Winning at the Reconsideration Step.
The Reconsideration decision is made by the state Disability Determination Service ("DDS"):
- Massachusetts: 22 Front Street, P.O. Box 8009, Worcester, MA 01614
- Connecticut: 309 Warwarme Avenue, Hartford, CT 06114
If you have been denied benefits at the initial application step, don't be discouraged. you are not alone. The National Association of Disability Examiners says that DDS agencies nationwide process over 2.5 million cases every year! If your application has gotten lost in that shuffle, and you are denied at the Initial Decision step we can help you. About half of the people who apply for disability benefits in Massachusetts are denied at the Initial Level. The percentage is even worse in Connecticut.
Claims Allowed |
Claims Denied |
|
| Massachusetts | 45.7% |
54.3% |
| Connecticut | 37.6% |
62.4% |
| Nationwide | 35.7% |
64.3% |
The best way to get prompt payment of your claim is to prepare and submit all the relevant evidence needed to approve your claim. Social Security must inform you of your right to appeal for Reconsideration, and your right to representation. You can not appeal a claim denial by calling Social Security on the telephone. You must file a written request.
If you choose us to help you, we can prepare all the forms that will explain your case to Social Security, and make sure that all the evidence gets to the Reconsideration worker who will make the disability decision. We can get the process moving for you, and help the people at Social Security to understand the severity of your disability, Call us today at (413) 567-5600.
To make a disability decision at Reconsideration, or any other step in the review process, Social Security must "consider all of the available evidence in the individual's case record." Social Security regulations explain [PDF] that the evidence includes:
- objective medical evidence;
- other evidence from medical sources, including their opinions;
- statements by the individual and others about the impairment(s) and how it affects the individual's functioning;
- information from other "non-medical sources"
- decisions by other governmental and nongovernmental agencies about whether an individual is disabled or blind.
To explain the severity of your impairment(s), and how it affects your ability to function, we can show Social Security evidence from "other sources,'' as defined in 20 CFR 404.1513(d) and 416.913(d), including:
- Medical sources who are not "acceptable medical sources,'' such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, licensed clinical social workers, naturopaths, chiropractors, audiologists, and therapists;
- "Non-medical Sources'' including educational personnel, such as school teachers, counselors, early intervention team members, developmental center workers, and daycare center workers
- public and private social welfare agency personnel,
- rehabilitation counselors; and
- spouses, parents and other caregivers, siblings, other relatives, friends, neighbors, clergy, and employers.
Information from these "other sources'' cannot establish the existence of a medically determinable impairment, because there must be evidence from an "acceptable medical source'' to prove your impairment. But, under these newly updated regulations, information from "other sources'' may be based on special knowledge of your life, and may provide insight into the severity of your impairment(s) and how it affects the your ability to function. By putting all of this evidence together, we can win benefits for you.
Call us at (413) 567-5600 for help with your case. If you are notified that Social Security denied your claim at the Reconsideration step, you have 60 days to appeal to an Administrative Law Judge.