Can I get SSI for RA?

"I was told i have RA, Can i get SSI for it?"

Potentially, any condition can qualify for SSI or SSD. That's includes RA (rheumatoid arthritis), or any other condition potentially. It's not the diagnosis that's the issue, but, rather, whether or not the condition is severe enough to rule out the ability to engage in work activity at what the social security administration refers to as a substantial and gainful level.

This is why social security gathers information about your medical history but also information concerning your past work history. Disability examiners (and judges in cases where the claim has advanced to the hearing level) evaluate both areas, work and medical histories, to determine whether or not a claimant can go back to one of the jobs they performed in the past.

For many applicants, the information available to the decision-maker will lead them to conclude that the individual cannot go back to their past work because their current functional limitations, which can be physical, mental, or both (for example, impaired ability to concentrate, remember, hear, see, lift objects above a certain weight, sit or stand beyond a certain length of time, etc), will simply not allow a return to their past work.

However, even if a claimant is "taken out of past work", they may still be found able to switch to some type of other work, work that social security finds reasonable for the claimant to transition to based on their age, education, job skills, and, of course, rated functional limitations.

So, to answer the question, yes, you can get SSI or social security disability for RA. But you can potentially receive ongoing benefits for any condition as long as the information available to the decision-maker indicates:

1) The claimant's condition is severe

2) The claimant's condition is severe enough to prevent a return to their past work, while earning at least the substantial gainful activity amount that is currently in effect.

3) The claimant's condition is severe enough to prevent a switch to some form of other work, while earning at least the substantial gainful activity amount that is currently in effect.

4) That the claimant's condition, as described in 1-3, will exist for at least 12 months.





Additional information on Social Security Disability at www.disabilitysecrets.com

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Several individuals who describe very bad experiences with their long term disability insurers

This blog is about social security disability and SSI disability, not disability insurance in its various forms. Nonetheless, I am including a link to a short article titled "Describe Your Experience With Disability Insurance", simply because I found the comments so interesting.

As I get older myself, I find that the issue of being insured becomes ever more important, not just for myself but for my family. This is, of course, 180 degrees removed from when I was in my twenties and the ideas of mortality (life insurance), incapacity (long term disability insurance), and profound incapacity (long term care insurance) were ridiculous sounding. After all, for people in their twenties, those things are sooo far off. Not so much, though, when we're in our forties or fifties.

If you read through some of the comments on the page I'm linking to, you'll find:

1) A disability lawyer (insurance not SSD or SSI) who states "I believe that some disability insurance companies have a policy of denying all claims until they are sued" He goes on to state that one might find it worthwhile to investigate litigation against an insurer before buying a policy from them. Sound advice I think.

2) An individual who definitively states that disability insurance companies are a scam (But guess what? This doesn't change the fact that a person is probably better off if they're insured against accident and illness So choose a policy and insurer carefully as the attorney I mentioned advised).

3) Several individuals who describe very bad experiences with their LTD (long term disability) insurers.

On a personal note, from what I know of LTD and how the administrative record can be closed before the insured individual even has a clue as to how the game is played, I think it would be wise to speak with an attorney immediately in an LTD claim. There is, in my opinion, an element of distinct unfairness in private disability insurance cases that you don't see in the social security disability arena.

In fact, though the social security administration does exhibit some negatives (inconsistent decision-making between the DDS and hearing levels, painfully long delays between hearings and hearing requests, ill-thought-out policies, etc), SSA, at least, is not an inherently adversarial system motivated by a profit incentive. Some may disagree, but I think one of the fundamentals of health insurance reform was always the goal of getting health insurance companies to drop overtly unfair policies that allow for applicants to be denied on the basis of pre-existing conditions and for premium costs to shoot skyward as soon as substantial medical claims are filed (such as for catastrophic illness and hospitalization).

Describe Your Experience With Disability Insurance


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What Kind of Medical Records Are Best For A Social Security Disability Claim?

For both Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability, medical evidence is the keystone of a medical determination of disability. Generally, medical evidence is obtained from the medical sources that have treated or evaluated an individual’s impairment(s), either in the present or in the past.

Verification of the existence of a medical and/or mental impairment must be documented by medical sources that are considered to be “acceptable medical sources” by the Social Security Administration.

What medical sources are considered acceptable by Social Security? Acceptable medical sources include licensed psychologists, optometrists, psychiatrists, and physicians (including osteopaths). Obviously, then, Social Security also considers medical evidence from hospitals, health centers, and clinics to be acceptable, or any facility as long as the records are signed off by an individual considered to be an acceptable source of treatment. The acceptability of the source is what makes evidence medical (for example, chiropractic records are not considered medical in nature) and Social Security uses all medical evidence obtained to make their medical determination.

According to Social Security disability guidelines, more weight is given to medical evidence obtained from a disability claimant's treating medical professionals than records obtained from short hospital stays or individual examinations. Treating medical professionals are more likely to give a more complete longitudinal history of the claimant’s impairment (s) along with a perspective to medical evidence with regard to response to treatment, limitations, and prognosis.

In fact, Social Security believes medical reports from treating medical sources if accurate, timely, and sufficient, can expedite the overall processing of medical determinations because (theoretically) they eliminate the need for additional medical evidence.

That being said, if Social Security cannot acquire enough medical information from a disability claimant's treating medical sources, consultative examinations will be scheduled to get the necessary evidence for a medical disability determination.

Consultative examinations are one-time physical and or mental examinations used to make medical determinations. While these examinations give Social Security what they need to make their medical determinations, they are often rather one-sided quick examinations that generally fail to provide a clear picture of the limitations imposed upon an individual by their disabling impairment (s).

Therefore, the best kind of medical records for a Social Security disability claim are those provided by an individual’s own treating medical sources. Consultative examinations are just a necessary component of the Social Security disability process that typically falls into place when current documentation is not available and, thus, are not ordinarily the best basis for documenting a successful disability claim.







Additional information on Social Security Disability at www.disabilitysecrets.com

Return to the Social Security Disability SSI Benefits Blog





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