even for many attorneys.  At every SSDI lawyer conference you can be sure there will be seminars on how to do this properly.  Even attorneys that don't handle many SSDI cases will struggle with this quit a bit.  It is not something most lay people can do effectively and it can be the difference between winning and losing your Social Security Disability claim at the hearing stage.  Most experts do not like to have there opinion questioned and it can be extremely difficult to get them to admit they may be wrong.