Do I Qualify
You can determine if you qualify for Social Security disability benefits with help from the attorneys at Levine Benjamin Law Firm.
What Conditions Qualify You for Disability in Detroit & Michigan?
Any medical condition can qualify you for disability benefits as long as you meet Social Security’s highly particular standards for disability. You need to show that:
- Your health problems are severe.
- Your health prevents you from working your most recent job, or any job at all.
- Your medical issues and inability to work will last 12 months or longer.
It sounds simple, but these are tough criteria to meet. Filing a report that your health impairments restrict your work isn’t enough. You’ve got to prove it.
The Michigan disability lawyers at Levine Benjamin Law Firm are ready to help you make your case to Social Security.
Levine Benjamin has helped more than 100,000 people qualify for disability benefits when they needed a financial lifeline.
We’re the top disability law firm in Michigan when it comes to how much in benefits we win for our clients, according to Social Security reports on the leading disability firms.
We help people across the Midwest, including Michigan, Ohio and Indiana—and across the country.
Levine Benjamin disability lawyers know what Social Security looks for when you apply for disability.
We’re ready to help you meet the requirements for disability benefits and bring you back to stability and peace of mind.
You won’t pay an attorney fee until you win benefits.
From applying to appealing, we help you every step of the way.
What would you like to do?
Let Us Determine If You Qualify
Joe Houle:
With all the rules involved, maybe you’re wondering if you qualify for Social Security disability benefits.
Is your medical condition bad enough? Are you waiting to see if your health gets better before you apply? Do you think you could get back to work soon?
A lot of people think you have to wait a year after stopping work. But, you should apply immediately.
I’ve got good news for you. At Levine Benjamin, we’ll evaluate your case for free.
I’m Joe Houle.
Gary Bimberg:
And I’m Gary Bimberg.
The fact is, if you wait too long to apply, you can lose benefits.
If you’ve stopped working, let us determine if you have a disability case or not.
Just because you have health problems may not be enough. We’ll tell you if you meet Social Security’s definition of a disability.
We’ll even file your application for you, taking work off your shoulders.
You can always return to work later when your health improves. Don’t let that stop you from applying now.
Our firm has been helping people with this for 50 years.
We know how to make the most of your case.
Joe Houle:
Fill out the form, or call us at Levine Benjamin right away.
From applying to appealing, we help you every step of the way.
How to Qualify for Disability with Your Medical Conditions
The first step in applying for disability benefits is understanding how your health impairment fits into Social Security’s strict definition of “disability.”
Social Security has thousands of rules to decide who gets benefits. They’re always under pressure to weed out anybody who might be cheating.
It’s important to remember this: Social Security Disability is not a handout. When you worked and paid taxes, you paid for it, much the same as paying premiums to have insurance. You shouldn’t be denied something you’re rightly eligible to receive.
They list specific impairments in their “Blue Book” of recognized conditions. But that list doesn’t cover everything. Really, any physical or mental health condition severe enough to prevent you from working qualifies, whether or not it’s on the list.
This includes all these common conditions:
- Amputation
- Anxiety
- Asthma
- Autism
- Back Pain
- Bipolar Disorder
- Blindness
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Cerebral Palsy
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Chronic Pain
- Congestive Heart Failure
- COPD
- Coronary Artery Disease
- COVID-19
- Crohn’s Disease
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Deafness
- Depression
- Diabetes
- Edema
- Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
- Epilepsy
- Fibromyalgia
- Glioblastoma SSDI Benefits
- Gout
- Headaches
- Hepatitis C & Liver Disease
- HIV/AIDS
- Interstitial Cystitis
- Ischemic Heart Disease
- Lung Impairments
- Lupus
- Lupus & Fibromyalgia
- Lyme Disease
- Mental Illness
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Muscular Dystrophy
- Musculoskeletal Diseases
- Neck Pain
- Obesity
- OCD
- Osteoarthritis
- Personality Disorder
- Psychosis
- PTSD
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Schizophrenia
- Seizures
- Somatic Symptom Disorder
- Strokes
When an illness is on Social Security’s official listing of impairments, you can follow rules they lay out for medical evidence you need to provide.
When it’s not, you need a medical assessment of what Social Security calls your “residual functional capacity,” or RFC. This is a measure of the physical and mental tasks you can perform—sitting, standing, walking, lifting, concentrating and more.
Another tip: Don’t wait to apply for benefits, even if you think you can hold out and go back to work. As soon as you know you can’t work right now and aren’t sure how long it will be—apply.
It takes a long time for Social Security to approve you. If you wait too long, you could miss out on some benefits. Or Social Security could get suspicious that you don’t really need help, otherwise you would’ve applied sooner.
You can always start by having the skilled Detroit disability attorneys at Levine Benjamin review your case for free.
What Questions Does Social Security Ask When You’re Trying to Qualify for Disability?
When an examiner from the Social Security Administration (SSA) checks your eligibility for disability benefits, they ask five basic questions:
Question #1: Are you working?
You can only work a limited amount when applying for disability benefits. If you work too much, a claims examiner might think you can work more and support yourself, so you don’t need benefits.
Social Security uses a metric called “substantial gainful activity (SGA)” to make this judgment. It’s a monthly amount you can earn from working and still be eligible for disability benefits. The specific limit changes over time.
But any work—if Social Security sees it and doesn’t think you’re strictly limited in how much work you could do—risks you getting denied for disability benefits.
Question #2: Is your medical condition severe?
Your medical condition must be serious enough to significantly limit your everyday activities and the kinds of capabilities you need to function in a job. But that’s not the only requirement.
Your application for disability benefits also needs to show that your condition will last a long time—12 months or more, whether it’s already been that long or clearly will be according to your doctors’ medical opinions.
You can’t receive benefits if your health issue is something you can treat and recover from in a few months.
Question #3: Is your medical condition in Social Security’s official Listing of Impairments?
Social Security used to publish a document called the “blue book” describing individual impairments it recognizes as possibly qualifying for disability benefits. Now you find that information on Social Security’s website, called the “Listing of Impairments.”
Not only does the list name ailments that can qualify for disability, but it also describes the kinds of symptoms and evidence you can present for each one in order to be approved.
But you don’t need to have a blue book condition to qualify for benefits. In fact, people’s situations often don’t exactly match what the blue book says.
If your medical case doesn’t match, you can still win benefits by documenting how your symptoms hinder your functioning.
Question #4: Can you do any of your past work?
If your health prevents you from working a substantial amount at your current or most recent job, Social Security will next want to see if you can do any of your previous jobs.
A claims examiner will want to know about any “past relevant work” and see if you can do those jobs despite the health issues you suffer from. Social Security will consider your training, work background and age in addition to your health.
Question #5: Can you perform any work at all?
You could still be denied disability benefits even if your health prevents you from doing any jobs you have experience in.
Social Security looks for any way you could still work before they award benefits. If there’s any kind of job you can do—perhaps something less demanding than your past jobs—the government would rather have you working than collecting monthly benefits checks.
These benefits are supposed to be for people who won’t be able to work at all for a long time, so it’s not easy to get approved.
You should have help from someone who knows this system well—the Levine Benjamin Michigan disability lawyers.
What Types of Social Security Disability Benefits Can You Qualify For?
Social Security runs two different disability benefits programs. Both are for people who can’t work because of bad health. They differ in their work background and personal financial requirements.
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is for people who have worked and paid into this system.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a need-based program.
Here is a breakdown of some of the key qualifications for SSDI and SSI:
| Requirement | SSDI | SSI |
|---|---|---|
| Unable to continue in past work | YES | YES |
| Unable to work any job at all | YES | YES |
| Severe medical condition expected to last 12 months or longer | YES | YES |
| Worked enough in the past to have qualifying “work credits” | YES | NO |
| Limited financial resources like savings, investments, real estate | NO | YES |
If you have any questions about which disability benefits you may qualify for, the Levine Benjamin team can discuss your situation with you.
What Is Your Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) and How Does It Affect Your Claim?
Because Social Security wants to know if there’s a way for you to work and support yourself without disability benefits, it looks into fine details of your everyday functioning.
It uses the measurement called residual functional capacity (RFC) to determine what you can still do despite your health issues.
This is especially important if you’re seeking disability benefits for a combination of medical ailments or for health issues not listed in Social Security’s blue book impairment listing.
Even if a claims examiner doesn’t have a specific way of evaluating your SSDI or SSI claim, they can still determine your RFC and eligibility for benefits.
Your RFC assessment measures items like:
- How long can you sit, stand or walk?
- Can you lift and carry heavy objects?
- Do you have fine motor skills, like the ability to grasp small objects?
- Can you concentrate and stay on task at work?
- Can you retain and apply information?
- Are you able to interact with others, like coworkers and members of the public?
Then Social Security divides work into five different categories—sedentary, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy—based on how physically and mentally taxing jobs are.
A claims examiner might acknowledge that you can’t do a highly physical job due to your limitations, but they can still give you a light or sedentary RFC rating. That makes it difficult to win benefits.
Our Social Security Disability lawyers in Michigan can help you make it clear that your current job isn’t the issue—and you can’t do any job, even sedentary work, due to your health.
How Can a Levine Benjamin Lawyer in Michigan Help Me Qualify?
Some law firms will tell you to apply for disability benefits on your own and come back if you get denied, but our disability attorneys do things differently.
We’re a team of disability attorneys in Michigan who help you from the beginning of the process, and that means helping you figure out if you qualify for benefits and building your application.
Your lawyer can:
- Take the time to listen to your story and devote personal attention to your claim
- Determine whether you can qualify for SSDI, SSI or both
- Help you gather and organize medical evidence
- Help you talk about your physical and mental limitations on your application
- Show how your limitations make it impossible to work a substantial amount
- Help you reach out to friends, family members, and coworkers who have witnessed your health struggles and can give statements
- Help you verify your work history and financial records
Qualifying for disability benefits is always an uphill battle, but you don’t have to go through this long, difficult process on your own.
Talk to the experienced disability lawyers of the Levine Benjamin Law Firm as soon as you think that you may qualify for SSDI or SSI benefits.
We’ve helped many people in your situation in Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Toledo, Elkhart, and across the states of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.
When bad health has disrupted your life, let us help you reach better times.
How to Qualify for Disability FAQs
What are the requirements to get Social Security Disability?
Social Security has a few basic rules to get disability benefits: You must have a severe health condition. You must be unable to work because of your health condition. And it must be clear you will miss work for at least a year. To win disability benefits, you need to document all three points thoroughly. Your own report of illness and inability to work, and even a letter from a doctor, isn’t enough.
Does my medical condition qualify for disability benefits?
This is one of the first questions most people have. Whether you qualify for disability benefits has more to do with the severity of your condition than what exactly your condition is. Your individual symptoms qualify you for disability benefits if they prevent you from working. To prove your medical condition qualifies, you can follow the guidelines in Social Security’s listing of impairments for the types of medical evidence and information you should provide for your diagnosis. But your ailment doesn’t have to be on the list for you to qualify, as long as you can show you can’t work.
Does my age affect my Social Security Disability Eligibility?
If you’re over 50, that can increase your chances of winning Social Security Disability benefits. This is because of how Social Security looks at your ability to work. To receive benefits, you must be unable to continue in your most recent jobs. But you also must be unable to shift to different kinds of jobs that may be less physically or mentally demanding. Social Security thinks a worker younger than 50 may be better able to adapt to new kinds of work, while a person over 50 is less likely to make that transition. So, people over 50 are more likely to be found qualified for Social Security Disability.
Do I qualify for SSDI or SSI?
You become eligible for one of the disability programs run by the federal government, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), through years of working and paying Social Security taxes. For the other program, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), you don’t need a work record but must show limited financial resources. For deciding if your health condition itself qualifies for benefits, both programs have the same rules. It’s the work background and financial requirements that are different.
Can I keep working and still qualify for Social Security Disability?
Not much. While it is possible to work a small amount and still get disability benefits, if you earn over a limit set by Social Security, they will deny your benefits. The limit is called “substantial gainful activity” or SGA. Each year Social Security sets a number that you can earn each month and still qualify for benefits. If you earn more than that number, they will say you’re able to do substantial gainful activity and don’t need help from disability benefits. Even under the SGA amount, however, you need to be careful. If your job activity suggests you might be capable of working more, Social Security may reject your disability claim.
How does Social Security decide if I can’t work?
It may seem clear to you when you can’t work. But Social Security has a formal way of deciding if it believes you can’t work because of health issues—and therefore you should get disability benefits. With help from your doctor, Social Security seeks an assessment of what it calls your “residual functional capacity,” or RFC. Your RFC is a measure of what you’re capable of doing despite your health limitations. Your RFC looks at basic daily tasks, like standing or walking for long periods, sitting for long periods, reaching and grasping things, lifting and carrying things, following instructions, understanding information, staying focused on the job, responding well to supervisors, and working well with others. Your disability lawyer helps make sure you get information on your RFC that truly reflects what you’re going through and what Social Security is looking for. We coordinate with you and your doctors through this process.
Can I qualify for health care coverage if I’m on Social Security Disability?
Yes, with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) you receive early approval to join Medicare. It’s one of the most important benefits you can get. Normally you have to wait until retirement age to have your health care covered by Medicare, but not if you qualify for SSDI. There is a waiting period to start Medicare after you’re approved for disability benefits, but it may not be too much longer by the time you win SSDI. At Levine Benjamin, we have advisers who can help you choose Medicare Advantage plans. If you receive SSI, meanwhile, you can get health care through Medicaid instead right away, no additional waiting period.
Can I receive Social Security Disability and long-term disability insurance benefits at the same time?
Yes, you can qualify for both Social Security Disability from the government and long-term disability from an insurance policy you have through work or on your own. Your Social Security Disability benefits shouldn’t be affected by the money you get from long-term disability. Your long-term disability insurance company, however, may reduce their payments to you by an amount equal to what you get from Social Security Disability. In addition to dealing with the Social Security system, the Levine Benjamin disability lawyers can help you pursue the maximum possible long-term disability payments.