My SSDI case was decided favorable in August 2006 and then selected at random for quality assurance review. Monday, October 30, 2006 I was seen by a psychologist. He told me he would get his report in later that day. So, now I am patiently awaiting their final decision. I have several medical conditions, severe brain trauma (twice in 10 years), Ceberal aneurysm 1997, depression/anxiety, migraine headaches just to name a few.
Thanks,
Donna Marie
Jonathan Ginsberg responds: Donna, SSA has instituted new procedures to review the status of beneficiaries. However, I have never seen a Continuing Disability Review within two months of a favorable decision. Are you certain that your approval was in August, 2006?
In any case, the purpose of the review is to determine whether you still meet the qualifications for disability, or have you recovered sufficiently to be capable of performing some type of work.
The issue, therefore, is whether you could perform any type of work. It does not matter that a $7 per hour job would not support your family or that child care might cost more than you could earn. It does not matter if you do not have a car to get to work or if the simple, unskilled job they identify does not actually exist in your community. The only question that matters – if you were magically transported to a job site, could you perform a simple, unskilled job 8 hours a day, five days a week.
Assuming you have been continuing to receive treatment from your doctors and that your condition has not susbstantially changed, I see no reason why your eligibility for benefits should be changed. My experience has been that the consultative psychologists that SSA uses are usually fair. In any case, a treating psychologist would carry more weight with SSA than a consultative one.
If you get a notice from SSA that your eligibility is being terminated, then you would have the right to appeal and eventually present your argument to a Social Security judge.
[tags] continuing disability review, CDR, quality assurance review [/tags]