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Posts Tagged ‘Social Security Disability Lawyer’

How much does it cost to hire a Social Security Disability Attorney?

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

Most Social Security Disability Attorneys work on a contingency fee basis. This means they will only be paid if they win your Social Security Disability case. If you receive Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security income, as of June 2009, they are allowed to charge a fee equal to 25 percent of your back pay with a maximum level of $6,000. Under certain conditions, your disability attorney may request additional fees to be paid, but they would be outlined under a fee petition. It is important to discuss all fees and expected costs of settling your Social Security Disability claim with your Social Security Disability Lawyer prior to agreeing to let them represent you.

SSI Attorneys and SSDI Attorneys are paid their fee from the Social Security Administration in a disbursement before the Social Security Administration sends your settlement check to you.

Why doesn’t the SSDI Attorney or SSI Attorney complete the Social Security Disability Application?

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Many claimants request that the Disability Lawyer complete their initial Social Security Disability application, but most SSI and SSDI Attorneys do not have the time or resources to complete the initial Social Security Disability Application for each of their clients. The Social Security Disability information the claimant will be required to complete includes: all Social Security Disability forms related to the claimant’s work history, medication information and the log of their daily activities.

After the initial Social Security Application is complete, the Social Security Disability Attorney will file all appeal paperwork for the reconsideration and the Social Security Disability Hearing, maintain copies of all paperwork submitted to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and all other offices and complete all follow-up calls to ensure the appropriate Social Security Disability forms have been received by the SSA.

What does a Social Security Disability Lawyer do?

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Hiring a Social Security Attorney will increase your chances of winning Social Security Disability benefits. The disability attorney can give you Social Security Disability help and answer all of your Social Security Disability questions. In addition, the disability lawyer will perform the following tasks for you:

  • Verify all your information was accurate on your initial Social Security Disability application.
  • Gather and review all of your medical information for the Social Security Disability reconsideration and Social Security Disability hearing.
  • Prepare your Social Security Disability appeal paperwork for the Reconsideration.
  • Prepare your Social Security Disability Case for the Social Security Disability hearing before the Administrative Law Judge. This will include prepping you to testify before the judge, organizing documents and preparing their arguments for the medical and vocational experts.
  • Answer your questions about the Social Security Disability appeals process

Sleep Apnea and Receiving Social Security Disability

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Do you wake up feeling weary and sluggish after a full night’s sleep? Do people tell you that you snore loudly? Do you get sleepy during the day? If the answer is, “Yes”, to these questions you may have sleep apnea. Apnea is Greek for “without breath.”

In this potentially serious sleep disorder, breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. These breathing pauses in your sleep can happen hundreds of times during your sleep and can last often times for a minute or longer. Usually, normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a choking sound or loud snort.

Sleep apnea is usually a chronic condition that disrupts your sleep 3 or more nights each week. You often move out of deep sleep and into light sleep when your breathing pauses or becomes shallow. This results in poor sleep quality that makes you feel tired during the day. Sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness.

There are 3 main types of sleep apnea. There is obstructive sleep apnea, which is the most common type. This kind of sleep apnea occurs when your throat muscles relax. Central sleep apnea happens when your brain does not send proper signals to your muscles that control breathing. The third type of sleep apnea is complex sleep apnea. This is a combination of both obstructive and central sleep apneas.

Some of the main risk factors for getting sleep apnea are high blood pressure, a thick neck, obesity, a narrowed airway, a family history of sleep apnea, being male, smoking, use of alcohol, sedatives, or tranquilizers and being over the age of 40. However, sleep apnea can strike anyone at any age, even children.

The effects caused by obstructive and central sleep apnea are similar making it difficult to determine which type you have. Some of these effects are:

§  Loud snoring

§  Awaking with a sore throat or a dry mouth

§  Excessive daytime sleepiness (hypersomnia)

§  Difficulty staying asleep (insomnia)

§  Abrupt awakenings accompanied by shortness of breath

§  Morning headache

§  Observed episodes of pauses in breathing during sleep.

Sleep apnea and/or complications resulting from it may be why you or a loved one is unable to work. This disorder may be the cause of your disability.

Consequently, you may need help. You may need financial aid.

Have you or your loved one applied for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration? Were you or your loved one denied?

You or your loved one may decide to appeal the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you do, think about this.

You or your loved one will need a proven disability lawyer like the one at socialsecurityhome.com to represent you in the appeals process. This is true because people who are represented by a qualified disability attorney are approved more often than people without a lawyer.

Do not wait. Contact the reliable disability attorney at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

Hiring a Social Security Disability Attorney

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

If you have been denied Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income benefits, or you have questions about your Social Security Disability claim, it is important to talk to a Social Security Disability Attorney. If you have been denied disability benefits, a disability attorney can help you file your request for reconsideration and get you the Social Security Disability help you need.

Unfortunately, most Social Security Disability benefits are denied the first time a claimant applies. If you have been denied SSDI or SSI benefits, it does not mean that you will not eventually be granted benefits, but you may want to consult with a Social Security Disability Lawyer. SSI Attorneys can increase your chances of winning disability benefits at every step in the Social Security Disability process from the Social Security Disability application to the Social Security Disability hearing.

Sickle-Cell Anemia and Receiving Social Security Disability

Monday, August 24th, 2009

You or your child with disability may have sickle-cell anemia. This disorder and/or complications resulting from it may be the cause of your disability or that of your child with disability.

If this is true, you may need help. You may need financial help.

You may have applied for the financial assistance that you need from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits on behalf of you or your child with disability because of the disability caused by sickle-cell anemia and/or complications resulting from this disorder.

Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood. Anemia literally means, “Without blood”. It is a deficiency of hemoglobin and/or red blood cells. (RBCs)

This deficiency causes a reduced ability of blood to transfer oxygen to your tissues. This, in turn, causes tissue hypoxia. All of your human cells need oxygen to survive. As a result, different degrees of anemia can cause a wide range of clinical problems.

There are several kinds of anemia that are produced by different underlying causes. Anemia can be classified in many ways based on underlying etiologic mechanisms, the morphology of RBCs and discernible clinical spectra, to name a few.

Sickle-cell anemia is a genetic blood disorder that is passed from generation to generation that causes abnormal red blood cells. The abnormal shape of the red blood cells causes blockages in your capillaries and organs.

One of the results of these blockages is a pain episode known as a sickle-cell crisis. Another result is that the lack of oxygen to your organs often causes damage.

Sickle-cell anemia can affect all races, but it is most common among people with sub-Saharan African ancestry. In fact, among African Americans, estimates are that one in twelve may be carriers of sickle-cell anemia.

The signs and symptoms of sickle cell anemia are different. You may have mild symptoms, or you may have very severe symptoms that require you to be hospitalized for treatment.

Sickle cell anemia is present at birth, but many infants do not show any signs or symptoms until after 4 months of age.

There are several effects that you may experience with this disorder. Some of these are:

  • Anemia
  • Episodes of pain called crises
  • Headache
  • Shortness of breath
  • Dizziness
  • Chest pain
  • Pale skin
  • Jaundice
  • Coldness in your feet and hands
  • Hand-foot syndrome
  • Delayed growth
  • Vision problems
  • Frequent infections.

Were you or your child with disability denied your claim for benefits from the Social Security Administration?

If you are going to appeal the denial, here is something that you need to consider. People who are represented in the appeals procedure by a good disability lawyer like the one at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than people who are not represented by an attorney.

Do not delay. This is something of great importance to you or your child with disability. Contact the knowledgeable disability lawyer at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

Polycystic Kidney Disease and Receiving Social Security Disability

Monday, August 10th, 2009

Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a progressive, genetic disorder of your kidneys. It is a kidney disorder passed down through families in which multiple cysts form on your kidneys, causing them to become enlarged. These clusters of cysts are noncancerous round sacs containing water-like fluid.

Polycystic kidney disease is not limited to just your kidneys, although your kidneys usually are the most severely affected organs. This disease can cause cysts to develop in other places in your body.

Polycystic kidney disease is also referred to in other ways. It is referred to as cysts – kidneys, kidney – polycystic, and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).

Approximately 7 million people have this disease worldwide. Around 600,000 people have polycystic kidney disease in the United States. It is the 4th leading cause of kidney failure in America. Polycystic kidney disease is the most common life-threatening genetic disease.

There are two main forms of polycystic kidney disease. They are the autosomal dominant form and the autosomal recessive form. The autosomal dominant form is much more common but less severe. The autosomal recessive form is far less common but more severe. There is a rare form of polycystic kidney disease that is referred to as “PKD3″.

Polycystic kidney disease is passed down through families as a genetic disease. It is usually an autosomal dominant trait. Children have a 50% chance of getting this disorder if one parent carries the gene.

There are several signs and symptoms that you may experience with polycystic kidney disease. Some of these include:

  • Blood in your urine
  • Excessive urination at night
  • Back or side pain related to enlarged kidneys
  • Abdominal tenderness or pain
  • Increase in the size of your abdomen
  • Joint pain
  • Drowsiness
  • Painful menstruation for women
  • High blood pressure (link to page High Blood Pressure and Disability)
  • Nail abnormalities
  • Kidney stones
  • Kidney infections
  • Kidney failure.

You or a loved one may have polycystic kidney disease. It may be the reason you or your loved one is disabled and unable to work.

If this is true, you may need assistance. You may need financial help.

Have you or your loved one tried to get that financial assistance by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by polycystic kidney disease? Were you or your loved one denied?

You or your loved one may be planning on appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you do, remember this.

You or your loved one will need the representation of a caring disability attorney in what can be a long and trying process. The reason for this is because people who are represented by a confident disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than those who do not have an attorney.

Do not wait. Contact the accomplished disability lawyer at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

Receiving Social Security Disability After Anal Cancer Diagnosis

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Cancer is often a frightenting diagnosis. Some people won’t talk about cancer when it shows up in a place that isn’t considered a good topic for “polite conversation”. Often the treatment for cancer can be more disabling than the actual disease. Getting a disability living allowance from Social Security for your disability caused by cancer can be as much of a fight as you face in trying to conquer cancer.

Hopefully, Farrah Fawcett’s struggle with anal cancer and the battle for her life will highlight how difficult and painful it is to live through the medical treatments available for the disease.

Cancer begins in your cells, the building blocks of your body. When things are going right, your body produces new cells as you need them. These new cells replace old cells that die. 

Sometimes this process does not work the way it should. Old cells do not die when they should, and new cells develop even when you do not need them.

These extra cells may form a mass called a tumor. Tumors can be benign or malignant.  Benign tumors are not cancer. Malignant ones are cancer.

Cancer is not one disease, but a group of diseases. Each of these diseases is characterized by cells that are aggressive (they grow and divide without respect to normal limits), invasive (they invade and destroy adjacent tissue) and sometimes metastatic (they spread to other parts of your body).

Anal cancer is a type of cancer that develops in your anal canal. It is a disease where cancer cells form in the tissues of your anus.

Your anal canal is a short tube at the end of your rectum. It consists of the outer layers of your skin and the end of your large intestine. Your stool passes through this canal and out of your body when you go to the bathroom.

Fortunately, anal cancer is an uncommon form of cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, around 5,000 people are diagnosed with anal cancer in the United States each year.

Women are a little more likely to get anal cancer than men. The prime age for getting the disease is your early sixties.

There are several different ways that anal cancer may affect you. It may cause:

  • Pain in or around your anus
  • An itching sensation around or inside of your anus
  • A growth or mass in your anal canal
  • Bleeding from your rectum or anus
  • Anal discharge
  • A change in your bowel habits like constipation, diarrhea or thinning of your stools.

Only a small percentage of anal cancer spreads to other parts of your body. When it does happen it usually goes to your lungs and liver. Anal cancer that spreads is particularly difficult to treat.

If you or your loved one has a disabilty caused by anal cancer, you may need help. You may need financial help.

Have you applied for Social Security disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by anal cancer? Were you denied?

You may be thinking about appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you do, remember this.

You will need a smart disability lawyer to represent you in this process. The reason why this is true is because people who have a skilled disability attorney representing them are approved more often than those people without a lawyer.

Arthritis and Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Arthritis is a problem that millions and millions of Americans have to live with and deal with. Arthritis can be simply an annoying nuisance with minor pain, or it can be so severe that it becomes a crippling disability rendering you unable to work.

Obviously, arthritis is a medical condition or affliction. Its effects may qualify you to receive Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits. The skilled disability attorney at socialsecurityhome.com is the one who can best advise you about your eligibility to receive Social Security disability or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Is arthritis preventing you from working? Is this disorder the cause of your disability?

Have you applied for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration and been denied? Are you wondering what to do now?Arthritis is inflammation of a joint that is characterized and usually accompanied by pain, swelling, stiffness, restriction of motion and changes in structure.

Arthritis is not just one disease. Arthritis is a complex disorder that pertains to over 100 separate conditions and can strike at any age of life. The two most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Some of the other types of arthritis are psoriatic arthritis, septic arthritis, gouty arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, Still’s disease and ankylosing spondylitis to name a few.

Arthritis can cause pain and tenderness that is aggravated by activity or movement. Arthritis can cause inflammation that you experience as swelling, stiffness, redness and/or warmth. You will probably lose range of motion or flexibility in your joint or joints that are affected by arthritis. Arthritis can also affect you by causing deformity in your joints, unexplained weight loss and extreme fatigue, weakness and loss of energy.

The effects produced by arthritis can make it difficult for you to work and hold a job. How can you work if you have no energy or strength? How can you do any job if you cannot move because of severe pain and swelling? Activity and movement are a part of nearly every job, but if these things aggravate your pain and tenderness; how can you work?

If you are thinking about appealing a denial by the Social Security Administration, you will need a reliable Social Security disability lawyer, like the one that socialsecurityhome.com can put you in contact with, to assist and represent you in this process. This is true because people who are represented by a good disability attorney are approved more often than those people who do not have a lawyer.

Do not wait. Do not put this off. Contact us at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

What Should I Expect At My Social Security Disability Hearing?

Monday, April 13th, 2009

Many Social Security Disability applicants will wait up to a year or longer for their chance to present their Social Security Disability claim to an Administrative Law Judge. All Social Security Disability denials up to this point were done by a state medical examiner who did not have the opportunity to speak with you, discuss your Social Security Disability claim with a vocational expert or hear evidence presented by your Social Security Disability lawyer.

The Social Security Disability hearing will give you an opportunity to present your Social Security Disability case in a face to face meeting with an Administrative Law Judge who is free to review all of your medical information with out prejudice or regard to other decisions made by a state medical examiner.

Most Social Security Disability hearings will be held in a small room in a court house near your residence. The Social Security Disability hearings are not open to the public, and there will not be a contentious argument between a prosecutor and defensive attorney, in fact, the state does not even have an attorney present. In most Social Security Disability Hearings there will be a calm, open discussion between all the participants. The participants will include the Administrative Law Judge, your Social Security Disability lawyer, a vocational expert and a judicial assistant who will record the hearing.

Other medical expert witnesses (psychiatrists, internists, cardiologists, orthopedists) may be requested by the Administrative Law Judge. Their purpose is to help the Administrative Law Judge understand medical aspects of your Social Security Disability case. Medical experts may be requested for Social Security Disability cases where the Social Security Disability claimant has multiple physical and mental impairments or if their medical documentation is difficult to understand or contains contradicting information.

The vocational expert is present to identify and classify the type of work you have done in the past (skilled, unskilled and semi-skilled) and if your mental or physical health condition is too severe to allow for employment in your past profession. If the vocational expert determines you cannot perform your current job, he may be able to identify additional jobs you could be retrained to perform- given your skill sets, educational level, age and job experience. The vocational experts commonly refer to the Directory of Occupational Titles to identify the requirements a person must have to engage in any job available with in the United States. If you have hired a Social Security Disability attorney, they will be able to cross examine the medical examiner and/or the vocational expert in an effort to discredit or clarify their testimony.

Many Social Security Disability claimants find the Social Security Disability hearing stressful and will become very emotional or nervous. This is normal, but if you have a good Social Security Disability attorney they will be able to prepare you for what to expect. In most hearings, the Administrative Law Judge will ask very basic background questions:  address, birth date, school background and your name. They will also ask questions about your past work experience and job responsibilities: physical and mental job requirements including your ability to stand, sit, push, pull and lift. The Administrative Law Judge will also ask specific information concerning your mental and physical health condition and any limitations you now face in daily house hold activities. The judge will use this information to determine if you are able to perform your past job or any other type of job. The most important thing to remember while testifying is to be specific, tell the truth, be descriptive and have a positive attitude.

Each Administrative Law Judge has his or her own personal style regarding testimony and questioning. Certain Administrative Law Judges will ask all of the questions themselves, while others will expect your Social Security Disability attorney to ask you all relevant questions regarding your background, medical information and job responsibilities. At the end of all of your testimony the expert witnesses (Vocational and Medical) may present their evidence and your Social Security Disability lawyer will have the chance to contradict or clarify their expert testimony.

At the end of the Social Security Disability hearing the Administrative Law Judge will hear final comments. You and your Social Security Disability attorney may be asked for closing comments. Most Social Security benefit decisions will be made by written notice four to six weeks after the administrative hearing. In a few instances, the Administrative Law Judge may present the decision at the close of the hearing, but this will be the exception.