rogerd,

There are some conditions which 'automatically' imply total disability that will be lifelong, like ALS.

With many conditions though there is hope for some improvement with the correct treatments, so normally, the doctor must see a disabled patient and predict that the patient won't be any more able to work for a year, before they start thinking of total disability and SSDI.

I think the way that works out is that many of us end up in a similar situation as (I think you have with) your wife.....not applying the second we were eligible because we held out some hope we might improve.

If the situation was that you knew the prognosis for total disability from the start, but didn't know enough to apply.....that's unfortunate, but I don't believe that the SSA has any policy to deal with that.