Quote:
Originally Posted by Janke
This may have been your situation, Christian, but no one should consider it an expected outcome since everyone's situation is different. If a person has a degenerative condition, they get worse every day and those changes could lead to an allowance. Also, age is a factor in the 5 step sequential evaluation and as a person gets older, there is a slightly different set of criteria used. So, the passage of time also means someone is getting older and may meet the requirements for an older person.
The one thing that is a certainty is that by not filing a subsequent claim, you have a 100% guarantee of not being approved. But you are also right that a person who has not worked for over 5 years will probably run out of insured status, even if they are found disabled 5 years later.
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Yes the grid rules, well again I say to the unfortunates pursuing a claim, LOOK AT THE SSA ALJ DISPOSITIONS lists for the nation, research your ALJ's district court record and you'll discover plenty of 50-55 year olds being denied, many DYING during the appeals process.
In my case the ALJ just simply consulted the other ALJ's scathing denunciation of me from three years previous, which was the result of extremely poor legal representation by my then attorney.
The natiional average for approval at the hearing level is just 60.8%, keep in mind that there are a dozen regions where the ALJ's approve virtually everyone who comes before them(think Flint MI), we're talking approval rates in the 90's, this skews the data significantly.
Yes, that means the actual average approval rate is well under 60%, a much more sobering prognosis for most claims working their way through the process.
The other thing is the value of an RFC from your treating physician, it's supposed to carry substantial weight at the ALJ hearing, yet they are routinely discarded by the ALJ's in favor of the one issued by the SSA doctor who has never even lain eyes upon the clamant.
Don't believe me? Fine, but you can easily research your ALJ's district court cases from your computer, it's shocking how often they are scolded by real judges for disregarding the treating physician opinions and evaluations entirely.
In my "now tainted" opinion, your odds for a fair hearing in front of an SSA ALJ are low, they are looking for any inconsistentcies in the medical records, no matter how trivial, then deciding on whether or not they will be overturned on appeal if they use them to deny your claim, which they will do if they feel that they can get away with it.
The single, most valuable advice I can offer any other claimant, above all other things in importance, know your medical records from beginning to end, I'm dead serious. You'll have three years to MEMORIZE them and you should do just that, MEMORIZE them!
All to frequently the vast majority of us only get to them the week of the hearing, or often moments before the hearing, just as your ATTORNEY does!
At my first hearing before an ALJ my parasite first looked at my file 20-minutes before it began, three years later, I'm still paying the price for her indifference.