Social Security Disability a New Target for Congress

While Social Security retirement has been a target of the Congress for quite some time, more recently a legislature bent on cutting so called Federal entitlement programs is now looking at the Social Security Disability program (SSDI). Some legislators view SSDI as a form of “unemployment” benefit, failing to realize that the Title II\SSDI disability program is funded by the same Social Security taxes that a worker has deducted from his pay checks while working. In effect, SSDI is a form of early disability retirement which allows a person who can no longer work to draw his retirement early. They further fail to recognize that just because a person can no longer do his\her past work doesn’t mean that they get SSDI disability benefits.

Support of a Treating Doctor Is Important!

Perhaps the most important medical ingredient for a successful Social Security Disability claim is the support of a treating doctor(s). Why? Because SSA, by its own rules, recognizes that treating doctors are in the best position to give a professional opinion regarding a claimant’s impairments and their effect on his\her ability to work.

A properly drafted report by a treating doctor with a substantial history with the claimant, which clearly sets out the objective medical evidence proving a claimant’s impairment and also explains how the symptoms and limitations complained of by that claimant are consistent with the medical evidence, is going to be given special and sometimes controlling weight in Social Security’s disability determination.

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