Highland Village, Texas, is an upstanding suburb of Dallas situated on the southwestern shores of Lewisville Lake. The city was incorporated in 1963 and had 516 residents in 1970.
Today, over 15,000 people call Highland Village home and these residents work in a wide range of industries. Unfortunately, about one-fourth of working adults will become disabled before they can retire. Without any means of earning a living, retirees that live in places such as Highland Village must find financial relief to maintain an acceptable standard of living.
In 1956, the U.S. government recognized the need to help disabled workers and Congress added new provisions to the Social Security Act to establish a federal insurance program called Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Beneficiaries of this program receive a modest monthly income to support themselves and their families.
Meeting the Requirements:
SSDI is an insurance policy that covers workers who have paid into the program through automatic payroll deductions and earned a certain amount of work credits. Workers in the U.S. are awarded quarterly work credits by the SSA when they earn a minimum amount of money in that period, which makes the maximum award four credits per year.
The specific number of credits required to receive SSDI benefits is dependent upon your age at the time that your disability began.
After you meet the work criteria, you will then have to prove that your disability is long-term and so severe that you are no longer able to work at your current or previous job and that you cannot adjust to different work.
Receiving Benefits:
If you meet all the above requirements, you will qualify to receive SSDI benefits in the form of monthly payments. The amount of each payment is calculated as a percentage of your average monthly earnings over the course of your working life.
As of January 1, 2016, the average SSDI payment for an individual was $1,166. This modest sum may not seem like much, but it is enough to keep most people on their feet.
Applying for Benefits:
If you believe that you have sufficiently paid into the SSDI program through your payroll taxes, then you can complete an application at the nearest SSA office which is in Denton, TX. You can also apply online, but you will be asked to submit medical records and other documents to prove that your disability claim is true.
The SSDI application process can be quite complex and many people get frustrated early on because of the hassle of struggling to understand all of the legal and medical terminology. The following suggestions, however, can be beneficial if you decide to apply on your own without help from a disability attorney.
Request medical records from all of your doctors.Ensure that the records include dates and your doctors’ names as well as the names of the healthcare facilities, the reasons for visiting, your diagnoses and treatments.
Make sure that you have a list that uses official medical terms to describe the physical impairments and psychological conditions that prevent you from working.
Getting Help from a Disability Lawyer in Highland Village, TX
Getting help from a reliable SSDI attorney can take the stress out of the application and appeals processes, and it will free up your time so that you can take care of yourself and be with your family.
When you are juggling responsibilities while experiencing a physical or psychological disability, it can be easy to make simple mistakes on your application. In addition, if you have to appeal and are asked to appear at a hearing in front of an administrative law judge, you may not know exactly what to say.
An attorney who is experienced in disability law knows how to navigate the system, and he or she will understand how to present your case and speak to the judge. For more information and a free consultation, contact a Texas disability attorney today.
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