Marc Whitehead & Associates

Claims for Asthma Disability

Our Attorneys Pursue Asthma Disability Benefits on Denied Claims

If you suffer from asthma and it affects your ability to work, disability benefits may be available to you from the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Veterans disability program, or from a long term disability (LTD) insurance policy.

Our firm has helped thousands of individuals appeal and overturn wrongly denied claims by government programs and insurance companies. We understand how asthma disability has wide-ranging effects that go beyond breathing problems, and seriously affects your ability to work. We also know how to legally document, support, communicate and prove your disability in order to win a favorable decision.

Asthma, a form of chronic obstructive lung disease ( COPD), can be an intensely disabling condition. People with this incurable disease know asthma symptoms can make them feel as though they are suffocating. Their airways become swollen and sensitive, as the muscles surrounding their airways tighten and fill with mucus. Asthma sufferers live with extreme shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing and chest tightness.

Winning Social Security Claims for Asthma Disability

If your initial claim was denied by the Social Security Administration (SSA), we can help you appeal the denial, or answer any questions you have. Basically, the SSA’s determination comes down to whether your asthma prevents you from working, and your condition has lasted or is expected to last for a minimum of one year, or to result in death.

If your condition meets or equals the degree of severity as described in the SSA Listing of Impairments, known as the Blue Book, you will qualify for Social Security disability payments. Asthma is listed in the Blue Book under Respiratory System section 3.03, Asthma, and has two parts: A and B. You should be found eligible for benefits if you meet either part.

Section 3.03A states that anyone diagnosed with chronic asthmatic bronchitis will be evaluated under the listing 3.02A (Chronic Pulmonary Insufficiency, which includes COPD) – please read more about COPD here.

Social Security puts major emphasis on medical reports and historical documentation when deciding whether to grant benefits for asthma disability. This makes it essential to build strong partnerships with your doctor and other health care providers. Often asthma victims do not entirely meet the SSA listings – yet they may still qualify for Social Security disability compensation due to vocational and many other factors. Attorney Marc Whitehead is Board Certified in Social Security Law, and can help you by preparing a strong legal case for appeal.

Help for Veterans Claiming VA Disability for Asthma

Many soldiers return home from deployment suffering multiple disorders, contracted from all regions of the world. Exposure to a multitude of agents - toxins, viral infections, micro-particles, oil well fire smoke, biological or chemical weapons hit during air and ground offensives, and CARC (a coating required on all combat and combat support equipment that resists chemical warfare agents) - can lead to disabling respiratory diseases including severe asthma.

To determine whether your service-connected asthma qualifies for Veterans disability, the VA uses their guide called the Schedule for Rating Disabilities. This manual contains an exhaustive list of medical conditions and hundreds of diagnostic codes. Asthma is listed in the Schedule as a disabling condition under the Subpart B, Disability Ratings – The Respiratory System.

The VA rating schedule evaluates the severity of a veteran’s asthma disability and symptoms according to loss of function, categorized by body systems, and the effect the disease has on his or her ability hold down a job and earn a living.

Denied VA disability claims for asthma are common. If your claim has been denied, you have the right to file an appeal – and our attorneys are well-prepared to help you. We are accredited Veterans Attorneys with decades of experience helping our military personnel obtain their rightful, indispensable disability benefits.

LTD Insurance Claims for Asthma Disability

Your doctor has told you that your asthma has made you unable to work, and recommended that you file a claim on your long term disability (LTD) insurance policy. So you applied for coverage – but the insurance carrier denied your claim.

Insurance providers routinely search for every possible angle – both technical and legal - that will enable them to deny or delay a legitimate claim, with the hope that you will give up. With claims for asthma disability, one of the first (of many) angles an insurer will pursue is to say your asthma is a pre-existing condition.

With valid claims of asthma disability, a skilled lawyer to advocate on your behalf is often the missing link in proving that you are in fact disabled under the insurance policy. Our disability attorneys excel in challenging insurers who do not live up to their end of the contract. Don’t lose coverage when you need it most – ask our attorneys to evaluate your claim at no cost to you.

Take the right steps to win your claim for asthma disability.

Allow us to fully evaluate the reason for denial, the legal, medical and vocational issues of your case, as well as your ability to survive in the workplace.

Please call our attorneys toll free at 800-562-9830 or contact us here to discuss your asthma disability now.

We represent the disabled nationwide.