WHAT IS "RECONSIDERATION" AND IS IT USEFUL?

 "Reconsideration" is for disability claims that have been denied.  It is the first appeal after the Social Security disability application is denied.

What happens at "Reconsideration"?

Your case goes back to the state's Disability Determination Service (DDS), which is the agency that denied it in the first place.  Supposedly, a different person re-examines the case and double checks to make sure no errors were made.  In about 90 percent of all cases the claim is rubber stamped "DENIED" and returned unpaid.

Is the process useful?  It is not useful to me and I cannot think of many of my clients it has helped.  As stated, it is pretty much a rubber stamp denial service.  We in the profession often refer to DDS as the "Disability Denial Service."

That is why I always use the word "Reconsideration" in quotation marks.

In theory, "Reconsideration" could be useful in a situation where the claimant has had a sudden worsening of his/her medical condition after being denied.  For example, if the claimant recently had a heart attack, stroke or dramatic decrease in the ability to function--Social Security might pick this up during "Reconsideration" and make a favorable decision.  But this is generally not the case.

The real effect of "Reconsideration" is to delay the process.  In Alabama, it delays the case no more than about 100 days.  On the other hand, in Tennessee a claimant can languish in "Reconsideration" for a year--or more.  Many claimants die before Tennessee can move them out of this process.

Are the claimants denied at "Reconsideration" really ineligible for disability benefits?  Not according to the administrative law judges who later hear their cases.  Among the cases that go on to a hearing, 59 percent are approved for their benefits.

So, at best, the "Reconsideration" process has.....

• A failure rate of about 59 percent.  It makes the wrong decision almost 6 times out of 10.  (Any employee with that error rate would be fired).
  

• Delays of about 90 to 110 days, holding the claimant back from a hearing that could get them approved. 

"Reconsideration" is useful for the government, however.  It saves the US government billions of dollars because thousands of claimants either die or drop their appeals after "Reconsideration."

Therefore, it's hard for me to see this program as anything more than a stalling or delaying tactic to save the government money.

Can it be skipped?  No.  You cannot take a denied claim to a judge unless you have been denied at "Reconsideration."

So the appeal steps are:

1. Denial
2. Reconsideration
3. Hearing
4. Appeals Council
5. Lawsuit in Federal District Court