SSDI
Disability benefits for people who worked, and can't now
SSDI pays a monthly benefit to people who paid Social Security taxes and can no longer work because of a medical condition that has lasted, or will last, at least a year.
Social Security decides in steps: whether you're working, whether your condition is severe, whether it matches a listing, whether you can do your old work, and whether you can do any other. Most of the work on a claim is showing those steps with records, not telling a story.
A first application is often denied for a thin file, and a thin file is something we can fill.
Good to know
Benefits begin after a five-month wait, counted from the date Social Security finds you stopped working
Medicare starts after 24 months of benefits
Back pay is the benefits owed from that start date to the month you win
The work
What we do on an SSDI claim
The work is mostly reading, asking and writing, in that order.
Read your work history
We list the jobs you've held in the last fifteen years and what each one asked of your body, so the claim says what you could do and not just what you did.
Collect the records
We request charts from every provider and ask each doctor whether they'll write a short statement about your limits.
Describe an ordinary day
A claim is stronger when it says how long you can sit, what you drop, and what the next day costs. We help you put that in your own words.
Stand beside you at the hearing
We prepare you for the judge's questions and ask our own, so the hearing sounds like the claim reads.
SSDI questions
I'm still working a little. Can I apply?
Sometimes. Social Security looks at how much you earn and whether the work is steady. Call before you apply, because earnings can change the answer in either direction.
How long does a decision take?
It varies with where you live and how complete your records are. We'll tell you where your claim stands and what we're waiting on, and we won't guess at a date.
My doctor says I can't work. Is that enough?
It helps, but Social Security decides, and it wants specifics: what you can lift, how long you can stand, how often you'd miss work. We ask doctors for those details.
What does it cost me?
Nothing up front. The fee is set by Social Security and paid from back pay, so if there's no back pay there's no fee. Record charges are separate, and we tell you first.