Would my soon to be husband be able to get his Social secuity. SSDI?

[Jennifer]

My soon-to-be-husband has a few physical problems and I know that under certain conditions people get approved for disability and some don't. I am hoping someone will be able to tell me what his chances are of getting approved for ssdi. So here are the list of things that is wrong with him. He has a bad left knee that first got injured when he was in high school playing sports. He had to get orthoscopic surgery done and the doctor said the knee cap was injured. Then he re-injured the same knee in basic training in the Army in which he got medically discharged for (it was an honorable discharge). A few years went by with not many problems with his knee, but when he was going through the police academy, he ended up blowing out the left knee again by running and accidently stepping into a pot hole in which all of his weight and momentum was put on the knee injuring it even worse. He was put on worker's comp in which he received therapy for a few weeks and the injury also pushed the left side of his hip 2 inches higher than his right side which is now responsible for a lot of back pain that comes and goes and his lower spine has been seen to be a little crooked by a sports medicine specialist. His knee since then will lock up on him, it will give out on him without warning, it pops when he bends at the knees, his leg falls asleep on him at night when he lays down and when he gets up he sometimes falls down cause his leg is asleep, it really throbs and aches a lot and it hurts him to stand for very long. About 6 months ago, he was working for a home improvement store and while assisting another employee with moving a heavy table saw, the left knee popped out again. Again, he got worker's comp and the specialist seeing him took x-rays and said the knee cap was dislocated. He then went to therapy again and it seemed to be ok after that, but now it's back to really hurting him again only the pain comes a lot more frequent and more severe to where it is making it hard for him to stand for periods at a time, with his hips being uneven and spine being crooked, it's hard for him to sit for long. So after reading all this, if you can please tell me what his chances are to getting approved, we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

[sophieb]

a you know the benefits on ssdi are meager. Hopefully you have a good job to support yourself and your family. Only the judge knows for sure if he will approve this person for ssdi and it's from what information, records, reports, x-rays and such this man presents to the judge.

[Judith]

He has no chance of getting approved based upon a knee problem. In order to collect social security disability benefits he must be unable to work and earn $1040 a month (or $240 a week) for at least one full year in ANY type of work activity - not just the work he's been doing. Which means that he must be incapable of doing sedentary work.

Even if he is approved (which is unimaginable to me) worker's comp offsets a social security benefit. Federal law prevents worker's comp + social security to exceed 80% of his average wage when he was working. Sometimes the worker's comp is so high that it reduces the social security benefit to zero.

If he is unable to ever return to the type of work he used to do he should consider undergoing training and rehabilitation to learn skills in a field where he can do sedentary work. He could contact Vocational Rehabilitation which is listed in the phone book under state government.

[david b]

Instead of jumping into the welfare wagon, perhaps he should wear a brace and keep working. Instead of being a taker, maybe he can be a maker.

Too many young folks eager to jump into the welfare wagon for a lifetime ride at the expense of those who work and pay taxes.
Sad really, as most lose all self respect when they take welfare and do not really need to.

[Achelios]

Just because he can't do the line(s) of work he is accustom to doing, doesn't mean he is unable to do any form of work

SS requires unable to do any form of work

if he can sit on a stool or in a chair as part of his job... bank teller, receptionist, office worker, customer service, cashier (the one's at Aldi's sit on a chair & I have seen accommodation with stool for a cashier at Walmart).... even if he does not like the idea of those jobs, if he is able to do them, then he will not be approved for SS

It would be in his best interest to get into Vocational Rehab & have them evaluate what he is able to do & then get training to do something within his abilities

[Sherry L]

You go to the social security office and put in an application and show them the medical records. If he gets denied, go to mylerdisability.com. They were great in helping me get my disability.

[JMITW]

knee--not a chance..I've had a really bad knee since I was 13 and started work at 14


you say nothing about treatment attempts for the hip issue itself

what he needs to do is get himself to vocational rehab to get training for a job he can do. he may be able to get a seat cushion that will allow him to sit for longer periods and there are jobs that allow a person to change position often

there should be NO EXCEPTION to the rule--a knee problem should not qualify...if his back/hip was severely affected even after treatment-maybe---but what you say doesn't indicate that it is actually severe.

some people have MANY THINGS other than a knee issue--that affects the way they walk---they would not get ssdi because their gait was off just because of a knee

[Caroline]

Actually, although generally speaking knee problems don't qualify someone, your soon-to-be might well be the exception to the rule. How does he walk? If he has a really bad gate when he walks, he might get approved. My hubby was going through chemo, ended up with diabetes, polynueropathy, because no one caught the diabetes in time, high blood pressure, and because of the chemicals in chemo, he also ended up with CFS, something like Turret's Syndrome and something like palsy, where he can't keep his balance when walking, but all that didn't get him disability. The way he walked into the appeals decision and the way he walked out did. Go figure.

On the other hand, the real question you have to wonder is how much would he get? Assuming your soon-to-be was only in the Army for the traditional 4-6 years, became a cop and then couldn't be even before he got off walking a beat, he doesn't have many years of work where he paid into the system. I'm not sure how they figure out how much we get paid, but he now makes 1.3rd of what he used to make a month, and I'm about at the same level. (I became disabled a few years before him. He might qualify, but if you aren't able to make a good living until you retire, you two are in financial straits.

My nephew found out he has Parkinson's a year and a half ago. His wife is now going through nursing school, knowing she'll need to be the main bread winner some day, and the nephew is into heavy exercising to keep what he has as long as he can. It is wiser if they (and you and your soon-to-be) start figuring out how to make money at home on the web. It's one of the few things disabled people can do, because you have no set hours. If he can only sit for an hour, he can make money on the web for an hour, then take a break and come back to it, when he's up to sitting again.

Some suggested ways to make money on the web:
- SEO
- Affiliate marketing
- Creating websites that become popular enough to draw in enough visitors to get big businesses to advertise.
- Writing articles for other people's websites.
- Advertising online for some skill he can do at home (which still requires learning how to do SEO to get the site noticed) like typing papers, crafting or whatever else he already has skills to do.
- Write a novel and get it published. (That's my choice, but it takes a long time.)

[gardensallday]

I think it's unlikely he will be approved. SSDI is for people who cannot work more or less full time at ANY sort of job. If he can do sedentary work, he will not be approved. Now, some people are already close to retirement age when they get physically hurt, and that group of folks gets SSDI easier because they are not expected to do extensive retraining for another line of work. SSDI is not very much money, much less than he is accustomed to earning, and it is not in his best interests to pursue that idea. If he'd had own occupation private disability insurance, then he would have some income for a couple of years, until the policy moves on to a definition similar to the SSA's definition. If he was in management at that store (sounds like he wasn't) perhaps he did have a long term disability policy, and that may help out while he trains for other work, and may even pay for training. Perhaps workers comp pays something towards retraining, but I don't know about that.

[Jan]

Slim to none. Plenty of jobs he can do where he doesn't have to be on his feet.