Your disability means you can no longer work. Unable to make ends meet, you decide that you’re going to apply for SSDI benefits. You believe that it’s a fairly clear case, but, when talking to a friend about your decision, your friend mentions that most applications get denied.
This makes you stop and think. Is it true that most people really get denied? And, if it is, does that mean it’s not really worth your time?
The denial rate
The rate of denials is slightly different every year, of course, and all cases are unique. That said, some reports have indicated that up to 70% of applications get denied. If this is true, it is clear that your friend has a point: Most cases do get denied when the applications come in.
You still have options
Even so, this is absolutely not the end of the road. You do have options, and you need to know how to use them. To begin, consider why you got denied. The two top reasons are:
- Technical denials
- Medical denials
For example, you may have made a mistake when you were filling out the extensive paperwork. Perhaps you did not fill in a certain box or you forgot to sign one of the pages. Everything else is in order and you do qualify for benefits, but they cannot be granted until the mistake gets fixed. You just need to know what steps to take to get it to go through.
Or, perhaps your medical condition is a disability and does mean you can’t work. You even have the paperwork from your doctor to back that up. The problem could just be that you didn’t submit all of that paperwork properly. If you update or add to the files, your application may quickly go through.
Getting it fixed
Denials are very common. Do not be disheartened if this happens to you. Just take the time to look into your legal options so you know what steps to take to get everything fixed in a timely manner.
