Question: What goes on at a Social Security disability hearing? Answer: I can assure you that what goes on at a Social Security disability hearing is a lot less scarey than you think. There’s no need to be like the lady pictured here. It’s not a math test! You aren’t going to get denied because [...]

The Wall Street Journal reports that “The backlog of applications for disability benefits is so big the Social Security Administration has a special code—DXDI—for appeals dismissed because the applicant died waiting. Since 2005, the agency has made 15,043 DXDI designations.” All I can advise you to do if you are disabled is to file your [...]

The Burlington Social Security field office has closed. This is because of a tight budget at Social Security. This is despite the fact that the Burlington area is not losing population. In fact, Burlington and surrounding communities, such as Graham, Mebane and Elon, are all growing rapidly. This reduces service to tens of thousands of [...]

Social Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released a report on “outlier” Administrative Law Judges (ALJs), that is ALJs who have either high or low rates of approving disability claims or high or low productivity. Take a look at this chart from the report:

North Carolina Disability Determination Services (DDS), which makes determinations on Social Security disability claims at the initial and reconsideration levels, has posted online its fee schedule for the medical examinations that it orders. People complain a lot about these consultative examinations but what can you expect with this kind of fee schedule.

A few months ago I advised a client who explicitly said he was disabled by psychiatric illness to get in psychiatric treatment. A month ago I called to see if he had done so. He told me that he hadn’t gotten around to it yet. I restrained myself from asking why his busy schedule as [...]