People You Will Meet During Social Security Hearings

People You Will Meet During Social Security Hearings

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Workers are always in threat of sustaining disabling conditions even before their retirement age. Although disability is always difficult and disheartening, disabled employees should not be discouraged because they may apply for Social Security disability programs in order to obtain financial assistance. It is important for any worker to learn the process behind Social Security disability hearings to be able to know the proper procedures he or she has to take.

Social Security defines disability as the inability of an individual to engage in any kind of substantial gainful activity due to a physical or mental impairment that is expected to last up to 12 months or may result in death. If a worker fits the Social Security Administrations (SSA) definition of disability, he or she may apply for either Social Security Disability Insurance program (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

Before an SSDI or SSI claimant to successfully obtain benefits, he or she should first undergo disability hearing. Normally, this is considered to be the most stressful and nerve-racking phase for claiming for disability benefits.

The following are people normally present during Social Security disability hearings:

Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) oversees the hearing process. He or she is also responsible for explaining the issues in the case of the claimant. The ALJ makes the final decision if the claim of the applicant would be approved or denied.

Hearing reporter he or she is responsible in audio recording the whole hearing process.

Claimants lawyer a Social Security disability attorney presents the case of the applicants claim.

Medical expert there are cases when a medical expert (ME) may be present in the hearing to give his or her opinion on the medical issues of the case

Vocational expert in case that there is a present vocational expert (VE) in the hearing, he or she may present his or her professional opinion on work factors of the claim

Witnesses disability benefits claimant may invite witnesses to strengthen the case

After the hearing is concluded, the ALJ will issue a written decision after evaluating all the evidence presented in the hearing process. The presiding ALJ is also required to provide a copy of the decision of the claim to the applicant and his or her lawyer.

In case that an applicant believes that he or she was treated unjustly by the ALJ, he or she may file a complaint with SSA.

References:
http://www.ssa.gov/appeals/hearing_process.html#what_happens
http://www.ultimatedisabilityguide.com/disability_hearing.html

About the Author:
Ashley Casas used to be a campus journalist in a University and holds a degree in AB Mass Communication. She jumped-start his profession in web content writing and has written long term disability lawyer and Social Security disability hearings articles to date.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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