Chapter 2

The Diagnosis.

 

Thursday, October 16, 2008. 

Office of Dr. James Strickland.  Neurology.  10:15 a.m.

 

“Well, Denise.  I looked at your MRI results.  You and your husband were worried about your coordination issues.”  In Dr. Strickland’s voice, still new to her, something was wrong.

They were sitting in Dr. Strickland’s office.  Happy faces looked out from family pictures on his walls and desk.  In the picture closest to Denise, the doctor smiled broadly, holding a big fish.

But now, in his office, the doctor’s 50’s-something face looked solemn, etched, and far away.  He brought out a color picture.  Her MRI, she thought.

He held up her MRI and touched it with his pen in the middle.  His voice became mechanical, clinical, as if he were reading instructions.  “This is the c-spine MRI we ordered.  I took a look at it earlier this morning.  The radiologist already interpreted it.”  His touched his pen to the MRI.  “This is your cervical spine.  This is your spinal cord.”  He drew in a short breath.  Denise shifted forward.

“See these spots here?”  He tapped his pen up and down the MRI.  “These are lesions on your cervical spinal cord.”

Her heart quickened.  Did he say lesions?  Denise thought.  Cancer?  She looked at her husband.  He was staring intently at the MRI, mouth slightly open.

“From what I can tell, these lesions are the early signs of multiple sclerosis.  The radiologist agrees.”  The doctor stared directly at Denise.  Denise was struck cold and motionless.

“What?  MS?”  Her voice failed her.  She half-whispered, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Ms. Johnson.  These spots show demyelination in a pattern unique to MS.  We’ll do more testing.  We’ll definitely need a spinal tap.”  Did he say spinal tap?  “But the non-invasive testing we’ve done so far, such as coordination tests, support this diagnosis, too.”  He pointed to her side.  “Especially your right arm.”

He then placed a finger to his eyes.  “And your vision issues are associated with what’s called optic neuritis, a common MS symptom.”  He took a breath.  “I’m sorry.”  The words lingered like black ribbons in the air.  No smiles.  No vacation.  Nothing happy.  Darkness around me.

Denise stared back and forth blankly at the two men.  They looked at her and said nothing.  She spoke to the ceiling light.  “MS?  How could I get MS?”  Then she looked at the doctor.  “Can it go away?  Can I take medications?”

“MS, once confirmed, is not curable.  We can stall it, sometimes for years, but it gradually becomes more symptomatic.  The medications, if covered, do have side-effects.”  The rest of the appointment, questions about insurance, medications, treatment, and other particulars were swept away in her private, spinning tunnel.  MS?  She felt so alone.  Am I going to die?  Hands on her face under her veil of long brown curly hair, she quietly sobbed.  Her head shook slightly, uncontrollably.  Trapped.

Hands touched her forearms.  Warm, muffled words came in assuring tones.  More apologies.  Appointment over.  Her husband and nurse guided her out.  Aseptic smells of rubbing alcohol wafted in and out.  Strange, sad eyes tracked her through the waiting room.  The car ride home was numb and quiet.  She sat at the kitchen table.

Soon, she took a fitful nap.  She awakened later and looked out her bedroom window.  Dusk.  She heard her girls murmuring outside the bedroom door.  “Mom needs time,” her husband quietly told them.  The sounds of voices trailed away.  Her cheeks were tight with dried tears.

Alone with MS.  So alone.

In the long nights that followed those days, Denise had dreams of when she was a child.  It was summer at the cabin.  She was at the lakeshore at an isolated swimming hole.  It was mid-afternoon.  Bright sunlight danced overhead.  A warm breeze brushed her arms.  Broad groups of white clouds hung tightly against the bright blue sky.

In one quick movement, her boy cousins grabbed her by the arms and legs and threw her into the lake.  They were laughing.  She couldn’t swim.

The rush of cold water made her small, 5-year-old heart pound.  Her arms and legs, flaying in panic, scrambled for mooring.  Her feet stepped up an invisible ladder.  She turned her body toward shore and went deeper underwater.  She breathed in water.  Bubbles surrounding her offered no air.  Her cousins yelled for her.  Parts of her name registered deep within her.  Flits of light and brown cedar water rushed above her head.

Then Denise would wake up, scared and sweating.

 

A few months into her diagnosis, work proved more difficult.  Coworkers stopped talking when she walked by, looking like they felt guilty to be happy.  She made more mistakes, including a few brushes with missed deadlines.  Her close friends helped her complete reports, while those less close to her became less friendly.  Sick days came more often, often without warning.  Denise was falling behind.

One night in bed, her husband turned on his bedside light, sat up, and looked at her sternly.  “The doctor told us that stress is makin’ your MS worse, and you just aren’t the same.  I don’t want that freakin’ hospital stealin’ your health from you.  It’s not worth it.”

Surprised but tired, Denise answered, “What about money?  Don’t we need my income?”

“Maybe I’ll become shift supervisor.”  He said it, but his voice betrayed him.  His factory job was the best he could get in their small Minnesota town, but hard work was only rewarded with more work.  “We’ll save more.”  They already cut expenses.  A lot.  He added, “The girls could use you at home after school.  And you could do things around the house when you are up to it.”  Neither knew what she would be “up” to doing.  Neither asked.

At least his job gave them medical insurance.  But the lean cords of survival tightened.  And despite cutting expenses, they juggled surges of bills, calling for more time on late ones.  Savings were meager.  Their two daughters were in high school.  College was a dark cloud overhead that no one dared to look up and see.

With Denise and her husband committed to her staying home, Denise went to her appointments, took Rebif injections, had good periods, and suffered through difficult relapses.  She learned how to moderate her activity, planning errands over different days.  She did chores as she could, getting help when she could get it.

Her relapses, however, stole more coordination – bit by bit – each round.

Her husband got overtime hours when he could.  Her daughters pitched in around the house, sometimes making dinner.  Denise thought they were good kids, but they were too young for the weight they carried.  This, in turn, weighed on her.

Mundane errands became walls.  Grocery shopping was impossible for her to do alone.  Her close friends called and visited.  But some days, she didn’t want to answer the phone.  She sat alone at the kitchen table.  She was tired and stressed.  Life for her became cold coffee that she had to swallow.

In the darker afternoons of the shorter winter days, she sat at the table and cried.

Fatigue, a frequent intruder, stole her energy and lurked behind her every movement.  Her eyes felt heavy.

But help was coming.

A Legal Story

[The following chapters are part of a series that explains what happens before, during, and after a Social Security hearing from an experienced Social Security benefits attorney.  Client names and particular fact patterns were changed to protect confidentiality.]

Prelude

Monday, June 3, 2013.  Johnson’s House.  Mid-afternoon.

Sitting alone at her kitchen table, Denise was worried.  A rhythm of raindrops caressed the window screen.  Fall colors filtered through the window, casting stained glass shapes onto the tile floor.

What would her Social Security hearing be like?  What could she say to a judge?  She’d been out of work so long.  “Five years?” she muttered to herself.  And now, for two years, she’d worried about her Social Security hearing.  It was next week.

Her soft brown eyes reddened.  It was about all she could bear.  What if she lost?  Will we lose the house?

With her unsteady left hand, she took a small sip of coffee.  She choked as it went down the wrong way.

Chapter 1

The Mug

October, 2008. 

It was a rainy Monday morning.  Green was giving way to orange and yellow on the leaves of the trees.  Denise did not mind her part-time accounts receivable job in the billing department of the county hospital.  Although it was repetitive, it brought home money to pay the expanding bills while the girls were in school.

She rubbed and squinted her eyes.  The columns of numbers on her computer monitor were blurry.  She never wore glasses, she thought.  Are my eyes going?  She felt dizzy.  The flu?   She felt her head.  No temperature.  She looked around.  Her friends were at work, their glazed eyes fixed to computer monitors.  Each were bored but busy in their pale gray fabric work cubicles.

She was tired.  Dead tired.  She looked up at the hallway clock.  Just past 10 a.m.  Only 10?  She heard the red second hand ticking.

And she was weak, more on her right side than her left.  She lifted up her right arm and turned her palm up toward her.  Maybe she had overdone it yesterday.  She mentally went through a checklist of her activities the day before.  X’s on her pinned-up calendar announced days already past.  Yes, yesterday was Sunday.  It’s only Monday?  Why does it feel like later in the week?  Her weakness was different, as if it came from the inside.

Had I eaten breakfast?  She felt a little nauseous.  The coffee in her yellow smiling face mug was cold and half-empty.  She looked at it.  Today, its smile mocked her.

I’ve been clumsy these days, too.  She looked under her desk at her right foot.  She had taken off her right shoe once she got to work.  In the shower, she noticed her right little toe was black and swollen from jamming it into a kitchen chair the day before.

Man, that throbs.  I hope I didn’t break it, she thought.  Maybe I could get an x-ray during lunch from Joe in radiology.  She winced, held her breath, and carefully wiggled her toe.

A half hour later, she felt a strong wave of nausea and odd crawling sensations in her right arm.

She questioned herself again.  Did I get enough sleep?  Her boss had been pressing her department to work faster.  She looked at her right hand.  Carpal tunnel?  Her friend Sandy had that last year.  She bent her right wrist inward.  I don’t want to have release surgery like she had.

A peculiar tingling sensation went through her body, like a hot, itchy electric wire was turned on and was fed down into her right arm.  Her body, in some way, wasn’t hers.  What the hell did I do? 

The second hand ticked more.

 

The next morning, Denise made coffee for her and her husband.  Clumsy movements.  Jamming fingers.  Nausea.  Sore right toe.  Electric jolts shot into her right arm.  She spilled coffee grinds on the counter past the coffee filter.  “Damn,” she muttered under her breath.

When the brew cycle completed, she poured a cup of black coffee for her husband.  With her right hand, she extended it to him.  His ceramic mug paused in the air between them.  He looked at her funny, catching her glance before they both looked at her right hand.

Something was different.  Time slowed down.

Sensing her right arm was weak, she tried to strengthen her grip.   No response.  Their bridge of arms collapsed between them.  In slow motion, she watched her right hand loosen.  The mug came out.  She couldn’t react, just watch.  With a loud crash, pieces of ceramic and black coffee splattered across the tile floor.  Circles of steam rose up and encircled their feet.

That morning, her right arm was not hers.  And she was tired, so tired.  Denise needed to find out what was wrong.  Soon, she would.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) is chronic inflammation and deep lesions of the skin, particularly in sensitive areas of the armpits and groin.  Possible causes are thought to involve a combination of genetics, hormones, and other factors.  HS may impact 1-2% of the population, but absolute numbers are uncertain.

Given how relatively rare this medical condition is, our attorneys at Hoglund Law Offices have successfully represented a surprising number of clients with Hidradenitis Suppurativa in Social Security Disability benefits claims.  Our clients have typically worked for over ten years or more with symptoms before succumbing to the progressive lesions and pain despite surgical intervention.

How does Social Security Disability evaluate Hidradenitis Suppurativa?  Social Security verifies the diagnosis first.  In my experience, records usually carry ongoing primary care treatment for recurring boils that require in-office lancing.  Of concern, I have seen some medical record histories that initially fail to specifically diagnose HS until these lesions have persisted in various forms and locations for a few years.  There are possible reasons for this that I address below.

Social Security reviews Hidradenitis Suppurativa claims under a special definition of disability called a listing.  Here is the “listing” that Social Security applies to claims based on Hidradenitis Suppurativa:

Listing 8.06

Hidradenitis suppurativa, with extensive skin lesions involving both axillae, both inguinal areas or the perineum that persist for at least 3 months despite continuing treatment as prescribed.

How do our Social Security disability attorneys at Hoglund Law Offices get approvals at Social Security hearings for clients with Hidradenitis Suppurativa?  In our experience, the timing of the diagnosis may be an issue.  I argue to judges that the nature of the HS lesions may not, in themselves, manifest themselves to physicians initially – particularly if my clients see different primary care physicians from appointment to appointment or change facilities from time to time.  Over time, however, the diagnosis of HS should relate back to previous care for the symptoms.  Our attorneys can offer advice to get retrospective input from these physicians.

Deficiencies in the medical evidence of HS may relate to the location of the lesions.  My clients may attempt to suffer through a period of HS lesions in private areas of their bodies.  Despite the Social Security Administration’s assumptions, it is not always easy to seek care for personally sensitive problems.  I argue to judges that a delay in diagnosis, in these instances, has more to do with social factors.  Reporting the full constellation of symptoms right away has been difficult for some of my clients.

What should your Social Security Disability attorney know about Hidradenitis Suppurativa?  In my experience, it is common to have judges and medical experts who are unfamiliar with HD.  I understand that Social Security judges must review many kinds of medical claims.  I speculate that medical experts (ME’s) at hearings, however, may not be as familiar (and miss) Hidradenitis Suppurativa because it is a dermatological condition that may not normally arise in other specialty areas.

What must your Social Security disability attorney do at your Social Security hearing?  He or she must raise the issue of Listing 8.06 and point out the diagnosis, duration, location, impact, and daily care duties that impede full-time employment.  Additional legal documentation has proven helpful in our clients’ claims.  Call us at Hoglund Law Offices today if you are interested in the experience our Social Security attorneys can offer you to apply or appeal your Social Security Disability claim.

Andrew Kinney, Esq.

 

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“