From time to time, people make mistakes. Everyone is human, after all, which means errors are bound to happen on occasion. The important thing is for those mistakes to be corrected, particularly when the mistakes have a serious impact on the lives of other Georgia residents.
Mistakes can be made in the legal system, just as with any other area of life where human error is possible. These mistakes can have serious consequences, such as when a person’s SSD benefits are incorrectly denied by the Social Security Administration.
As discussed last week in this blog, when an individual is receiving disability benefits, the agency may cut off those benefits if it determines the individual is no longer disabled. This could be because of an improvement in the individual’s medical condition, if the person is not following the treatment recommended by a doctor or if the agency believes the person is not cooperating in assessing those issues. Moreover, if the person is engaging in substantial gainful work, this may present a bar to the continuation of SSD benefits.
While the agency is permitted to cut off a person’s benefits under federal regulations in the circumstances discussed above, this does not mean that every decision to terminate benefits is correct. Mistakes can be made in assessing a person’s continued eligibility for benefits, such as where an incorrect view of the facts or law is applied by the person making the determination.
Fortunately, individuals have some recourse available when mistakes have been made in their benefits determination. Individuals have the right to appeal an adverse decision that cuts off their benefits, which means the agency will look at the case again to determine whether the initial decision was incorrect. There are requirements and deadlines that must be followed in order to properly appeal, however, so individuals should ensure they follow these requirements in order to correct the mistakes that cut off their benefits.
Source: Social Security Administration, “How we decide if you are still disabled,” accessed on Oct. 24, 2015
