Marc Whitehead & Associates

Multiple Sclerosis Disability Benefits

Attorney Help When Claims for Multiple Sclerosis Disability Benefits Are Denied

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a serious, often crippling disease of the central nervous system that most often occurs in people between the ages of 20 and 50. In the early stages, symptoms tend to fluctuate. As time goes on, new symptoms flare up. Severity and progress of the disease can be unpredictable, which makes MS difficult to identify initially and fully diagnose. MS usually becomes worse over time.

If you are having trouble getting disability benefits for MS, you may benefit from a free evaluation of your claim. We have helped many clients appeal their denied claims to secure the benefits owed them under long term disability insurance plans, Social Security Disability, and the Veterans disability program.

Living with Multiple Sclerosis Disability

Most people with MS experience loss of muscle control, unstable walking, fatigue, vision problems, weakness, and cognitive decline such as poor memory and concentration. Other symptoms include problems with mood, muscle spasms, paralysis, pain, tremor, swallowing problems, bladder and bowel problems, depression and difficulty breathing.

Not everyone who is living with multiple sclerosis will quality for disability benefits, as different benefit programs have highly restrictive criteria that must be met. That is why the medical records of each client must be reviewed to determine the level of constraints and limitations caused by MS. Providers of multiple sclerosis disability benefits favor hard evidence on which to award a claim. Weakness and fatigue are difficult to measure. In many cases, we are able to help our clients document and prove the severity of their disability.

Winning Multiple Sclerosis Disability Benefits Under Social Security

The Social Security Administration (SSA) identifies multiple sclerosis as a chronic illness that can prohibit a person from working. SSA will decide if you are disabled either by medical eligibility or vocational eligibility. It isn’t enough to just have MS. You must establish that you can no longer work.

Medical Eligibility for Multiple Sclerosis Disability:

SSA will evaluate whether your MS symptoms meet or equal the strict disability criteria in the official SSA Listing of Impairments and therefore entitle you to benefits. In the SSA listing, multiple sclerosis is listed under Neurological Listing 11.09, Multiple Sclerosis.

SSA’s Listing of Impairments for MS is grouped into the following criteria:

• Disorganization of Motor Function
• Visual Impairment
• Mental Impairment
• Significant, reproducible fatigue of motor function

Vocational Eligibility for MS Disability Benefits

To be approved under medical vocational allowance, SSA will explore your ability to perform work you have done in the past despite your multiple sclerosis. If the SSA finds you can do your past work, benefits are denied. If you cannot do your past work, the process proceeds to the next and final step.

SSA will review your age, education, work experience, and physical and mental condition to determine what other work, if any, you can do to support yourself. Many disability claims are approved under the vocational allowance, when the claim is fortified with the necessary information the SSA needs to make that determination.

As disability attorneys, we will effectively show to the decision maker or the judge how your multiple sclerosis disability prevents you from working. We focus on how your MS symptoms hinder your functional capacity, as well as communicate with your doctors to gather the essential medical documentation and records.

For these and many other reasons, the importance of having a Board Certified Social Security attorney fighting for your SSDI benefits can make the difference in overturning a denied claim on appeal.

Veterans Benefits for Multiple Sclerosis Disability

We are accredited Veteran’s claim attorneys, with years of experience helping veterans overcome the challenges involved in successfully preparing and appealing veterans’ claims. We welcome your call to discuss how we can help you establish service connection, or assist you in any other way to appeal and win your denied veterans disability claim for MS.

The VA follows their Schedule for Rating Disabilities in order to evaluate the level of a veteran’s service-connected medical condition. Multiple sclerosis disability is listed in the schedule under Neurological Conditions and Convulsive Disorders, and is rated according to loss of function and the effect on your ability to work and earn a living.

VA presumes that certain disabling conditions diagnosed in certain veterans were caused by their military service. Multiple sclerosis is such a condition. Disability benefits are based on the presumption that the disability is service-connected. Veterans with symptoms of MS in the military or within seven years after honorable discharge may be eligible for VA disability benefits.

It can take time for multiple sclerosis to be properly diagnosed; therefore, even if you’ve been discharged from service for more than seven years when your MS was first diagnosed, you could still be considered eligible for service-connected disability benefits.

The initial basic rating for this disease is 30 percent. Secondary disabilities will be rated separately, which may result in a higher combined rating that leads to an increase in disability benefits.

When Insurance Providers Deny Multiple Sclerosis Disability Claims

When MS makes it impossible to continue working, many people turn to their disability insurance policies for benefits. This can either be through an employee benefit plan or through their own private insurance policy. If your claim was denied, we encourage you to contact our disability insurance lawyers as soon as possible.

Even if your doctors support your claim, you will need representation from a qualified disability attorney to assist you in the claims and appeal process. A major factor in appealing a denial to the insurance company is to provide them with complete and objective evidence, where it becomes unrealistic for their doctors or decision makers to justify a determination that you are not disabled.

We will outline a strategy designed to win the claim on appeal. We will help you obtain expert vocational reports and in-depth medical evaluations to strengthen the evidence in the file. We will submit a thorough and conclusive legal brief detailing the errors in the original denial.

Ask Experienced Multiple Sclerosis Disability Attorneys to Review Your Case

Because multiple sclerosis is a progressive disease, it is critical that you keep all documentation and medical evaluations organized and available. For example, you should obtain and file your medical results that relate to each symptom as it appears and progresses, such as visual complications, loss of use of one or more extremities, and pain.

We can help you with all of these details. If you or a family member suffers from MS and cannot work, please call our attorneys toll free at 800-562-9830 or contact us here to discuss your multiple sclerosis disability.

Our clients are very diverse, and live throughout the United States. Learn more about Who We Help.