McKinney, Texas, is a large city located north of Dallas in Collin County. For several years in the early 2000s, it was the fastest-growing city in the nation and today, it is estimated to support about 161,000 people. Many people who live in McKinney work in the Dallas-Fort Worth area or at Raytheon, the city’s largest employer and they are counting on each paycheck to maintain their current quality of life. One in four U.S. workers, however, become disabled before retirement. When a disability prevents you from working, you have to find another means of support.
In 1956, the federal government recognized the need to help disabled workers, so Congress amended the Social Security Act to include an insurance program called Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Qualified workers who apply for SSDI receive a monthly benefit that can help them maintain a standard of living above the poverty line.
SSDI is a government-sponsored insurance policy that is funded through Social Security payroll deductions. Those who have sustained a qualifying disability and have the minimum number of work credits within the allotted time-frame will be awarded a monthly benefit based on past earnings.
To get your SSDI application approved, you must show that you have a severe disability that your doctor believes will eventually result in your death or last for a minimum of one year. In addition, your condition must prevent you from both performing the work you did in the past and make it impossible to adjust to different work.
As for the work requirements, you must have the minimum amount of work credits, and the work must have been performed in recent years. The specific amount of work and the timeframe depend on the age when you became disabled. For instance, workers under the age of 24 need only 18 months of work performed within the last three years. Those who are 24 to 31 years of age must have worked half of the time since their 21st birthday. If you are 32 or older, then you need to have been working for five years out of the last 10 years.
While SSDI is available for all qualifying U.S. workers, the program has one major disadvantage: it is administered by the federal government, which serves a large number of people. This means that the processing time will be quite long, so many people become discouraged. Most people find the application process to be very strenuous, and about two-thirds of applications are rejected upon the initial review. If your case was rejected and you must appeal it, it can take up to two years for a hearing to be held.
The SSDI application process can be done online or at the SSA office in McKinney. Your application must be accompanied by supporting documentation, including all of your medical records, and you must be able to explain your condition using proper medical terminology.
Applying for SSDI for the first time or appealing a rejected SSDI application can be extremely hard to do when you are trying to adjust to life with a disability. Most people simply abandon the process after the first step. Despite this, you have the right to be represented by an experienced attorney from the very beginning of the application process. An experienced member of our team at Chermol & Fishman LLC will help you complete your application quickly and accurately.We will also discuss your condition with doctors to ensure that your documentation is adequate. In addition, if you must appeal, our team will be at your side when it is time to appear at a formal hearing.
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