Suffering from an injury or illness that causes you to have a long-term disability can seem like a disheartening catch-22: you need money to pay for your medical bills so you can heal, yet you must work in order to get the money to pay the medical bills. To help keep you out of this terrible situation, the Social Security Administration offers aid to those who can prove that they indeed have a long-term disability.
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The Social Security Administration, or SSA, provides two types of disability coverage. First, Social Security disability insurance, or SSDI, can help provide for you as well as sometimes your dependents after you are injured. Secondly, supplemental security income, or SSI, takes into account your financial status and gives aid accordingly.
If you believe that you have an ailment that prevents you from working, you will have to prove that you are eligible for SSDI or SSI. Although the SSA provides as much help as possible, they are still very strict on approving people to receive long-term disability benefits. One important aspect of your application is the medical evidence showing that you are disabled.
In putting together your case, the SSA requires certain types of medical evidence. This evidentiary information must be provided by a doctor who either evaluated or treated you after your accident, preferably the latter. This is because a physician who was in charge of treating your injury or illness likely spent more time evaluating the overall effects on your body and the extent to which it could be healed.
Medical and osteopathic doctors, as well as optometrists, psychologists, and podiatrists must all be properly licensed in order to count as a source of evidence in your case. Additionally, psychologists can be certified, and speech pathologists must be appropriately licensed or certified as well.
From these sources, the SSA will ask for a variety of information. Although you are responsible for providing this medical information, the SSA can help you gather the reports with your permission. The reports that the SSA looks for include:
Medical history
Clinical and laboratory findings
Diagnosis
Prescribed treatment plan
Prognosis
The activities that you can still perform despite the injury or illness
Sometimes, no matter how detailed the medical information you provide and the proof that you have of your disability, the SSA may decide to deny your claim. If you have been denied long-term disability coverage and plan on filing for an appeal, you should enlist the help of an experienced long-term disability attorney to help you with your case.
For more information, contact a long-term disability lawyer from the Law Office of Charles D Hankey, P.C., today.
Interestingly most people aware of the importance of protecting their hard-earned assets, including their homes and autos. But somehow they neglect to protect their source of income that makes all these things possible. The social security Long-Term Disability Lawyers system in America is far different to the generous safety net that most Europeans enjoy. So, why do you need long term disability insurance?
Private insurance coverage becomes vital to expatriates working in the US for compensating the loss of income by illness or disability. If someone becomes disabled and unable to perform the normal work, his accumulated wealth and ability to support his family will, at some point, be at risk.
Many employers automatically continue to pay salaries to employees for short-term disability with maximum beneficial period ranges 1-2 years and beyond this, employees are usually doing on their own. Here's the necessity of Long Term Disability(LTD) that emerges in our life. LTD provides replacements of a share of their normal income should an accident or illness prevent them from working for an extended period.
Typical LTD insurance policies that available in the US market provide for payment of income benefits after a specific elimination period subject to certain modifications and optional extensions of coverage. Some of the main features and definitions commonly found in LTD insurance:
^^Disability: When employees are unable to perform their normal duties.
^^Elimination Period: A specified time-frame after a disability occurs or before the benefit begins. This could range from 30-720 days.
^^Income Benefit: It render basic disability coverage in case of injury or sickness that reduces work capacity and consequence loss of income(maximum 60% of the first US $100,000 annual income and 40% thereafter are usually available).
^^Catastrophic Protection Extension: When catastrophic injury or sickness disables a person that requires special care, it provides supplemental benefits up to a further 40% of annual income which when combined with the basic income benefit, can provide up to 100% replacement income.
^^Future Adjustment Option(FAO): It agrees to enhance coverage of a person when his salary increases or his Group LTD coverage is terminated or reduced due to changes in employment.
^^Cost of Living Adjustment: It permits the adjustable income benefit to compensate the affect of inflation.
^^Savings Supplement Option(SSO): It allows the policy holder to help protecting an additional 10% of monthly earnings for compensating the lost savings resulting from LTD.
Standard LTD policies also contain special features designed for business owners.These allow-
**Overhead expenses coverage that pays for some specific office expenses.
**Recovery benefits that pay the owners who has returned to normal work.
**Key-person insurance that protects a firm against income loss resulting from disability of key employees.
**In case of jointly owned business, a disability policy disburses benefits to one partner of the business venture to buy a disabled partner's share of business.