Just realized I was wrong about appealing a denied claim

I was all set to give up on my disability claim after they denied it in March. Then my neighbor Dave, who works at the SSA office in Fresno, told me over 60% of people win on appeal. He said a lot of denials are just because they don't have enough medical records. That conversation made me dig out my doctor's notes from 2021 and 2022 and submit them, and now I'm waiting on a reconsideration. Has anyone else had a denial get reversed just by adding more medical evidence?

2 comments

2 Comments

faith_thomas13h agoOG Member

Oh YES that is EXACTLY what happened with my aunt's claim last year. She got denied initially for spinal stenosis and was ready to give up, but then her lawyer just sent in some old MRI reports from 2019 that her doctor had forgot to submit. BOOM - approved on reconsideration within 6 weeks. The system is so weird, like they WANT you to fail the first time just to see if you will fight back. Dave is totally right about the medical records thing too, half the time they dont even look at everything until you appeal. So dont lose hope with your wait, my aunt said the reconsideration felt like forever but it was way faster than she expected.

ruby_lane9h ago

My cousin went through almost the same thing with her back issues. She applied for disability in 2021, got denied, and it took her lawyer finding a single note from a specialist that mentioned nerve damage that somehow got buried in her file. That note changed everything. I swear the system is designed to wear people down so they give up. Her reconsideration took about 8 weeks but she said the waiting felt shorter because she knew they actually looked at everything the second time around. And yeah, those old reports from years ago that doctors forget to include? They can make or break your whole case.