As if the Social Security disability process wasn’t confusing enough, the federal agency, for some time now, has operated differently in deciding disability claims depending on which state a claimant lives in. This doesn’t sound logical, considering Social Security disability is a federal program, but it is true.
The standards in which Social Security makes medical decisions is universal across the country, but in most states claimants have an extra hurdle to get over during the disability process, but in few states claimants get to bypass this hurdle.
Everyone who applies for Social Security disability must file an initial application. A medical denial at this stage is usually followed by an appeal at the Request for Reconsideration phase where there is roughly a 90 percent denial rate. Most states require this phase of the disability process, but not all.
In the states of Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania there is no Request for Reconsideration phase. Claimants who are denied on their initial application have to appeal and request a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). Claimants in all other states have to wait for a medical denial at the Request for Reconsideration phase before requesting a hearing before an ALJ increasing the overall wait time by several months. Then there is the state of California. This is the only state in which a portion of the residents have to go through the Request for Reconsideration level and some do not. Residents of North and West Los Angeles bypass the Request for Reconsideration phase.
Initially Social Security announced that it was testing a no Request for Reconsideration phase in some select states to see how it worked, but the testing process has now gone on for several years. To learn more about this issue click here.
