A Glimpse of the Social Security Administration
If you apply for Social Security disability benefits, you will have to deal with the Social Security Administration, which decides whether or not you qualify as “disabled.”
The Social Security Administration is a huge agency. Just look at the numbers: it has over 57,000 employees, and there is a separate Social Security Administration Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) that has around 8,000 employees, including around 1,300 administrative law judges (ALJs) and 34 administrative appeals judges. There are also over 14,000 state agency employees around the nation who are involved in determining disability at the initial determination and the reconsideration levels (that is, before it goes to the administrative law judge hearing level).
Because of so many workers, it would be extremely difficult for you to figure out who to contact when you have a particular problem with your claim. It’s also hard to find out how to contact them. This is one reason why it’s best to hire an experienced Ocala disability lawyer, who will know who to contact for the appropriate inquiries and how to contact that person.
In addition to the size of the Social Security Administration, its programs are complex as well. There are actually two disability programs: Social Security disability and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Changes with the programs are also complicated because it’s logistically difficult for the Social Security Administration to make sure that everyone gets this information; often, many within the agency do not.
In order to simplify its operations, the Social Security Administration has attempted to establish routine guidelines for making complex decisions. This by-the-book approach tends to hurt, not help, the disability determinations below the ALJ hearing level because many times, issues revolving around medical conditions and the ability to work tend to be very complex. State agencies simply do not have the expertise or ability to handle these issues. In addition, many bureaucrats at the lower levels of the agency tend to rigidly follow the rules, even if applying the rules to a particular fact pattern doesn’t make any sense at all. Thus, at the lower level, the Social Security Administration’s disability determinations are often deficient.
If you are considering applying for Social Security disability benefits and are not already represented by an attorney, contact Ocala disability lawyer Claudeth Henry for a free initial consultation. Simply fill out the form on this website, and I will contact you soon.