Saturday, May 06, 2006
Holy guacamole!
I was totally shocked yesterday to get a notice from Social Security yesterday that a judge made a fully favorable on the record decision for my case! This means I do NOT have to wait a year and a half for a hearing! I think it still may be subject to quality review, but I should know whether or not that happens during the next 60 days. I read that seven out of every 10 approvals go to quality review, but not many are overturned. Still, because some approvals ARE overturned, I'm being cautiously optimistic. If my case is not overturned in quality review, it goes to the payment center, where it may languish another 60 days, but it does eventually result in a monthly benefit check after the lawyer is paid (he gets 25 percent of whatever you've earned up to that point). Your backpay comes later in a lump sum, again after the lawyer is paid. Because I've been getting reservation of rights benefits from my long-term disability insurance company, all but one month of my back pay will go to them. So I will get just 75 percent of one month of benefits as back pay.
I was so surprised to get this letter so soon that my hands shook and I cried as I read it. The Office of Hearings and Appeals got my file the last week of March, and I'd been told it would probably be four months before I heard anything. But I was approved in just five weeks! Thank goodness there is an administrative law judge assistant someplace who is on the ball and plucking the "slam dunk" files out of the enormous backlog to get quick approvals from the judge!! That helps me, helps the judge, and certainly helps speed up the process for those waiting for a hearing.
I believe the things that helped my case the most were: plentiful medical evidence from qualified specialsts, a local lawyer who is well known for never losing a disability case, carefully filling out the Activities of Daily Living form with detailed but precise information, a consultative exam doc who testified that I could not work, and LUCK. I suspect the luck was the biggest factor, heh heh. I had only a 20 to 30 percent chance of getting an on the record decision, but by golly, it WORKED!
Officially, I was approved for: "a complex multisystem illness of unknown etiology, including autoimmune disease with Sjogren's syndrome, endocrine disease with diabetes mellitus and hypothyroidism, and neurological disease with neuropathy and limb movement disorder". No mention was made of my fibromyalgia or gastroparesis. I did not completely meet any of the Social Security Blue Book listings of disabling conditions, but the judge considered the sum total of my major ailments to be disabling. That works for me.
One thing I really appreciated is that the judge totally discounted my initial denial. He said that compared to my medical evidence and my credible account of how my ailments diable me, the state agency medical consultant is "unpersuasive". I also find it interesting that the one of the very doctors used to "prove" on my neuropsych exam that I was not ill was also used by this judge to prove that my claim was credible. The neuropsych exam focused on the fact that we don't know why I have neurological problems, while the judge focused on the EMG that showed peripheral neuropathy.
I won't fully relax until I have my first check in my account, but at least now I won't have to worry about getting my file sent to another state should I have to move. I'm also a little sad about being "officially" disabled, but I guess that's normal. Mostly, I'm relieved that the worst may be over.
I'm gonna go watch "Saturday Night Live" and rest my hands.
I was so surprised to get this letter so soon that my hands shook and I cried as I read it. The Office of Hearings and Appeals got my file the last week of March, and I'd been told it would probably be four months before I heard anything. But I was approved in just five weeks! Thank goodness there is an administrative law judge assistant someplace who is on the ball and plucking the "slam dunk" files out of the enormous backlog to get quick approvals from the judge!! That helps me, helps the judge, and certainly helps speed up the process for those waiting for a hearing.
I believe the things that helped my case the most were: plentiful medical evidence from qualified specialsts, a local lawyer who is well known for never losing a disability case, carefully filling out the Activities of Daily Living form with detailed but precise information, a consultative exam doc who testified that I could not work, and LUCK. I suspect the luck was the biggest factor, heh heh. I had only a 20 to 30 percent chance of getting an on the record decision, but by golly, it WORKED!
Officially, I was approved for: "a complex multisystem illness of unknown etiology, including autoimmune disease with Sjogren's syndrome, endocrine disease with diabetes mellitus and hypothyroidism, and neurological disease with neuropathy and limb movement disorder". No mention was made of my fibromyalgia or gastroparesis. I did not completely meet any of the Social Security Blue Book listings of disabling conditions, but the judge considered the sum total of my major ailments to be disabling. That works for me.
One thing I really appreciated is that the judge totally discounted my initial denial. He said that compared to my medical evidence and my credible account of how my ailments diable me, the state agency medical consultant is "unpersuasive". I also find it interesting that the one of the very doctors used to "prove" on my neuropsych exam that I was not ill was also used by this judge to prove that my claim was credible. The neuropsych exam focused on the fact that we don't know why I have neurological problems, while the judge focused on the EMG that showed peripheral neuropathy.
I won't fully relax until I have my first check in my account, but at least now I won't have to worry about getting my file sent to another state should I have to move. I'm also a little sad about being "officially" disabled, but I guess that's normal. Mostly, I'm relieved that the worst may be over.
I'm gonna go watch "Saturday Night Live" and rest my hands.
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