One of the least fruitful phases of the Social Security disability process is called the Request for Reconsideration. This phase occurs when disability applicants appeal an initial medical denial from the Social Security Administration. Considering that Social Security denies approximately 75 percent of all initial applications, you can bet there are plenty of people each year who have to deal with the phrase Request for Reconsideration.
After Social Security makes an initial determination denying that an applicant is disabled and appeal, it is required to continue the claim through this process. The denial rates at this level are even higher, close to 90 percent, due to the fact that there is really only a short window Social Security is looking at as far as medical evidence and they are reconsidering a decision that they had already previously made. The funny thing is that not all states participate in the Request for Reconsideration phase even though Social Security is a federal program.
Even though the Reconsideration phase gives claimants an extra opportunity to be approved compared to the states that do not participate in the Reconsideration phase, it is probably beneficial to skip the phase all together. There are a few reasons why it would be advantageous to skip the Reconsideration phase. The first is what we have already discussed; the denial rates are extremely high. The second reason is it takes Social Security up to six months to make a new decision. There are hopes that eventually Social Security will get rid of the Reconsideration phase all together across the country, but until then it is valuable to know which states currently do not have a Reconsideration phase:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- California (Los Angeles North and Los Angeles West Branches)
- Colorado
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- Missouri
- New Hampshire
- New York
- Pennsylvania
