When Can Diabetes Qualify for Disability Benefits?
You can qualify for disability benefits with diabetes when your capacity to function in a work setting is severely limited.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a measurement known as residual functional capacity (RFC) to determine this. The SSA is trying to find out what your capabilities are despite your health issues.
Your diabetes disability claim should answer questions like:
- How long can you sit, stand or walk?
- How much can you lift and carry?
- Can you focus at work?
- Can you stay on tasks long enough to complete your work?
- Can you understand, remember and apply information?
- Are you able to interact effectively with coworkers, supervisors and customers?
For your RFC assessment, different types of work are broken into five categories—sedentary, light, medium, heavy and very heavy.
If Social Security believes you can still do light or sedentary work despite your struggle with diabetes—even if you can’t continue in your previous work that was more strenuous—you’re likely to be denied disability benefits.
Other factors like your age, your education and job skills also influence your RFC.
But no matter your background, the key is showing that your diabetes symptoms leave you unable to work much at all.
A claims examiner isn’t just going to take your word when you tell them about your struggles. You’ll need objective evidence, from sources other than yourself.
Doctors’ notes about your diagnosis, information about your treatments, and your doctor’s assessment of your everyday functioning all help.
You should also provide evidence of disruptions to your work when you were still trying to work, like missed days due to your diabetes symptoms.
For a challenging disability claim like diabetes, one of your best strategies is showing how your diabetes interacts with other health impairments that the SSA recognizes more clearly, like:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Kidney disease
- Mental health issues like anxiety and depression
- Obesity
- Vision loss
An Athens disability lawyer from Silver & Archibald can help you gather your medical evidence, give Social Security a complete picture of your health, and get your application for disability benefits filed.
What Kinds of Disability Benefits Can I Claim with Diabetes?
Social Security runs two different disability benefits programs—one for people with extensive work records and one for people with severe economic limitations.
Both require you to show that your diabetes symptoms will make it impossible to work any job for 12 months or more.
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is meant for people who have been working and paying into Social Security for a while. Monthly payments are calculated based on your past income.
You can qualify for SSDI even if you have significant assets, like investments, properties or savings. This program is purely concerned with whether or not you can work with your health issues.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) doesn’t require a work history, but you can only qualify if you meet strict financial requirements. An individual with more than $2,000 in financial resources or a couple with more than $3,000 in assets won’t qualify for SSI.
Both programs give you access to health care coverage in addition to monthly benefits payments.
SSDI recipients can enroll in Medicare after a 24-month waiting period from the time of disability approval, even if they’re too young to qualify for this coverage otherwise. SSI recipients can qualify for Medicaid as soon as they get approved for benefits.
Qualifying for either benefits program is tough, but a Georgia Social Security Disability lawyer can guide you through your application from the first steps.
What If My Diabetes Disability Claim Gets Denied?
If your diabetes claim is denied, most of the time you should appeal, and file your appeal promptly.
Even when you think you’ve made it obvious how your health limits your ability to work, the SSA could still deny your claim.
Only around 35% of initial disability claims get approved in Georgia due to Social Security’s high standards, efforts to avoid awarding benefits to unqualified people, and the complexity of proving disability for conditions like diabetes.
The good news is that you get multiple chances to appeal, as long as you respond to Social Security within 60 days of your denial.
Plenty of people get denied SSDI or SSI benefits and go on to win them on appeal. We recommend having an Athens Social Security Disability lawyer on your side.
Your disability attorney can:
- Take the time to really listen to your story
- Help you fill out SSA forms accurately
- Identify evidence that can strengthen your diabetes disability claim
- Get the appeals process started by requesting reconsideration
- Prepare you for what to expect at your disability hearing, like what kinds of questions the judge could ask
- Represent you at your hearing in front of an administrative law judge (ALJ)
- Analyze the judge’s decision for legally appealable errors if you get denied
- Keep you updated on the status of your diabetes disability claim
The disability lawyers of Silver & Archibald are ready to help you do everything needed to get your diabetes disability claim approved.
From our office in Athens, we’ve helped thousands of hardworking Georgians in Atlanta, Marietta, Macon, Columbus and across the state win the benefits that they deserve.
We know you’re going through a tough time, but SSDI or SSI payments can make a difference in your life, and we want to help.
Schedule a free, no-obligation consultation about your diabetes disability claim.
Get to Know Silver & Archibald Disability Attorneys
Legal cases involving your health struggles are highly personal matters. When you’re looking for help, you want someone who treats you with the personal care, respect, and dignity this moment requires.
Answers to Common Questions About Social Security Disability
Social Security Disability is a huge program with a vast set of rules. As a resource for you as you sort out your disability claim, the disability lawyers at Silver & Archibald have prepared answers to some of the most common questions people have.
Common Disability Benefits Questions »
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