When you put in your SSD claim, you likely feel that it is warranted and may even be ironclad. In other words, you understand your need for benefits on a deep level, you feel your claim demonstrates that, and you expect it to get approved.
But the fact of the matter is that most claims get denied. Strictly from an odds perspective, yours probably will too. There are two main reasons why this happens.
A medical denial
Your claim could be denied on medical grounds. People often take this to mean that the SSA thinks they are not disabled. That may be true. But they may also just be saying that the medical evidence isn’t there.
Remember, you know your case better than them. You know that, medically speaking, you should qualify. If your application fails to show that, though, they could come to the conclusion that you are not medically disabled. This just means you need proper evidence to show that you are.
A technical denial
A huge percentage of claims are also given technical denials. This usually refers to a paperwork error or something of this nature. For instance, perhaps you wrote in your Social Security Number incorrectly or listed the wrong date of birth. Maybe you missed a page when filling out the forms.
Again, this doesn’t mean your claim itself isn’t valid. It just means that the SSA can’t sign off on it with the information that they have. Many technical denials can be fixed when you know what the error is, as with the medical denials discussed above.
What should you do?
There is good news here. The SSA allows you to appeal their decision. You can update your paperwork, add more evidence, get supporting documents from your medical team and much more. They will give you a chance to rectify the issue, and having been denied can actually help to show you exactly what you need to know to fix it.
The key is just to carefully consider all of the legal steps you’ll have to take. This process can take time, but there is a solution.