THE FIVE-STEP PROCESS AT SOCIAL SECURITY
By law, Social Security must use a sequential five-step process in determining if you are disabled and eligible for an SSDI or SSI benefit. Here is that five-step process.
1. Are you now working? Social Security takes the view that if you are engaged in "substantial gainful activity" (SGA), such as a full-time job, you are not legally disabled. The process ends at Step 1 if you are now working at SGA. Definition: "Substantial gainful activity means earning at least $1,070 per month in gross wages, tips, commissions or self-employment income (2017).
2. Do you have at least one severe medically determinable impairment? Definition: An impairment or combination of impairments is considered "severe" if it significantly limits an individual's physical or mental abilities to do basic work activities.
3. Does the claimant meet one of the Listings? Definition: The Listings may be seen at https://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/AdultListings.htm
4. Is the claimant able to perform any of his "past relevant work?" If the answer is "Yes," a denial is issued. Definition: Past Relevant Work is work performed within the past 15 years prior to the decision, and work performed at the substantial gainful activity level, and performed long enough to learn to do the work.
5. If the claimant cannot perform Past Relevant Work, can he/she perform any other work which exists in the national economy in significant numbers? If the answer is "Yes," a denial will be issued. Definition: Any other work can be any skilled or unskilled work that exists in the US economy, not necessarily in the claimant's state or local area. It does not have to be work that the claimant wants to do, pays enough to live on, or work in which the claimant has any particular training, education or experience. It also doesn't matter whether the claimant can actually find one of these jobs.
So, the claim may denied at any step. To get paid, a claim must survive all the way through Step 5, "the other work test." Frankly, Step 5 is where most claims die.
It takes a great deal of evidence, research, preparation, knowledge and skill to survive all the way through these 5 steps without being denied.
Most people have no idea how technical or complicated the Social Security decision making process is. Now that you understand it, I hope you see why you can't just show up at a hearing, tell a good story and hope to be approved. It's rather cut-and-dried and you either pass the tests or you don't. At least, understand what the tests are before you walk in.
1. Are you now working? Social Security takes the view that if you are engaged in "substantial gainful activity" (SGA), such as a full-time job, you are not legally disabled. The process ends at Step 1 if you are now working at SGA. Definition: "Substantial gainful activity means earning at least $1,070 per month in gross wages, tips, commissions or self-employment income (2017).
2. Do you have at least one severe medically determinable impairment? Definition: An impairment or combination of impairments is considered "severe" if it significantly limits an individual's physical or mental abilities to do basic work activities.
3. Does the claimant meet one of the Listings? Definition: The Listings may be seen at https://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/AdultListings.htm
4. Is the claimant able to perform any of his "past relevant work?" If the answer is "Yes," a denial is issued. Definition: Past Relevant Work is work performed within the past 15 years prior to the decision, and work performed at the substantial gainful activity level, and performed long enough to learn to do the work.
5. If the claimant cannot perform Past Relevant Work, can he/she perform any other work which exists in the national economy in significant numbers? If the answer is "Yes," a denial will be issued. Definition: Any other work can be any skilled or unskilled work that exists in the US economy, not necessarily in the claimant's state or local area. It does not have to be work that the claimant wants to do, pays enough to live on, or work in which the claimant has any particular training, education or experience. It also doesn't matter whether the claimant can actually find one of these jobs.
So, the claim may denied at any step. To get paid, a claim must survive all the way through Step 5, "the other work test." Frankly, Step 5 is where most claims die.
It takes a great deal of evidence, research, preparation, knowledge and skill to survive all the way through these 5 steps without being denied.
Most people have no idea how technical or complicated the Social Security decision making process is. Now that you understand it, I hope you see why you can't just show up at a hearing, tell a good story and hope to be approved. It's rather cut-and-dried and you either pass the tests or you don't. At least, understand what the tests are before you walk in.
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