If you’re a Columbia or Mid-Missouri resident suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis, you’re likely in a lot of pain. You’ve lost the ability to perform everyday tasks that used to be simple. Day-to-day activities required for your job have become impossible.
If you can’t work, money worries soon follow.
Monthly checks from Social Security Disability could provide the income you need.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) provides Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for hardworking people just like you. It’s designed to help you when you’re too sick or injured to work.
It’s important to know that SSDI benefits aren’t a handout. When you worked, you paid into the program with deductions from every paycheck.
But getting an approval on your application for benefits can be difficult. The process is complicated. An attorney can make it easier.
The attorneys at the Law Offices of Karen Kraus Bill help families win their disability claims. You shouldn’t have to fight alone.
Social Security Disability and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Social Security keeps a list of impairments, called the “Blue Book,” which potentially qualify you for disability income. Rheumatoid arthritis is included on the list.
Rheumatoid arthritis can interfere with your ability to work.
And the key to winning disability benefits is that your condition must be severe enough to prevent you from working.
With rheumatoid arthritis and other forms of inflammatory arthritis, Social Security looks for these symptoms:
- Inflammation in your legs severe enough to make it hard for you to walk
- Inflammation in your arms severe enough to prevent you from performing many tasks
- Major joint pain along with inflammation of two or more organs or body systems
- At least two of these symptoms: severe fatigue, fever, malaise, involuntary weight loss
- A stiffening of the spine, like ankylosing spondylitis, that makes it harder for you to move
- Repeated flare-ups of your condition that limit your daily life
Even if you don’t have all of these symptoms, you can still qualify for Social Security Disability benefits based on rheumatoid arthritis if you can show that your symptoms prevent you from working.
If you are suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and are unable to work, call the Law Offices of Karen Kraus Bill.
Applying for SSDI in Columbia
Even if it’s obvious to you that you need disability income, Social Security turns down most people when they first apply. This adds stress to what’s already one of the hardest times in your life.
Applying for disability benefits is a multi-step process. It involves collecting your medical history, work history, educational history, details of your job duties, and how your case of rheumatoid arthritis prevents you from functioning in your job.
To win SSDI benefits you must prove:
- You are too sick or injured to do the job you used to do.
- You can’t transition to a different line of work.
- Your medical condition is expected to last at least one year, or lead to death.
It can take months for Social Security to process your application. If you’re denied, like most people, it can take a year or more to appeal and finally win benefits.
Get Help from a Social Security Disability Attorney Who Cares About You
Going down the path of filing for Social Security Disability Benefits on your own is difficult.
But at the Law Offices of Karen Kraus Bill, we focus our entire firm on helping hardworking people win the disability benefits they deserve. We believe in providing personal care and attention for your case.
Whether you’re applying for the first time, or you have received a denial letter and need to file an appeal, we’re here to help you every step of the way.