Q: Is there anything you can do to speed up your Social Security disability claim?
A: The best thing you can do to assure that your claim is reviewed quickly and with a fair decision is to have all required paperwork, supporting documents and medical records submitted on time, thoroughly and correctly. The most common reason for delays is incomplete or absent medical records. If you are not confident that you can provide all of the necessary items, it would be wise to seek assistance from a social security disability attorney. The second thing you can do to assure that your claim is reviewed quickly is to periodically check the status of your claim. If you have a social security disability attorney, he or she will do that for you. If you do not, simply call the disability examiner assigned to your claim to get a status check. Knowing the status of your claim will help you know if there are any issues or missing information and you can quickly resolve them. If you are having extreme financial difficulties or other circumstances that necessitate a speedier review, you can also submit a hardship letter to demonstrate dire need to try to expedite your claim. You will need to provide evidence (medical bills, eviction notices, collections letters, etc) to support your convincingly written hardship letter. There is no requirement to have a social security disability attorney help with this letter, but having one on your side will assure that you are doing all you can to convince Social Security of your dire need to have your claim expedited.
Q: Should your social security disability attorney or you be the primary point of contact with Social Security?
A: There should only be one point of contact with Social Security. If you have hired a social security disability attorney, that point of contact should be him or her.