Re: Long term disability

From: Marian (marianwrn@yahoo.com)
Mon Oct 15 17:02:20 2007


I had a similar experience. My "disability date" was Sept. 2004 and I wasn't approved until Mary of 2006 going all the way to the hearing with a judge. After going through that experience, I strongly urge everyone who is applying to start with a lawyer, Ididn't get one until after my second denial. Here in VA they take 25% of your back disability pay automatically (you never see it) and they don't get anything if you don't win. It is soooooooo worth it and I am sure I would have been approved earlier if I had the attorney from the beginning. That is the best advice I can give.

At Mon, 1 Oct 2007, Jan G. wrote: >
>>Do not be surprised at how long SSDI takes to get approval.....
>
>I have to second this comment, even though I've yet to recieve mine.
>I'm in Washington state where the average turn around time is between
>3 and 4 years, apparently. I applied in October 2005, and it took until
>January 06 to be fully registered - pushing my 'actual' application
>date to 1/06.
>SSI, is sort of a federal welfare for disabled persons and in my case,
>my spouse would have had to have earned something like 600 a month or
>less in order to qualify.
>I know in many cases it's hard to imagine you can't qualify for
>assistance after you've lost your income,but I'm actually thankful that
>we didn't qualify,
>that we were not that bad off...you know?
>My first and second denials were at the state level (Disability
>Determination services) and came pretty quickly.
>According to the Social Security Administration, the soonest I'll get
>a hearing date is sometime in or after July '08.
>I have an attorney to worry about getting it pushed up.
>I know it seems like an easy application to fill out, but it could be
>more than worth your while to get assistance from a disability attorney.
>Especially if you'll be dealing with any Long Term Disability Insurance,
>through an employer, for instance. (Still fighting that one too.)
>
>Hoping everyone has more pain free days!
>Jan


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