Imagine that you’ve suddenly become seriously ill or injured and you can no longer perform your job duties. You may be able to qualify for Social Security Disability benefits to help make financial ends meet. These important and helpful government benefits, however, are not available to everyone. You need to pass the Social Security office’s strict requirements before your application for benefits is approved.
To illuminate the SSD qualifications that you’ll need to meet, here is a fictional example of a Social Security disability claim that would probably succeed in obtaining benefits:
1.) The nature of the disability prevents the performance of job tasks
Imagine you’ve been involved in a serious car accident that lead to a fractured spine. You now suffer from intense back pain that requires powerful pain medication. Unfortunately, the pain is so severe that you can’t perform your job duties as a truck driver anymore. Just two hours behind the wheel leads to terrible pain and there’s no way around it. You simply can’t work in your normal truck driving job. These facts satisfy the first requirement of the Social Security Administration: You can’t perform your job duties due to a health problem.
2.) Alternative forms of employment are impossible
Your back injuries have led to you needing to leave your truck driving job. As you attempt to find other work, again and again, you are left in severe back pain. A doctor has confirmed that your pain is so severe that it requires you to lay down and rest for hours at a time at regular intervals during the day. Your doctor agrees that performing any kind of job will only make your health situation worse and more unbearable. These facts satisfy the requirement that alternative types of employment have been rendered impossible by your health condition.
3.) Your disability will last over a year or end in death
Your doctor says that you may be able to get better from your injury in time, but you will require regular rehabilitation and physical therapy, and you will not be ready to work for more than a year — if ever. These facts satisfy the requirement that your inability to work will endure for at least one year or result in your death.
If you’re ready to file a disability claim, make sure you go about in the right way to maximize your chances of success.
