How The Social Security Administration Decides If You Are Still Disabled

In case you have been diagnosed by your doctor that you have a disability or any physical or mental ailment, you obviously need to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. Once you have submitted all the necessary paperwork and medical and employment evidence to the Social Security Administration (SSA), they will review your claim, which may take some months. Social Security will release a letter of notice regarding their determination on the approval and amount of your benefits.

As long as your disability prohibits you to do your current work, and that it is expected to last for at least twelve months or is expected to result to death, you are eligible to receive disability benefits. On average, disability claimants that were approved by the SSA can receive benefits from the duration of 18 months to five years, sometimes even longer if the disability is not expected to improve.

Then, the SSA will send you a letter telling you about a review of your disability or medical condition. In other words, after a certain period, your disability or medical condition will be reviewed to see if you are still eligible to receive benefits. The frequency of a certain review varies; depending on the severity of your condition and the expectations for improvement.

On the review, the SSA will gather updated information about your medical condition. The SSA will go through the contact details of your doctor, hospital and other medical sources to check your medical records. The medical sources are asked about your medical condition, especially in terms of your limitations with daily activities, the medical tests and the treatments you received.

The gathered facts will then be reviewed. The medical condition that you have right now will be looked upon to see if there any new health problems that have surfaced while claiming benefits. The decision will be based on whether or not there is an improvement in your medical condition. If they do so approve that it has improved, they will decide if it is enough to allow you to go to work.

If they have decided that you can already work, they will stop giving you benefits. The SSA will send you a letter explaining the result of their review and the reason why you will not be given benefits anymore. Nevertheless, more often than not, you may disagree with the decision. When this happens, you can appeal their decision. The same letter will also tell you the instructions on how to petition.