Receiving disability insurance made easier with help of attorney

TAHLEQUAH – The road to receiving Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance, is fraught with frustration and paperwork, often ending in denial, with some giving up.

For Rusty Ann Miller, age 50, her journey began at 18, when her parents put her under their Social Security as a disabled adult.

"That was easy, but in 2005 I decided I was going to get off of it and go to work," Miller said. "When I tried to get back on it again in 2014, it was a nightmare."

She said she suspects the common practice is stamp, deny and close a case if the person is under the age of 50 – an automatic stamp of denial.

When she began her journey to get back on SSDI in 2014, she went to federal court, and the judge said there was one job she could do.

"The state representative in the courtroom said I could put eyeglasses together," Miller said. "I can't even use the left side of my body for that kind of coordination."

Every state has different requirements, and Miller said folks she knows have researched the states that are the easiest and move there until they have it established, then move back to their home state.

On the Social Security Administration website, the steps and requirements to qualify are laid out.

"If you have worked enough to be eligible for disability benefits, we use a step-by-step process involving five questions to determine if you have a qualifying disability," states the site.

Those questions are: Are you working; is your condition severe; is your condition found on the list of disabling conditions; can you do the work you did previously; and can you do any other type of work?

A listing of impairments that qualify for SSI or SSDI are listed on the website. Two initiatives are designed to expedite processing of new disability claims if certain diagnoses are made. The first one is "Compassionate Allowances," which includes a diagnosis like acute leukemia, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and pancreatic cancer. The second one is "Quick Disability Determinations," using computer screening to identify cases with a high probability of allowance, states the website.

Jane Lawrence said her son-in-law was qualified in just a few weeks with the help of his attorney.

"My friend kept getting denied until she got an attorney, then she got it in one month," Lawrence said. "The rate the attorney can charge is fixed, so if you really want disability, get an attorney."

Margaret Cook, an attorney at M. Cook Law, works with clients who are applying for disability insurance.

"An individual cannot receive an income without meeting the SSA's criteria for full disability, but recipients of disability are currently – in 2025 – allowed to work approximately 10 hours a week," Cook said.

Qualifying depends on what the illness/injury/disability is, when the onset was, and how long the issue is expected to last, and it must be expected to last at least one year, Cook said.

"An individual must also have enough work credits established through their work history to qualify for disability income," Cook said. "The number of required work credits differs with the age of the applicant, but typically an adult would need 40 work credits with at least half of them earned in the 10 years prior to the onset of the alleged illness/injury/disability."

An individual needs to have a condition listed on the SSA website and meet all the necessary criteria for that condition, and have the required number of work credits to be approved, Cook said.

This applies as long as their earned income does not exceed $1,620 a month – non-blind recipients, or $2,700 a month for blind recipients, Cook said.

"It is important to note that this applies to a recipient of disability," Cook said. "Individuals applying for disability will have a more difficult time being approved for Social Security if they are earning an income."

A working individual receiving Social Security retirement benefits can apply for disability if they become unable to work; however, individuals can only receive one check from SSA, Cook said.

"If the individual qualifies for more than one benefit, the SSA will compare the amounts of each benefit and award the greater of the two to the individual," Cook said.

The minimum amount of time in which an individual can be approved for SSDI is six months; however, it typically takes longer than six months, Cook said.

"If an individual is denied, they have two additional opportunities to resubmit the denial to be reconsidered if they meet the deadline requirements for submission," Cook said.

Once an individual has gone through the full cycle of reconsideration options, if they are denied they would have to start a new application with a new filing date. Currently, there is not a limit to the number of times an individual can file an initial application for disability, Cook said.

Back pay to an individual who has been denied and finally approved, is paid out, but stipulations apply.

"Backpay is awarded back to the initial date of filing for an application, which has gone through all the rounds of reconsideration," Cook said. "If an individual has initiated more than one claim, the backpay will only go back to the date of filing for the most recent submission."

The amount of monthly payments depends on a formula for all forms of disability – Social Security Retirement, financial assistance and disability all rely on separate formulas.

"Disability payments are determined by the work/pay history of the individual applicant," Cook said.

Learn more

Cook's website and information is at www.mcooklaw.org, and the information from the SSA on disability claims can be found at www.ssa.gov/benefits/disability/qualify.html.

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