If you suffer from breast cancer and it has forced you off the job, you need to know how to file a persuasive disability claim with the Social Security Administration (SSA). This means understanding what documents you need to apply for Social Security Disability (SSD) with breast cancer. These documents include doctor’s notes, test results, x-rays, medications, etc.
Twelve percent of women in the United States will develop some form of breast cancer in their lifetimes. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHH) expects physicians to diagnose nearly 277,00 new cases of invasive breast cancer and more than 48,000 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer in 2020. As the most common type of cancer, breast cancer can lead to debilitating symptoms that make it possible to hold down a job.
Medical Evidence to Submit for a Breast Cancer Claim
Before you file a disability claim for breast cancer, you need to gather and organize all the medical evidence associated with your claim.
You should include the following documents with your breast cancer claim:
- Mammograms
- Treatment history
- Results of surgeries, radiation, and/or chemotherapy
- Biopsy results
- Surgeon’s diagnostic results
- Oncologist’s notes of any progress
Make sure to make copies of every medical document immediately after you receive it from your primary care doctor. In addition to medical documents, you also need to submit paperwork that confirms the amount of time you have missed work because of breast cancer. Copies of pay statements, bank statements, and written testimony from your employer is a good start to recover the lost wages caused by breast cancer.
Meet the Standards Listed in the Blue Book
Created to assist healthcare professionals in helping the SSA review disability claims, the Blue Book consists of every medical condition that qualifies applicants for benefits. The SSA medical condition guide includes three sections, with the second section called evidentiary requirements listing all the types of medical documents that the SSA reviews to determine benefits eligibility.
For decades, the SSA has wanted to receive medical evidence directly from the health care workers that have diagnosed, treated, and rehabilitated breast cancer patients. The third section, which is called Listing of Impairments, presents the symptoms associated with a long list of medical conditions.
Breast cancer is discussed in Section 13.10 of the Blue Book. The blue book listing for breast cancer requires patients to meet at least one of the following requirements:
- Late-stage or terminal
- Distant metastases
- Recurrent carcinoma
- Inflammatory carcinoma
- Metastasized to a minimum of 10 axillary nodes
- Metastasized to the infraclavicular or supraclavicular nodes
- Metastasized to the ipsilateral internal mammary nodes
- Tumor with direct extension to the skin or chest wall
If the SSA denies your claim because you did not meet the listings for breast cancer mentioned in the Blue Book, you have the right to qualify for disability benefits by measuring your residual functional capacity (RFC). The RFC assessment determines the maximum amount of work you can do with breast cancer. Although the SSA requires an in-house medical examination for an RFC, you should also get one from your physician.
Complete a Free Evaluation Form
Since the SSA denies a majority of disability claims, you should ensure you present the strongest claim possible by completing a free case evaluation. A disability lawyer will conduct a thorough review of your claim to determine if it needs more evidence to convince the SSA that you deserve financial assistance because of breast cancer. Fill out the Free Case Evaluation today!
