Successfully applying for Social Security Disability benefits can be complicated and time-consuming, but once the payments begin, you may feel like the ordeal is finally over. Not so fast — sooner or later, the Social Security Administration is going to want to check in with you, to see if you are still legally disabled.
Some disabling conditions improve over time, and SSA does not want to provide SSD payments to those it deems healthy enough to go back to work. So the agency periodically reviews the condition of SSD recipients, to determine if they still qualify.
As SSA explains, this process usually involves examining your medical records, as provided by your doctors and any hospitals or other facilities where you have received treatment. If the agency is not satisfied, it may request that you be examined by a doctor or undergo a specific test, at the agency’s expense.
After gathering all relevant evidence, SSA examines it to get an idea of your current medical condition, and whether it has changed since the last review. If SSA decides there has been improvement, it will then decide whether it believes your condition has improved to the point that you are now able to work.
This could result in your SSD benefits being cut off. Other reasons for SSA ending the benefits include:
- Concluding that it made a mistake in granting SSD in the first place.
- Finding that vocational training or advances in medicine make now make it possible for you to work.
- Claiming that you are not cooperating with SSA without a good reason.
Obviously, learning that SSA is taking away their benefits is distressing for many disabled people, who are still unable to work, despite the agency’s conclusions, and rely on the payments to make ends meet. Recipients facing the loss of their SSD benefits have the right to appeal, which an attorney can help with.
