Once you’re approved for Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits, your medical condition has to be reviewed periodically to see if you still qualify. If you received a letter in the mail from the Social Security Administration (SSA) telling you the agency will be reviewing your medical condition, you may be wondering about the reason for the review.
The SSA is required by law to review, periodically, the current medical condition of all the individuals who are receiving Social Security Disability benefits. The reason for this review is to ensure that such individuals still have a disability that qualifies for disability benefits. For instance, if the individual has healed to the point where they can fully return to work, he or she may no longer qualify for disability benefits.
SSA Gathers Information About You
To help the SSA make its decision about your disability, it will need to obtain new information about the current status of your medical condition.
- The SSA will ask your doctors, hospitals, and other medical professionals to provide your medical records. The SSA will ask these sources about your medical condition and how it limits your activities. They’ll also ask about your medical test results, and what medical treatments you have received.
- If the SSA needs additional information, they’ll ask you to have a special examination or test, which the SSA will pay for.
Once the SSA gathers all the information it needs, it will look at your previous medical condition and its status the last time the reviewed your case. The SSA will also see if you have developed any new health issues. From there, the SSA will decide if your medical condition has improved, and they’ll issue a decision on whether your medical condition has improved to the extent that you can return to work.
The SSA will examine your overall medical condition, and how it affects the type of work that you can engage in. The SSA will also look at the requirements for the type of work that you did before the disability and any other work that you may be physically capable of doing now. The SSA will essentially want to know if there is any type of work that you can do. If you can, it can lead to the termination of benefits.
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If your medical condition has improved significantly and the SSA determines that you can work, your disability benefits will stop. However, if you disagree with the adverse decision, you maintain the right to file an appeal. If you need legal assistance with a disability case, we invite you to contact our firm to meet with a Plano SSD lawyer.