Once it is determined that a social security disability claimant is not engaged in substantial gainful activity, the next step in the claims analysis is to determine whether the individual suffers from a “severe impairment.”

SSA defines a “severe impairment” as any impairment or combination of impairments which significantly limits your physical or mental ability to do basic work activities.  An impairment significantly limits an individual’s ability to do basic work activities when it has more than a minimal impact on the individual’s ability to perform these basic work activities.  The impairment must be medically determinable, meaning you must provide evidence in the form of medical records or tests to prove the existence of the impairment.

Generally speaking, this is not a difficult test for SSA claimant’s to pass, but you’ve got to have that medical evidence to establish the existence of the impairment.

Tomorrow, we will talk about which severe impairments SSA considers to be disabling at step three of the process without considering whether you are capable of performing your past work.

Yesterday, I talked about the sequential evaluation process that SSA uses to determine whether an individual is disabled.  Today, I am going to begin a discussion to explain each step in greater detail.

As you will recall, the first step of evaluation is to determine whether the individual who his claiming disability is currently engaged in “substantial gainful activity” (SGA).  If an individual is participating in SGA, he can not be found disabled.  In short, the question is whether the individual is currently working.  However, not all work will preclude a finding of disabled.

SSA classifies work as SGA only when it is, as the name implies, “substantial” and “gainful.”  To be substantial the work must involve doing significant physical or mental activities.  To be gainful the work must be done for pay or profit.  (Beware that self employed work done at a realized loss can still be found gainful.)  SSA has currently set threshold amounts of monthly income that it considers gainful activity.  You can find those amounts at SSA’s website here.  Not that this would apply to any of my readers, but career criminals should know that illegal activity can and will also be found to be substantial activity.  You probably have bigger problems than disability if this applies to you.
Bottom-line, if you are working and making more than the SGA threshold ($940 in 2008) you can’t be found disabled.  If you’re not, your case gets to move to the next step, which I will discuss on Monday.

Thanks for reading,

Mike Hartup

Today, I thought I would start a short series of posts that explain the basics of filing for disability and the rules that the Social Security Administration (SSA) uses to determine your eligibility for benefits.

Before we get into the application and appeals process, it is important to understand what “disability” means to Social Security.

SSA regulations define “disability” as the inability to do any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.

In evaluating whether an individual meets this definition of disability, SSA uses a process that it calls the “sequential evaluation.”  This process consists of the following 5 steps of analysis.

The decision maker must:

1.  Determine whether the claimant is currently engaged in “substantial gainful activity” (working). (If yes, the analysis stops with a finding of not disabled.  If no, it continues.)

2.  Determine whether the claimant has a “severe impairment.”  (The answer must be yes to continue.)

3.  Determine whether the “severe impairment” meets or equals one of the listed conditions that SSA has determined to be presumptively disabling. (If yes, the analysis stops here and the claimant is found disabled. If no, the analysis continues to the next step)

4.  Determine whether the “severe impairment” prevents the claimant from performing his past work. (If no, stop.  If yes, continue).

5.  Determine whether the “severe impairment” prevents the claimant from making an adjustment to other work wich exists in significant numbers in the economy. (If yes, he is disabled. If no, he is not disabled).

In my next posts, I will discuss each of these steps in further detail.  I will also discuss the procedures you need to follow in filing your claim for benefits.  In the meantime you can read more details about SSA’s rules in the Social Security Handbook.

Thanks for reading,

Mike Hartup

Often, holders of private long-term disability insurance will find that their policies require them to file for Social Security disability benefits when they make a claim on the private policy.  Many of my clients are surprised to learn that such policies also contain an offset provision, meaning that the private insurance company can reduce the amount of benefits that it has to pay out on a claim when the insured also receives Social Security benefits.  If you are thinking of filing a claim with your private long-term disability insurer, it is important to check your policy to see if you will also have to file for Social Security benefits.  You should also contact a disability attorney for an explanation of the impact that filing both claims will have on your benefits.

Today, the New York times published an interesting article about a lawsuit that accuses some insurance companies of contributing to the current Social Security backlog by forcing their insureds to file for federal benefits.  You can read the article here.

Thanks for reading,

Mike Hartup

Hello, my name is Michael Hartup and I am the attorney that represents our Social Security Disability clients here at Hill Boren.  I’ve created this blog to provide education, news, and comment on Social Security Disability laws and issues.  I hope you will find the content here informative and useful.  Please feel free to contact me any time.

Thanks for reading,

Mike Hartup