If you have been diagnosed with macular degeneration, you will probably be under financial stress—especially if you are unable to work. However, to ease this situation you may be eligible for Social Security disability benefits (SSDI) from the Social Security Administration (SSA).
If you qualify, your medical treatment will be paid for with any other costs that you are confronted with every day. Do not expect these payments to be automatic as you will have to provide supporting information when you submit your application.
Criteria for Applying for SSDI Benefits
As soon as your application has been submitted, the SSA will use their criteria to determine if you are eligible. These criteria are both medical and non-medical and help to determine whether you qualify for Social Security disability (SSDI, the program based on work credits). The most important thing is proving you have a medical disability while, secondly, you have to have earned enough credits to be considered "insured" under the SSDI program or alternatively your assets and income need to be minimal enough in order to qualify for an SSI program.
Medical Documents Needed in Your Application
If it has been at least 12 months since your macular degeneration diagnosis, you must provide medical documents and proof that helps to back up your claim based on your lymphoma. What stands out as most important is asking your physician to provide confirmation of your diagnosis.
The physician must indicate what treatment you are getting, including any prescribed medication, the symptoms you have to endure, and the lab results that confirm your diagnosis. You will be asked to include the names, phone numbers, and addresses of all the physicians that have provided treatment and any other health professionals including medical facilities you may have gone to for treatment.
Other Information You’ll Need
As well as providing medical documents with your application, your work records are needed as well. These should show that you were working full time work but now because of macular degeneration you are unable to do so.
The SSA will want a summary of all the places where you were employed and the sort of work you did, as well as your latest W-2 form.
If you worked for yourself and were categorized as self-employed, you will need to provide your birth certificate, your most recent federal tax return form, and your Social Security number.
How a Social Security Attorney Can Help You with Your Application
Getting your SSDI or SSI entitlements is never easy as the SSA may make any excuse to deny your application. If you ask a Social Security attorney to work on your behalf, you should find that your application is more likely to be approved far faster than if you submitted the application on your own.
Social Security attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, which means they only get paid if you are approved for receiving a benefit. They can also appeal an application if it is denied.
