How Does The Social Security Administration Determine Disability?

To receive benefits under the Social Security Disability program, you must have a physical or mental impairment (or a combination of impairments) severe enough to keep you from working fulltime in any regular paying job for at least one year or result in death. The test isn't whether or not you can return to your old job, and the test isn't whether or not you have been able to find a job lately. Rather, the test is whether you are capable of doing any job available in the national economy (even if this job involves different skills or pays less than your previous work). By using an extensive set of regulations, the Social Security Administration takes into account your medical condition, age, abilities, training, and work experience in deciding a case.

 The Five Step Evaluation that Social Security uses to determine if you are disabled is as follows:

 

 1. Are you working?

If you are working and earning more than the current Substantial Gainful Activity amount (currently $1,070.00 a month), you generally cannot be considered disabled.

 2. Is your condition severe?

Your impairment(s) must be expected to last one year or result in death and interfere with basic work related activities.

 3. Is your condition found in the list of disabling impairments?

Social Security maintains a list of impairments for each of the major body systems that are so severe they automatically entitle you to disability. If your condition is not on this list, Social Security has to decide if it is of equal severity to an impairment on this list. If it is, the claim is approved. If it is not, Social Security goes on to the next step. 

4. Can you do the work you did previously?

Does your impairment prevent you from doing any work that you performed in the last fifteen (15) years? If it does not, the claim will be denied. If it does, the claim will proceed to the fifth and final step of the evaluation.

5. Can you do any other type of work available in the national economy?

Social Security considers your age, education, past work experience, and transferable skills against the job demands of occupations as determined by the Department of Labor. If you cannot do any other kind of work, the claim will be approved. If you can, the claim will be denied.