Was your disability claim wrongfully denied?

If you put in a disability claim and it was denied, don’t just assume that the government — through the Social Security Administration (SSA) — was automatically right to deny you. While they may have had good reason, you also could have been wrongfully denied, so you must know how this process works.

One of the big reasons that claims are denied is because of simple clerical errors and mistakes in paperwork. These can sometimes be corrected and resubmitted. The actual condition may warrant assistance, but you could still be shot down for filling out a form incorrectly.

On top of that, the government usually denies claims for these reasons:

— The impairment that you are suffering from is going to heal itself within the next year, failing to last all 12 months.

— The impairment is one that the government doesn’t think is really severe.

— You can still do your standard job, taking on the normal work that you did before the impairment.

— You can easily switch over to some other type of work, rather than dropping out of the workforce entirely.

— The impairment came because of something you brought upon yourself, such as drug and alcohol use.

— You did not give enough medical evidence of the condition, or you did not cooperate with the SSA.

— You were told to do a specific type of treatment and you did not go along with it.

These are the big reasons that the SSA lists, so, if none of them pertain to your case, you may have been wrongfully denied in California.

Source: Social Security Administration, “Outcomes of Applications for Disability Benefits,” accessed Sep. 30, 2015