When you petition for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits with the Social Security Administration (SSA), you may be expected to disclose the date your disability was officially diagnosed or prompted. While the SSA may approve you for benefits, you may be confused as to why they adjusted your established onset date later than what you initially alleged. After all, being that you are experiencing this condition firsthand, you may think you know best when it started. Nonetheless, please continue reading to learn what happens if the SSA postpones your alleged onset date and how an experienced New Jersey SSDI attorney at The Law Offices of Sheryl Gandel Mazur can help you get the appropriate amount of benefits.
Why might the SSA postpone my claimed disability onset date?
The SSA may rule to postpone your established disability onset date either because you provided insufficient evidence or contradictory proof. On the one hand, you may have significant gaps in which you sought medical attention to treat and diagnose your health condition. If you went a long time without getting professional help, the SSA may assume that your disability did not arise or show its effects until then.
On the other hand, you may have continued to work at your current employment after your alleged disability onset date. Now, the key purpose behind SSDI benefits is to provide supplemental income for those whose disabilities hinder them from maintaining substantial gainful employment activity. So, the SSA may delay your onset date until the date you were forced to walk away from your job post.
What happens if the SSA postpones my established onset date?
The timing of your established disability onset date may prove pivotal to your SSDI benefits collections. This is because you may only be eligible to collect retroactive benefits of up to 12 months in a payment period between the established onset set and your application date. So, say you alleged that your disability was prompted 12 months ago, but then the SSA decides that it arose only 8 months ago. In this case, you may miss up to four months’ worth of SSDI benefits payments.
Secondly, your postponed onset date may directly impact your Medicare coverage. That is, there is an established 24-month waiting period for Medicare eligibility starting from your established onset date. Inevitably, this is to say that the later your onset date, the longer you must wait to receive Medicare benefits. Overall, to attempt to fix your onset date, you may introduce new medical evidence and proof to the SSA. Or, if you have an old SSDI benefits application that was previously denied, you may work to appeal and reopen this case.
To give yourself enough time to develop a solid case, please be sure to get in touch with a skilled New Jersey SSDI attorney from The Law Offices of Sheryl Gandel Mazur as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you.
