Thank you all for your kind responses and encouragement. I will see what I can do with these options.
So sorry to hear of your loss of disability. It is my biggest fear currently as my LTD pays quite a bit more than SSDI will pay if approved. My LTD company offers and as I recently found out, insists that I apply for SSDI through a company who does this type of work exclusively. They claim they have a 98% approval of SSDI.
They company is called Allsup and is a non-attorney company of about 20 people as one rep told me. They are SO easy to work with and seem to know the system inside and out. They also request ALL communications from SS be directed politely to them and tell SS that I am being represented by them. The rationale is to keep all the ducks in a row and make sure SS gets only the info they need and not any that will spoil your claim.
My reason for telling you this is I "think" they might be cheaper than an attorney. They certainly are kind and very thorough.
I hope things go well for you and hubby and the financial issues are minimal! Sending lots of good thoughts your way.
Ren
D- Not sure if you have considered this, but there are attorneys who specialize in this and I believe their pay can come from your settlement and not money up front. It might be worth checking into for their expertise if this doesn't come through in September.
-L
I am in the 1st appeal process of getting SS Disability. I am praying that I find out something in September. I am thinking of appealing the SSI since things have changed.
I have heard of people finding out they won their SS Disability when they found a large deposit into their checking account. I'm with you Pastor Dan. It is scary what Big Brother knows.
My late wife applied for SSDI online while I was still working fulltime and we owned a home (though we had no equity in it). She worked hard to document every doctor, hospital visit, every complication or aggravating condition, etc., for the 27 years she'd been declining, all in her first application. SSA sent her to a shrink and a GP (he was a hoot; old as her and me combined, & more interested in my Akubra hat than her health issues). They also sent her to get an X-ray of her better knee. Go figure; it was the heel on the other foot that was giving her the most trouble.
Anyway, she received approval without ever talking to a human being at Social Security. It took about six months, I think, but she got a nice lump sum retro payment direct-deposited into our checking account -- even though she'd never given them any account routing information. Scary what Big Brother knows sometimes. Next day, she got a letter explaining her benefits approval.
Can't say, of course, that anyone else would have such a relatively smooth experience; the bad ones are the ones we all hear about, and that two out of three applications are denied on their first submission. Appeals succeed pretty often, I've heard, but they do take a while. I know someone whose successful appeal took about a year and a half, once they hired an attorney to pursue it.
Hi Deborah,
I'm sorry to hear that you've lost your disability insurance payments and your husband may loose his job.
Did you confuse SSI with SSDI? SSDI isn't tied into wealth/assets while SSI is.
If you were denied SSI, you could still apply for SSDI despite owning property. I believe it has a higher maximum ($2300 or so per month) and is tied into your income over the last ten years that was reported to the SSA. The process can take as little as 3 months in some states, more in others. You really want to get it right the first time, the appeal process will take years. When approved you'll receive a monthly payment after you've been disabled for six months, you will receive back payments if you and SSA didn't move quickly enough.
You can start the application process by going to
http://ssa.gov/applyfordisability/
I'm getting SSDI, the agent who interviewed me was very sympathetic. It took about 90 days to get approval, my first check arrived in May.
Hope this helps,
Mark
I hope you'll be able to resolve this injustice with your doctors help.
The last thing you need is more stress in your life.
I'd be in big trouble financially if my insurance company decided to cut me off. My wife lost her job so my disability insurance is our only income.
Just want to wish you the best of luck, and hope your husband doesn't lose his job.
Mike
Thanks for the encouragement. I was denied SSDI because my sisters and I inherited property from my father and even though we haven't been able to sell, SS says that I don't qualify for SSDI. I'm just praying that the SS Disability will be decided this week.
I already made an appt. to see my Dr next week. I will calmly discuss the situation with her and see what she can do. She's not the Dr. that initially diagnosed me and she really hasn't done an exam on me. I'm going to request an exam along with her helping in this appeal.
Thanks!!!!
Deborah0904
I agree with PastorDan, vent away sister. I would go to my doctors office and vent there too----but in a 'calm' manner. Let them know that they made a mistake and ask them 'how you can help them resend the info to the company'.
It's a terrible thing to do to someone who is sick.
Have you thought of applying for SSDI for you illness. They could pick up ater your long-term ends. Just a thought. I know this is probably not a good time to think about that.
I am sorry that this happened and sorry your doctor fouled everything up.
Hugs, Red
Vent away, debs. So sorry to hear of this foul-up. Sounds like time for Doctor to get an apologetic correction off to the disability folks double-pronto, IMHO.
Know about job loss too well; jsut checking on my extended unemploymemnt benefits before logging on here a few minutes ago. Should be in the "bank" in the morning (Ohio uses a debit card system), but it's still less than half what I was bringing home, and I was paying for my own insurance. (Nancy says she'd happily pay me to keep working at all the household jobs I've mbeen doing, but she can't afford me!)
We will pray that your husband is able to stay put until better and more reliable employment knocks on his door.