Let’s say you became disabled some time ago, and find that your illness or injury prevents you from going to work. As you have been employed for quite a few years, you have paid into the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) system through payroll deductions. So, you go through the process of filing a disability claim with the Social Security Administration (SSA). You fill out the requisite forms, submit the necessary documents, perhaps submit to a medical examination. Maybe you are approved the first time, or you may have had to file an appeal and have a hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge. In any event, you have been approved, and you begin receiving your benefits. Is that it? Are you finished with the SSA?
Not entirely. You see, once you begin receiving benefits, the SSA will conduct periodic reviews of your case, to determine if you remain eligible for benefits. The frequency with which these reviews take place will vary depending on the circumstances of your disability. If, for example, your condition was expected to improve in the short-term, your first review may happen between six and 18 months of your date of disability. If your condition might improve at some indeterminable time in the future, the SSA will conduct reviews somewhere in the vicinity of every three years. If no improvement is expected, your case may be reviewed about once every seven years.
In these reviews, the SSA may ask you how your condition continues to affect you, and if any changes have occurred that bear on your ability to function or work. They may ask for medical records, or your doctors’ names and phone numbers, or may ask you to submit to a free medical examination. If you have worked since you began receiving benefits, you will have to disclose what you did and how much you were paid. So, it is possible for the government to determine that you are no longer eligible for SSDI, and terminate your benefits.
Anyone who has questions about an upcoming review, or believe that they have had their benefits terminated incorrectly, may want to consider calling an experienced Ohio disability attorney.