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Social Security judges

Disability Almost Impossible to Prove Without Regular Medical Treatment and Support from Your Doctor

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medical support and SSDIThis afternoon, I received the following question by email:

I’ve applied for disability. I don’t have a lot of medical ‘backing’ as the majority of my life I haven’t had insurance, nor been able to afford it. I do have past records verifying my mental incapacities as brain damage and ADHD. My issues include arthritis in my knees and hands, back problems that are getting worse that may be contributed to RA (Havent been diagnosed with it, but it is a major hereditary problem), memory issues and concentration issues.  What are my chances of winning disability?

Here are my thoughts:  I think you will have a real uphill battle winning your Social Security disability case if you do not have medical support for your case.  I am definitely noting a trend in the cases I am trying recently – if there is not a strong medical record, judges are not going to award benefits based on  your testimony only, or on old or incomplete medical records.

Further I would say that we are getting to the point where we need a completed and supportive functional capacity form filled out by a treating doctor in the record.   [Read more…] about Disability Almost Impossible to Prove Without Regular Medical Treatment and Support from Your Doctor

Absurd New SSA Policy Deletes Name of Judge from Hearing Notice

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Just this past December, I wrote a post on this blog discussing the online resources available for claimants and disability lawyers to research Social Security judges assigned to their cases.  Earlier this year, SSA instituted a new policy where the identity of the judge is hidden to claimants and lawyers until the day of your hearing.

The stated reason for this new policy is supposed abuse by some lawyers who were advising their clients to dismiss cases and move to a different jurisdiction when certain judges were assigned.  In order to stop this “judge shopping” the identity of the judge is kept secret.

I find this new policy asinine for any number of reasons.  First, as a claimant’s representative I have an affirmative duty to prepare my clients for their hearings.  A big part of preparing for hearings involves preparing for the judge assigned to one’s case.

  • Some judges ask a lot of questions, some judges ask almost no questions.
  • Some judges go out of their way to make claimants comfortable while others take on the role of an advocate for Social Security and challenge the claimant.
  • Some judges always use vocational expert witnesses and others do not

I have no particular issue with any of these approaches but I do have a problem not being able to prepare my client about what to expect.  From my client’s perspective, they have likely never been in front of a Social Security judge and they will be nervous.  Why not enhance the chances that a judge can get accurate and thoughtful information instead of playing silly games because a few lawyers somewhere advised their clients to delay the adjudication of their cases because of a particular judge. [Read more…] about Absurd New SSA Policy Deletes Name of Judge from Hearing Notice

Research the Approval Rate of Your Judge

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SSA administrative law judgeOver the past few years, Social Security has quietly made available to the public statistics about the performance of hearing offices throughout the nation as well as the approval/denial rates of the judges that staff those offices.

These statistics are on the official SSA.gov site but I have noted that the location of this information seems to change periodically.

Recently I came across a very interesting and helpful site called DisabilityJudges.com where information about the tendencies of the judges before whom you will appear are posted.  Here is a link to the subsection about Georgia hearing offices.

Nationally, the average approval rate for Social Security judges is 53%, the denial rate is 32% with the rest being dismissed or disposed of otherwise.  In Georgia, the average approval rate is 60% and the denial rate is 28%.

Interestingly, however, you may get a very different result depending on which hearing office schedules your hearing.  Around 63% of hearing scheduled in downtown Atlanta are approved but your odds could vary greatly depending on the judge assigned to your claim.  Judges with the lowest approval rate in downtown Atlanta approve just over 30% of claims brought before them, while a claimant in the next hearing room over could appear before a judge with an 82% approval rate.

Unfortunately there is no way to choose the judge that will hear your case and I’d like to think that even the judges with the stingiest approval rate will approve a deserving claim.

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