YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING DISABILITY BENEFITS IN ALABAMA

Ever wonder what your chances are of getting approved for Social Security disability benefits in Alabama?  Here what the law of averages say:

At the initial application level the Disability Determination Service approves 29.7 percent of all disability claims in Alabama (denying 70.1 percent).

At the hearing level, administrative law judges in Alabama approved about 42 percent of all claims that come before them at hearings.

These numbers tell you several things:

  1. You mustn't be too disappointed if your application is denied.  It's common.
  2. You will probably have to appeal and go to a hearing to get approved.
  3. You most likely will need some professional help to get approved.
If you research Social Security disability on the internet, you will come across a term called "Reconsideration."  This process is not longer used in Alabama, however.  Reconsideration is used in 40 states and it requires the Disability Determination Service to re-examine a denied claim to see if it made a mistake.  It's a waste of time because nothing usually changes during Reconsideration.  Thankfully, you can skip this time waster and appeal a denial directly to a federal administrative law judge in Alabama.  The bad news it that it will probably still take 18 months or longer to get a hearing.

Comments

  1. Charles W. ForsytheFebruary 20, 2016 at 6:03 PM

    The Florence, AL hearing office, which handles most of the appeals for extreme northern Alabama has about 6,000 cases waiting to come before a judge. With only 8 judges, it takes a while to work through that many cases. A few of these hearings are heard out of the Franklin, TN office in an attempt to reduce the backlog. Asking for an in person hearing, as opposed to a video teleconference hearing, can make the wait even longer.

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