Disability Audio is produced by former Social Security Disability Claims Examiner, Tim Moore. For additional information, answers to questions, and tips on how the social security disability and SSI disability system works, proceed to:
More resources on the Social Security Disability Resource Page.
Description of this podcast segment
This segment conveys a simple but, in my opinion, fairly helpful tip for disability claimants who plan to submit medical records at the time they apply for disability at a local security office. And it is a tip that I came across while speaking to a person who currently works as a claims rep in a social security field office.
For those who are unaware, I am a former disability examiner for the social security administration’s DDS, or disability determination service. However, the job of an examiner is very different from the job of a claims rep or CR. While disability examiners actually make the decision on a disability application, the application is initially taken by a social security field office claims rep.
The tip is simply that if you plan to give records to social security when you apply, but also would like to keep a copy of your records, make your own personal copy before you visit the social security office. Do not expect, or ask, the social security office to copy the records you take in with you–because due to time constraints and high caseloads they may only send 10-15 pages of your records to the disability examiner. In other words, social security field office personnel do not have time to copy stacks of medical records, particularly when they interview several disability claimants per day, in addition to working on social security retirement claims and other duties.
