Social Security?

My brother-in-law is waiting on disability. He cannot work due to being on oxygen (5 liters) 24 hrs a day. He has other problems too, but basically the oxygen dependence, due to COIPD & Emphysema is the reason he can no longer work. He also has OSA & has chosen not to treat that, and has some mental imbalance we (the family) have tried to get him diagnosed but he in uncooperative.

I am the family member who is left with getting him to the dr & dealing with payment for his oxygen, among other things. He's on Medicaid & food stamps now (finally) because the family was paying all his expenses before me getting him signed up for help. We could not sustain paying for his living expenses forever. The wait now in Indiana, I'm told is 3-5 yrs. He may well be dead before he is approved for benefits. Its a hard road to get disability & even harder for those with such obvious conditions. Anyone in need should apply immediately & know the wait will be long & think about how they will live until then.

Just wanted to point this out.
Jen

Catalytic wrote:He did receive back pay when he was finally approved, but of course a good chunk of it went to the attorney.(

Attorney fees for assistance in getting SS Disability are "capped" by SS
I don't have that maximum amount handy, but a call to any Social Security Disabilty attorney would find that out - or even a call to Social Security.
And, it is a reasonable amount.

Further, people who go through a SS Disability attorney are approved MUCH faster.
Yes, I know you should not have to pay someone anything to be able to get that disability coverage - but most claims made by individuals are either delayed or even denied altoghether because the "paperwork" was not done correctly.

StuUnderPressure wrote:I don't have that maximum amount handy, but a call to any Social Security Disabilty attorney would find that out - or even a call to Social Security.
And, it is a reasonable amount.

Last I heard it was 25% capped at $5000 but there are some places that will do it for a flat fee. I knew someone who only paid $2500 flat fee. Lump sum payment for the past 2 years was around $28,000 if I remember right. So the $2500 was a sizable savings. Ugly side to that lump sum payment...nightmare if spouse was working and it became taxable and having to pay a surprise $5000 at tax time. They hadn't noticed the fine print that "this payment may be taxable".

Pugsy wrote:

StuUnderPressure wrote:I don't have that maximum amount handy, but a call to any Social Security Disabilty attorney would find that out - or even a call to Social Security.
And, it is a reasonable amount.

Last I heard it was 25% capped at $5000

Seems like it is now 25% with max of $6,000
See http://www.ssdrc.com/disabilityquestions2-23.html

StuUnderPressure wrote: Seems like it is now 25% with max of $6,000

As with everything else...it has gone up. I think my friend's SS1 thing was in 2005 or 06...so not surprised that it has increase..probably the flat rate has gone up also.

And we are only talking about Social Security Disability claims here.

I know someone who needed only to be classified as "disabled" to be able to be covered by Medicare before she reached the age of 65.

Her attorney's fee was also capped.
She only paid appox $1,100, but once covered by Medicare, she was able to drop her private insurance which cost almost that amount per month.

$2500 is a good chunk of money, IMO, particularly when you have paid in for years and years for this 'benefit'. I don't know how much he paid the attorney, but I am sure this individual knows about any rules about how much can be charged, as he worked in the longterm care field for many years and dealt with SSI in his work. I believe he won his case exactly 2 years after he applied, and I want to say his back payment was around $30k. (Been a couple years, so not sure if that is accurate.)

StuUnderPressure wrote:And we are only talking about Social Security Disability claims here.

I know someone who needed only to be classified as "disabled" to be able to be covered by Medicare before she reached the age of 65.

Her attorney's fee was also capped.

Yes, that is what I was talking about. People who get Social Security Disability and once they get it they get their Social Security check that they would have received upon retirement at age 65 and yes..they also immediately get Medicare and no longer have a need for private health insurance. Medicare premiums are withheld from the monthly check they get.
Other forms of disability as in maybe a personal disability insurance situation is likely a different story.

Catalytic wrote:$2500 is a good chunk of money, IMO, particularly when you have paid in for years and years for this 'benefit'. I don't know how much he paid the attorney, but I am sure this individual knows about any rules about how much can be charged, as he worked in the longterm care field for many years and dealt with SSI in his work. I believe he won his case exactly 2 years after he applied, and I want to say his back payment was around $30k. (Been a couple years, so not sure if that is accurate.)

The attorney's fees are are paid by check to the attorney out of the proceeds of the lump sum settlement or it can be arranged for the attorney to be paid directly from the lump sum settlement. If the appeal fails...in most cases the attorney doesn't bill for his services in this situation. I think there was a letter from SSI explaining capped fees and what is allowed by an attorney to legitimately bill for.. No money was paid up front.

It's unfortunate but the fastest way to get through the Social Security Disability thing is with legal representation.
Even then it is not a speedy process. Normally they won't even listen until someone has been out of work for 2 full years and then they back date things to the time of application.
The $2500 was what my friend paid to the attorney's office for their services. It's better than the $5,000 that other attorneys could charge back then.

StuUnderPressure wrote:And we are only talking about Social Security Disability claims here...I know someone who needed only to be classified as "disabled" to be able to be covered by Medicare before she reached the age of 65...

Yes, and that classification has to be by SS standards. They can and will oppose even the documented and test-backed recommendations of multiple specialists. The judge who finally heard my case expressed disbelief that I had been denied and delayed when at every level along the way the SS reps deciding my case had the same info from day one.

When I applied I was nearly 53 years old. By the time it went before a judge I was past the magic age of 55, which the attorney said increases liklihood of approval as SS considers the length of time they will have to pay out when deciding how hard to fight the claim. He said those over 55 get a sort of "go to the front of the line" pass, but still no guarantees.

My attorney fees were 1/3 of the award with a cap - no monies up front or if denied. The problem as explained to me was that attorneys are not permitted to charge for SS disability cases outside the outcome award capped percentage plus certain allowable expenses also deducted from the award. Does anyone know if that is true? The catch 22 is there is no motivation for an attorney to take and win a case at its initial filing as the percentage they get from that very small retroactive award would make these charity cases. Same if they help you file an appeal. It's only in the long drawn out battles that end up before a judge that make it worth an attorney's effort. Even in my protracted case the attorney only got 3k. Big money to me but pittance compared to what they could make on other type cases.

There are some attorneys who do only SS Disability & they seem to do quite well with it.

In a city of 250,000 there used to be only 1 attorney who did that.
He added a partner in the last year because he was so busy.

In the last 3 months, 2 more Disability only firms have popped up.

That in itself tells you that they CAN & DO make money doing only Disability work.