Persons with disabilities contributed to in a material way by drug addiction and/or alcoholism (DA&A) lost Title 11 and SSI payments and Medicare and Medicaid eligibility under the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996. The standard for determining whether DA&A “materially contributes” to a disability has been around since 1994. Under the standard, DA&A … Read more
As the treating physician, your opinion is vital to the outcome of your patient’s Social Security disability claim. In fact, it may control the outcome of the claim. Under a recent policy ruling, if a treating physician’s medical opinion is well-supported and not inconsistent with other substantial evidence in the record, it is given “controlling … Read more
Doctors with patients who have been inured or have Social Security disability claims are usually asked to provide evidence. But what do the Social Security people mean by “disability”? And what kind of evidence do they need from doctors? There is no universal definition of “disability.” It depends on who is defining it – Veterans … Read more
Lawyers handling personal-injury, Workers’ Compensation and the Social Security disability cases almost always work on a contingency basis. This means that they must succeed in winning the client’s case or proving the client is entitled to benefits in order to receive a fee for their services. In other words, they may devote many hours to … Read more