Video Transcription:

“Hi my name is Andrew Kinney.  I work at Hoglund Law offices.  I’m an attorney there and I practice Social Security Disability law.  Today I wanted to talk about medical expert testimony at social security hearings.

Social Security has an application process.  From application to reconsideration, and ultimately you need to get denied at those two stages to get to a social security hearing with a federal social security administrative law judge.  When you get to that level the government can opt to have a medical expert testify, get paid by the government, and appear at the hearing.  The testimony may or may not be favorable to you but they are entitled to be in the hearing room while you’re giving testimony and then you can hear what they’re testifying about

Now the question is this: If you’re unsure about hiring an attorney at the lower stages that could be understandable, but at least consider thinking about hiring a social security attorney.  Consider that a hearing itself has a federal judge who is an attorney and it generally always has a vocational expert in the hearing. But you may also find that there’s a medical expert at the hearing.  They would never have met you in person, they would only have viewed your medical records and they will give an opinion on you’re being disabled or not based on just the medical records and at times some of your testimony.

So consider this.  There is medical expert testimony at hearings.  If you have a chance you would want to cross examine that doctor if you disagree with that doctor.  Some people can go to hearings on their own.  That cross examination will be up to you.  I would argue that, at least consider that it would be better to have someone trained that does cross examination of experts on almost every business day.

At Hoglund Law offices were well equipped to help you with not only developing your case and getting approvals perhaps before a hearing, but if you do go to a hearing we sit right with you and we listen to the medical expert testimony when that happens and we cross examine those medical experts about the objective evidence in your medical file.  So, if you want some “piece of mind” just know that if you hire an attorney, perhaps our office or some other office, we will make sure you have an “insurance policy” against a testimony that just doesn’t make sense.

So it important for you to know if you have questions about social security benefits, what hearings are all about we’ve spent some time on our website about hearings in particular.  Feel free to check out our disability library and blogs.  Feel free to check out www.HoglundLaw.com.  You can also call our office at 1-800-850-7867.  Hopefully this video helps and please feel free to make use of all the other materials available to help you.  Thank you.”

Video Transcription:

“Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney.  I’m an attorney practicing law at Hoglund Law offices.  I also practice Social Security Disability Law.  Today I wanted to talk about developing medical evidence for your social security claim.

One of the most common questions people think about when applying for social security is “How can I get approved?”.  Well, the most important thing we tell our clients is you need to regularly treat with your doctors and specialists if necessary.  Why?  Because social security is primarily looking at the medical evidence form you’re treating doctors to make a decision on whether you’re unable to work full-time and it will be expected to last a year.  So, if you think about it, you can write all the forms you want about your particular problems and that is necessary for social security applications and for the later forms that you’ll get, but what’s more important is that you have a relationship with your doctor where your doctor knows what’s wrong and has diagnosed you properly.

So, developing medical evidence in a file is crucial. So, when social security needs to know where records are at the first 3 stages the application, and reconsideration stage, it’s important that you lay out everywhere you’ve had treatment that’s relevant.  Now, as you approach hearing, the third stage of a social security claim, that’s very important that there’s an update from the hearing request all the way through to the hearing day.  That is what your attorney can help a lot with.  Now it’s always important to get all the evidence from your treating doctor that’s given.  What else can you get aside form specific medical evidence from treating doctors that will help you?  Well, that’s where creative evidence comes into play.

There are times when an attorney can get evidence that isn’t from your treating doctor for treatment but is related to your medical condition.  For example, if there’s a VA claim where you’re getting VA benefits, there’s a decision that supports that.  We can get those.  There are other times that you might have a child support hearing where you’re proving you can’t work and your doctor may have signed off on some statement for that.  We can get those.  A lot of people have workers comp claims.  We get that information from those.  Some people have personal injury claims and on and on.  There are records that exist beyond your normal medical records and even records that exist that aren’t even medical records that are important to help your case before and after your hearing.

So an example would be if you keep a journal of seizures. Other people could also write down how often you have seizures if you lose consciousness.   That’s a classic example of a journal that can help your doctor certainly, but it can also be used, and we would submit evidence of that, because otherwise you can necessarily testify about that at a hearing because you may be unaware of the situations.

The idea is, is that there are no holds barred to what you can’t offer in evidence.  What it comes down to is good legal judgment as to what would help the judge make a decision, what would help the judge make a decision and what would essentially be non-essential or irrelevant.  There are also situations after hearings where you can get further evidence.  Until the hearing decision comes in there are times when we might need to fill a gap or a hole that appears based on what happens at the hearing.  In those situations you can get a medical opinion specific to that problem.  We can also get evidence after a hearing if there is new evidence that just comes in or if you forgot about evidence and remembered it.  If there’s ever a time that you forgot about evidence, maybe a visit to a neurologist, a one-time visit. It’s always important to let your attorney know before a hearing, during a hearing, or even after a hearing because what we try to do is get the evidence in at some point in time ideally before the hearing, but in some point in time to allow the judge to consider that in your case.

If you have more questions about how to develop medical evidence and how important legal judgment is in that.  You can also refer to a recent blog on www.HoglundLaw.com that I wrote on that subject.  You can also call our number if you have questions about social security generally at 1-800-850-7867.  Thank you.”

Video Transcription:

“Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney. I’m an attorney at Hoglund Law offices. I practice Social Security Disability Law. Today I wanted to talk about auxiliary benefits. Auxiliary Benefits means, benefits that your dependents get if you’re on disability insurance.
Many of our clients work hard for a long time and then their unable to work. If we can prove that they are unable to work, they get back pay and ongoing benefits through the disability insurance program. An individual getting disability insurance gets a set amount based on the work history and the cost of living adjustments annually.
Now there’s another kind of benefit if an individual like that, one of our clients, has one or more dependent children, and that would be children living in their household, and under 18 is a general rule. If they have one or more children in that status they can get an extra amount sent to them on behalf of the children each month, and also for the timeframe of back pay. Those are the auxiliary benefits. Auxiliary benefits are a formula based on the amount an individual gets for disability insurance and there are no auxiliary benefits supplemental security income. SSI or supplemental security income is purely a need based program. So if you’re getting disability insurance and you have one or more children under 18 at home, you can plan to get more per month. Social Security can lay out how much to expect and your attorney will know at the hearing level, generally, what you might get in addition to your primary insurance amount, what you get per month.
Now, Social Security evaluates disability insurance based on your own benefits. They’ll go through not only the favored decision but they’ll also have what’s called an award letter. That will follow that up and explain what your benefits will be. If you have dependent children, you will get eventually a call from Social Security after they have figured out your insurance amount and at that point they’ll process the fact that you have one or more children at home, and verify where they live. If someone is approved for disability insurance benefits they get their decision that’s favorable, they get their award letter that describes their back pay, at that point, within a short period of time social security should contact them because they might have more children with them. They’ll verify the children are with them and not with perhaps an ex-spouse, and if the children are with them let’s say it’s$100 a month that’s added to the base amount that you get. There will be a $25 check for each of the children. The children essentially share a flat auxiliary benefit amount, and that can be complicated. If one of these four children were living with the mother for example there would be $75 for the three children at your household but there would be one $25 check sent to the other household where the other child is with the mother.

So, you can see that Social Security has some following up to do once you’re approved for benefits. Don’t assume that Social Security knows that you have children. When you apply you state the children that you have, their social security numbers and where they’re living but occasionally we see that that’s missed. Take it upon yourself with a favorable decision, once you get your award letter, to call social security or go to a local office and mention that you would like to begin the auxiliary benefits process.

If you have more questions about the auxiliary benefits process, or about social security disability benefits in general, please feel free to call us anytime at 1-800-850-7867. You can also go to our website at www.HoglundLaw.com We try to make sure that we have as much information as possible to help you.”

Video Transcription:
“Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney, I’m an attorney practicing law at Hoglund Law offices, and I practice Social Security Disability law in particular. Today I wanted to talk about benefits for disabled adult children.
What that means is that these benefits are based on a parents work history. That means that the parents are either deceased or retired and the child has been proven disabled under social security law before age 22. Examples of this are; if somebody had a traumatic brain injury at age 21 and from that point forward were unable to work and were disabled. The medical question was a given and the timing of the accident was before age 22, in that example, if a parent was disabled then the child could also get disability benefits based on the retired parents earnings record.

So disabled adult children cases are important because the standards are different. When you look at a disabled adult child, were looking at whether currently disabled, but were also looking at when the disability began. So that’s crucial in a disabled adult child case.

If you have more questions about disabled adult child cases or your own disability insurance benefits case or social security security disability in general, please feel free to call out offices at 1-800-850-7867. We also have done our best to make our website as helpful as possible and that’s www.HoglundLaw.com“

Video Transcription:

“Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney. I’m an attorney at Hoglund Law. I practice in the area of Social Security Disability law. Today I wanted to talk about Social Security benefits and long term disability.

Long term disability is private disability insurance usually paid by an employer. But, occasionally someone can get long term disability policy in the open market. It’s no different than health insurance, some people get it from the employer and then some also pay for health insurance on their own. So, long term disability is not associated with government. There are private insurance companies offering this. Long term disability coverage is good and if you have it, in my book, you are very lucky. The reason is this: If you have long term disability coverage and you get injured at work and you are unable to work, maybe something happened at work or something happened at home, you would be able to get some benefits to replace income when otherwise you would not have been working. How is it important to you?

If you’re in a position where you’re working and you have long term disability insurance offered through work, the first thing to find out if you have it. If you do have long term disability insurance when can you can apply for it. There may be times where there is short term disability and short term generally is 0-6 months after you’re disabled. Not all companies have both short term and long term disability. So it’s good to know what your benefits are as an employee.

If you are making the long term disability insurance claim through your employer or perhaps directly to the insurance company what’s very important is that there’s almost always Social Security offset clause in your long term disability contract. What I mean is the long term disability contract anticipated you apply for Social Security benefits and if approved, you will actually have to pay the long term disability carrier back for those months that you get paid both when social security looks back.

I’ll give you an example that would be helpful. I had a client yesterday that was getting long term disability insurance ad she had to go to a hearing and we eventually proved she was unable to work and she would get 2 years of back pay and those 2 years of back pay would actually go to the long term disability insurance carrier by their contract. And so in a way the long term disability carrier advanced the money on to what eventually became a social security claim.

So not to get to technical here, what is important for you to know? If you have a long term disability claim you will generally be contacted by that disability insurance company to get representation to apply for Social Security. In fact it’s generally mandatory that you do that to be able to get long term disability benefits.

Who can help you? Well, you can make your own choice as to who represents you in at least the last ten years I’ve seen a change in the long term disability industry. They used to allow attorneys to help clients get on Social Security Benefits, attorneys like myself. So over time there have been non-attorney processing firms that I’ve seen that have taken over and have gotten group contracts with long term disability carriers. So if you want an attorney to help you, you have a right to hire anyone you please if you have a long term disability claim and any money, a quarter of back pay, something that would go to the attorney, is not something that would go to the long term disability insurance carrier.

So hopefully if you have this situation this video helped but if you have more questions about long term disability and how it impacts social security disability claim you can call 1-800-850-7867 or you can feel free to get information on our website that’s right below. www.HoglundLaw.com “

Video Transcription:

“Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney. I’m an attorney at Hoglund Law offices, and I practice Social Security Disability Law. Today I wanted to talk about DLI, or date last insured.

Sometimes, the clients that we help have good questions about what the date last insured is. It is extremely important to Social Security Disability cases. So first I’ll start with what is DLI or date last insured. When people work at a job for a number of years, they’re not only getting their paycheck, but they are also paying into social security disability insurance system; the federal disability insurance program. When someone stops working, they stop paying in to the system. So eventually when someone stops paying their premiums they aren’t insured anymore. That is the date when they’re last insured for disability insurance benefits.

So if we are to look at this as an analogy, if someone is paying car payments and they pay every month and they stop making car payments eventually they are not insured if they get in a car accident. Same idea here; If you work and stop working roughly after 5 years after you stop regular work (It can vary) when you stop working, you eventually are not covered and you have to prove you are unable to work on or before that date last insured.

So that’s what date last insured is. It comes from your earnings record and how many quarters of coverage you earn (up to four per year). It gets kind of technical but it’s automatically figured out for your social security claim. It’s very important for an attorney, and I’ll explain now how it applies to you. With a Social Security disability claim, one of the first things our attorneys look at is your date last insured.

Sometimes, it’s in the future and sometimes it’s not. If it’s in the future it’s not an issue, if it’s in the past it’s a horrific issue. Then we would look in your case to see if the condition was disabling under the law, on or before that date. Let’s say that someone stopped working before 2005 and their date last insured was December 31 of 2010 luckily 5 years later. Let’s say they get in a car accident January 1st of the following year. If someone is disabled by that car accident, you’re not insured because you weren’t disabled before your date last insured. So the basic idea is when you have a social security disability claim, the date last insured is very important.

So if you have questions about your case or specific questions specifically about your date last insured feel free to call our offices at 1-800-850-7867. You can also find information at our website that you can see below. www.HoglundLaw.com“

Video Transcription:
“Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney.  I’m an attorney at Hoglund Law offices and I practice Social Security Disability law.

What I’m going to talk about now is attorney fees, something that can be scary for some people.  What people expect when they hire an attorney is that they would have to pay attorney money up front and then also expect to pay by the hour, and that’s understandable because that is how a lot of attorneys work.

Social Security Disability law is different.  One of the things we can do is charge a quarter of back pay only if you’re approved, and then send it to us.  So the essential idea for you is, at least with us, there is no money up front if someone would hire us to help with a Social Security Disability application.

There are some attorneys that also charge out of pocket expenses.  If someone has an out of pocket expense they may be doing that to offset the cost that medical records and things that from state to state can cause some upfront costs.  We do not charge that.  So if you are investigating an attorney whoever you are, you could ask upfront are there any costs other than attorney fees and when do I need to pay them?

One of the elements of attorney fees is that there are some non-attorney firms that do this work.  If a non-attorney firm does this work then one of the most important things you could find out is their experience.  It’s also important to be clear if they’re licensed to practice law in that state.  But if they’re a non-attorney they too can get a quarter of back pay if you’re approved.  It’s very important though to know that if you think about it if someone is going to turn a quarter of back pay, who do you want helping you?  And that choice as to who you trust to help you prove the disability claim which could result in perhaps many years of benefits. It’s important to get someone good.

One good way of finding out someone that’s good is to talk to an attorney that you may know in the field and get some people that have experience with an attorney.  So as far as attorney fees go I wanted to mention one more thing.  Attorneys are not allowed under current Social Security regulations from charging any outside fees; they cannot charge you hours beyond the allowable amount.  In other words you won’t pay a quarter for attorney fees and then find out you have some other bill.

There are rare situations where if someone has an attorney and the attorney charges hours.  You need to be upfront with an attorney and say I only want, or at least this is what I would recommend, to pay a quarter of back pay and nothing else.  There are some law firms that hold the right to also petition for fees if they don’t get any back pay and you can in a hole depending on your situation.  If you’re reviewing a contingency fee agreement that allows a quarter of back pay to be paid, be very careful in looking at it because that’s a legal document.  If there’s anything about being able to charge per hour that’s built in if there are not enough fees to satisfactory to the attorney, you may wish to question that and wish for that to be crossed out.

Hopefully this information helps.  If you have more questions about attorney fees please feel free to call our offices if you wish at 1-800-850-7867.  You can also look at our website that’s below.  Hopefully that has some useful information for you.  Thank you.”

Video Transcription:
“Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney. I’m an attorney practicing Social Security Disability Law and Supplemental Security Income law at Hoglund Law offices. Today in this video I wanted to explain a broad topic, a very difficult topic, but one that requires discussion.

Today I wanted to talk about how you handle homelessness through application process. Homelessness is an issue that essentially, for whatever reason, makes someone hard to get a hold of. We have a lot of clients, at least a fair number of clients, who have difficulty (for obvious reasons) being able to maintain a residence or finding somewhere else to stay. One of the elements of homelessness that I’m addressing here is if there’s mental illness or physical illness that’s caused homelessness .

What’s very important if at all possible is to work with the county and particularity a case worker. Case workers can know where shelters are they can know where other places where someone can stay for a longer term.

So this video addresses not only is people that have difficulty maintaining where you live but also if you have a family member with this problem that might have a medical problem and needs to apply for social security or already has. Also this is for case workers in general.

So I would say this: It is very important to get an application in. For social security there is no spontaneous application that happens. If it’s very clear for instance that someone has paranoid schizophrenia it’s very clear that someone may need social security benefits, but until that application is submitted, social security won’t necessarily know where they are.

There have been some initiatives in the past to try to find out and seek out people that have difficulties with homelessness with mental illness or physical illness. But those initiatives you can’t rely on. What is very important, again, is if you know someone that needs help or if you need help medically make sure to treat with a doctor and make sure to get regular medical care. That’s easier said than done depending on the state you’re in. Using the example of schizophrenia or perhaps depression. If you don’t treat then there won’t be enough proof generally to prove that you have the disability. Social Security looks at medical records. If someone is homeless, understandably they have difficulty getting to doctor’s appointments, let alone even knowing when they are going to have their next food.

So cooperate with a case worker and make sure the case worker is helping coordinate where you are.  If you have our law office helping you it’s very important to give us contact information of where other family members are, even if they are out of state. It may be that they know where you are. The last thing that we want is a client who applied and we can’t find them, its basically heartbreaking. So make sure that there are multiple contact sources for you or for the person that you’re helping.

So with regular medical care and an attorney’s office doing appeals for you, even if we can’t find you we can do what’s called a protective appeal. It’s not ideal, but in the short span of time there is an appeal necessary we may go online and appeal for you just to keep your case going, and we will continue trying to reconnect with you if we’ve lost you. So if you know that you have a pending case going know that social security won’t necessarily know where you are. At minimum, if you are on your own make sure to go to local social security office and maybe get a status update on your case. Social Security may allow you to continue your case if you had been denied and didn’t know about it.

So there are a lot of legal issues here particularly involving notice of denials that come into play. So if you want help from a law firm that cares, and that’s Hoglund Law offices, feel free to call our office number at 1-800-850-7867. You can also find us at www.HoglundLaw.com So good luck and hopefully you get the benefits that you need to be able to survive.”

Video Transcription:
“Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney. I’m an attorney at Hoglund Law offices. I practice Social Security Disability law and I practice supplemental security income law.

Today I wanted to talk about an important topic, Case law. What I mean by that is Federal Case law. The social security administration disability program follows federal case law. What I mean is it’s a federal program, and even though the state agency and social security ultimately at a hearing make decisions internally as an agency ultimately they have to follow federal court law. Federal courts have different circuits spread out across the country. They also have specific courts for specific areas. What I’m telling you is you have case law that may apply to your social security case. That’s why if you have a lawyer it important to ask if there’s any federal case law in my favor.

Now there are other laws, certainly, that take precedence. If there are regulations in your favor form social security itself those are most important. There are also rulings. Those are rules that the judges have to follow in a hearing. There are also POMS. Those are code words for how social security processes your case at lower levels. There are a lot of different things to track but ultimately case law is where the trends show. I meet with local attorneys and meet on a national level as well about case law and about things that apply to my clients here and may apply to my future clients.

If you have questions about whether you should have an attorney in your social security hearing or even helping you apply for benefits forward keep in mind that only an attorney is licensed to practice law and only an attorney can give legal advice, particularly about case law. Think again, too, that there are times that federal case law is cited in front of a federal judge at a hearing.

With these things in mind, if you’re unrepresented or perhaps are wondering about what sort of help you might need, know that the people that help you need to know this federal case law, whether an attorney or not. If you have more questions about social security benefits in general, hopefully we can help you. Feel free to call Hoglund law offices at 1-800-850-7867. You can also visit our website at www.HoglundLaw.com. Thank you.”

Video Transcription:

“Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney, I’m an attorney and I practice at Hoglund Law offices. I do Social Security Disability law for a living. Today I wanted to talk about Fee Petitions.

Most people that need an attorney when they apply for social security benefits, that’s one of the first questions that come up; How do I pay for the attorney? The traditional way that most attorneys in my field get paid is a quarter of back pay, only if you’re approved. So let’s say that you argue that you’re disabled, you get an attorney, you meet with a federal judge, and your approved, and you get a year of back pay, the attorney would automatically get a quarter of back pay to what’s called a contingency fee agreement. That contingency fee agreement has to be approved by the judge and there can be no payments unless the judge approves it on that line.

Now, there are times when someone changes the attorney they want or perhaps they have a non-attorney and they wanna hire an attorney when they decide what kind of background they want for the person representing them. If someone has a contingency fee agreement and you sign up with them and you change your mind which is absolutely within your right, and the new attorney comes on there cannot be two contingency fee agreements. That is usually the situation that fee petitions usually arise from. That’s usually when you see if neither attorneys were to withdraw their request for the 25% they are thrown out and you’ll see what’s called a fee petition.

A fee petition is where you can see an attorney for the fabled decision, or non-attorney, arguing that they put a certain number of hours in your case and they want payment, and it goes through the judge that handled your case and its approved that way. So, technically a fee petition is more like the attorney fees that attorneys are paid, but it’s just only if you’re approved.

So, here’s what you can look for: If you look at the attorney fee agreement, you can look to see if there is language that says if the attorney doesn’t get paid enough I want to petition for fees. If that’s written in there, you can ask to have that crossed out. The reason is this: If your back pay end up being zero, you don’t want to owe any fees, even if you win. So the idea of fee petitions is a backup option generally for the 25% agreement set most attorneys and non-attorneys work off of.

So keep in mind that when you are contracting with someone find out exactly what kind of help that they are going to offer you, and if they’re a law firm, and how they charge fees, and make sure that they are trustworthy and get other opinions about their ability before you sign the bottom line, and hopefully that way you’ll have to switch representatives and you will be happy in getting good help, and perhaps getting a contingency fee agreement, and you’re done.

If you have any further questions about attorney fees, or specifically fee petitions call Hoglund Law office at 1-800-850-7867. Or you can go to our website that’s displayed below, thank you. (www.HoglundLaw.com)”

Video Transcription:

“Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney. I’m an attorney and I practice Social Security Disability Law at Hoglund Law offices.

Today I wanted to talk to you about children’s benefits. Children can receive benefits if for instance; they have a diseased parent that had a work history. In this instance today I’m talking about children’s benefits based on their own disability. The program where children receive benefits based on their own disability is called supplemental security income. It’s a need based program. It’s also known as SSI.

When you apply for a child for SSI benefits one of the first questions Social Security asks is the financial income of where the child lives. So there are some financial need based qualifications to get in the door to be able to have social security evaluate the underlying medical condition.

Also consider that with supplemental security income the child be evaluated when they’re under 18. If on the off chance the child is under 18 when applied then turns 18 before the case is done it will actually be a child and separate decisions will be made for an adult.

The standards are whether the child meets a listing; the medical definition of disability. Or if the child has two marked on one extreme level of domains in six different domains.

If you have more questions about how childhood cases are evaluated or you have specific questions about helping you as attorneys in your childhood claim, please call Hoglund Law offices or go online at www.HoglundLaw.com”

Video Transcription:

“Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney. I’m an attorney. I practice Social Security law at Hoglund Law offices.
Today I’m going to talk about who can represent you if you have a Social Security Disability claim.

Technically, anyone can, someone who has not gone to school, has not finished high school, who has not ever read a medical record, or even walked into a social security office. Anyone can technically sign a form and say they represent someone else for a Social Security claim. That’s not so bad if you have a loved one helping you that cares about you, but what is very important is if you’re in a position where you’re deciding you want some professional help then you need to know what your rights are.

Social Security allows non-attorneys to do, and represent people before the social security administration and charge fees. The typical fees are a quarter of back pay, that’s what’s allowed by social security. That’s in the same way of looking at it as attorneys.

Attorneys represent people before Social Security Judges and non-attorneys. So one of the things, if you’re looking at this video, one of the things that you may be presented with is an option of having a non-attorney firm or an attorney firm. It’s absolutely your choice what I could offer or things to think about while you’re making that choice.

First, what is the training of the person that may help you or the firm that may help you? For instance, is it a law firm or is it not a law firm? If someone has training in it, do they have legal training or just regular training? If someone has legal training in this are they a licensed lawyer or not a licensed lawyer? If they are a licensed lawyer, how many hearings does your firm do generally per year? Is this side work or is this what you are primarily focused on when you work? That’s a good analysis to go through for law firms and non-law firms. If you commit to the idea that you are possibly going in front of a federal judge who is a lawyer and having experts be cross examined.

If you’ve committed to the idea of wanting an attorney then you have a right to get an attorney no matter if you have a long term disability policy and they ask that you for representation you are going to choose an attorney thee will be no additional charges for that, because for someone with long term disability, the back pay that goes back, you only pay back, in general how this works, what you pay back.

If someone has general assistance that they are getting welfare and they are requested to apply for social security again you have a choice to get an attorney. So, make sure to follow through with what you know is important because these benefits could be a few years and they could be thousands of dollars at stake.
It’s good to do it right the first time so find a representative you can trust and ask for the qualifications. If you have any further questions about Social Security Law feel free to call our offices at 1-800-850-7867. You can also go to our website at www.HoglundLaw.com“

Video Transcription:

“Hi my name is Andrew Kinney, I’m an attorney with Hoglund Law offices.  I practice Social Security Disability Law.

This video today is about filing applications online.  Social security allows you to file an application online.  You can also call social security’s 800 numbers.  That has been a traditional way of filing for a long time.  A third way to apply for Social Security benefits is to go to a local office and appear in person.

There are some benefits and drawbacks to this.  The benefit would be convenience.  If you file online you’re able to explain to Social Security what’s wrong, how long you’ve had the problems, and you’re able to on your own at least assert that you’re applying for social security benefits.  But there are some pitfalls to applications online.

The first is, when you’re online, looking for people to help you with it you’ll notice some people may appear to work for the government when they don’t.  There are attorneys and non-attorneys nationally that advertise to help you file online.  So this video hopefully will make it clear that for you, you need to have a game plan.  The game plan should be, if you want to have legal representation we recommend that you have a licensed attorney.  Hoglund Law offices only use licensed attorneys.

The second is, if you wish to file online you can get our help.  It is an option.  We recommend using our help because there are some elements of filing online that are strategic, and the only way you would know is if you get professional assistance from us or our staff.

The other drawback of filing online is that if you’re on your own, you need to keep going online.  If someone is denied there are timeframes to appeal, and what is beneficial that someone is helping you on the front end is that they’re ready as we are to make sure to appeal online for you.

Ultimately filing online is a possibility and it can be done, at least it may lock in when you ask for benefits.  But at any stage of the process, considering social security benefits, if you’ve already applied, or if you’re on appeal, if you would like the help from Hoglund Law offices please feel free to reach our phone number at 1-800-850-7867, again 1-800-850-7867.  It should be at the bottom of your screen.  Also you can look online at www.HoglundLaw.com“

If you’re under the age of 50 and thinking of applying for Social Security disability, consider
this.

Applicants under the age of 50 must prove they can no longer work – not only their previous line of work but any kind of work, even at the sedentary level. You must prove that, due to your medical condition(s), you are unable to work on a full-time basis due to the inability to sustain eight hours or continuous work five days a week.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has established two regulations, 96-8P and 96-9P, to evaluate someone’s ability to perform work on part-time basis or a less than sedentary basis. A sedentary job is considered the easiest to perform: You must be able to sit for six hours during an eight-hour day, stand for two hours, and lift up to 10 pounds. Additionally, jobs require employees to be on task, show up for work on time, and be productive.
With these regulations, we can demonstrate how physical and mental limitations would erode even sedentary jobs to the point competitive employment would not exist in the national economy. When basing your argument
on these regulations, however, one must tread lightly when stating your case to the SSA and in front of the judge.
At an administrative hearing, testimony is taken under oath. It is understandable that pride may prevent you from being honest, but it is important to testify honestly. This is especially true when testifying about pain. If someone testifies that their pain is always a 10, it’s likely the judge will view the client as lacking credibility and able to work on a full-time basis. That being said, it important that those testifying at a hearing do not testify about how much pain they are in on their worst days, but a typical day with the use of medication.
Moreover, at an administrative hearing, judges will often ask those testifying about what they are able to do in a typical day. Take time to remember what you are able to do around the house and for how long. If you can clean, how long can you clean for and why do you have to stop? If pain is preventing you from working and you have to take breaks or lay down, give the judge specific time frames. Again, the judge may question how you can maintain employment if you can only complete tasks and responsibilities for a short period of time. The judge will try to determine what you can and cannot perform on a regular basis and specific answers are vital.

Mike Riley, Esq.

On June 7, 2011 the Social Security Administration (SSA) removed endocrine disorders from its listing of impairments used to evaluate whether a claimant is disabled. The endocrine disorders are evaluated under Listings 9.00-9.08. One major step in the SSA’s disability process, especially for claimants under 50 years of age, is determining whether the claimant’s impairment meets a medical listing. For claimants who suffer from Diabetes or other endocrine disorders, it will now be very difficult to obtain benefits via a listing.
In its reasoning for eliminating the endocrine listing, the SSA proffered that “advances in medical treatment in the detection” of endocrine disorders would keep one from meeting the 12-month durational requirement for benefits. The SSA indicated it has been advised by medical experts, that the current listing regarding diabetes reflects only inadequate glucose regulation; and that adequate glucose regulation is achievable with improved treatment options. The SSA indicated that, if the endocrine disorders cause problems of listing-level severity in other organs, they will be evaluated under those other body system listings.

If an attorney is representing a claimant with diabetes, he or she will now have to prove the claimant’s impairments meet another set of listings. For example, if the claimant’s diabetes affects their kidneys enough, they can be evaluated under 6.00 Genitourinary Impairments; or the argument could be made that the claimant’s diabetes effects his or her residual functional capacity enough that the claimant cannot perform work on a regular and continuing basis pursuant to Social Security Ruling 96-8p. If a claimant is over 50, there are a set of medical-vocational guidelines which can also be used in trying to obtain benefits.

The long-term practical impact of this change is yet to be determined; but, in making this decision, the SSA is hypothesizing that everyone has accessibility to proper medical treatment, as well as the intelligence or financial
ability to maintain an adequate diet and administer insulin at appropriate times. The SSA is presuming there are no issues regarding obtaining adequate medical treatment, being able to buy the proper food while on food stamps, and having the knowledge of how to use sliding scale insulin in the most effective manner. Even the American Diabetes Association notes that “diabetes can cause a range of short-term and long-term complications that, separately or together, can severely limit an individual’s ability to work or function.” In its recommendation for changes to Listing 9.08, the ADA stated only that episodes of severe hypoglycemia should be included.

Matt Garner, Esq.