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In a shocking new report entitled disability impairments on cases most frequently denied by the Disability Determination Services and subsequently allowed by the Administrative Law Judges #a-027-09-19083 (August 2010), revealed shocking news about the impact of having attorney representation and how that improves your chance of getting Social Security Disability benefits. For example, this study shows that disorders of the back, osteoarthritis, diabetes and disorders of the muscles and ligaments are the four most common denied claims at the initial claims stage and the request for reconsideration. This report shows that 91-94% of these claims were allowed were represented at the hearing level.
This report thought that having a Social Security Disability attorney helped “1… assists claimants in developing medical evidence; 2. [attorneys] prescreen applicants to identify cases likely to receive an allowance decision; 3. [attorneys] are ‘skilled’ at noticing additional impairments not ‘alleged’ at the original level and; 4. [attorneys] ensure claimants stay focused at the hearings.”
The report noted that “claimant representation may have been beneficial to the claimants earlier in the disability process”. This leads to, of course, to an interesting question about why Social Security Disability aren’t notified about their right to representation earlier in the process.
There is nothing in the rules or regulations that require that the Disability Determination Services who handle the first two stages of every Social Security Disability application to notify Social Security Disability applicants about their rights to representation.
As a practical matter, we at Cavey and Barrett believe that claimants are in fact discouraged from obtaining representation at the reconsideration level by Social Security claims representatives.
At Cavey and Barrett, St. Petersburg Social Security Disability Attorneys, we are dedicated to educating you about your rights for Social Security Disability benefits and have written our book Your Rights to Social Security Disability Benefits to help you understand your rights to social Security Disability and the Social Security Disability claims process.
The report recommends that Social Security Administration collect “information related to Social Security representation at the DDS level to determine whether additional efforts are needed to ensure that claimants are made aware that claimant representation is available at the DDS level.”
The statistics in this report clearly show that having Social Security representation if you have a disorder of the back, osteoarthritis, and disorders of the muscles will make a difference in securing Social Security Disability benefits. The earlier you have representation for these claims the better your chances are of getting Social Security Disability benefits.