Tips & Advice on Filing Your Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Claim

Waiting on a claim filed for Social Security Disability Insurance can be overwhelming and frustrating. Claimants often blame themselves or their attorneys for the lengthy waiting time and repeated denials. They may even question their own judgement as to whether or not they are truly disabled because they have been denied.

I worked for an attorney who specialized in SSDI claims, and here is some information and advice that will help you keep your sanity during the process.

1. Get an attorney. It won't cost you anything upfront. SSDI attorneys are required by law to work on a contingency basis, meaning they only get paid if they win your case. Furthermore, the maximum amount an SSDI attorney can be paid is capped and comes out of the back payments you should receive when your claim is approved. The only money you may have to give to your lawyer is money to cover out of pocket fees for documents and mailings on your behalf - payments you'd have to make even if you filed your SSDI claim on your own.

Keep in touch with your SSDI attorney and be SURE to update her whenever you visit your doctor, but keep in mind that hounding your attorney will accomplish nothing. She has to wait for the process, too, and there is nothing she can do to hurry it along. What she CAN do is make sure you've provided the Social Security Administration with every bit of SSDI information they need in order to consider your claim. This can be difficult to do on your own, since every state has slightly different requirements and sometimes they'll require obscure information you may overlook.

2. The odds are that your initial SSDI claim and your first appeal, if your state has one will be denied. Do not be discouraged when you are denied, it is simply part of the process and gets you that much closer to your hearing before a judge. In three years of working with an SSDI attorney, I never saw a single claim approved on initial application.

3. You probably won't get your SSDI claim approved until you have a hearing before a judge. I frankly do not know why this is the case, I just know that it held true for 95% of our clients.

4. Continue to visit your doctor while you wait for your SSDI claim to be approved. If you do end up appealing and having a hearing, one factor that will be considered is continued disability. Visiting your doctor on a regular basis (at least every 3 months) will keep current documentation that you are still disabled.

Be patient, and don't give up hope. Try to remember that it isn't your fault that your SSDI claim is taking so long and don't get discouraged.