Should I Appeal or Reapply For SSDI?

There is really no strong benefit to either option without some element that can function to alter your situation.  If you have received a denial notice that your claim for disability benefits has been denied your next step is to timely request a reconsideration of your claim.  Most people will request “claim reconsideration” where they have new or substantial additional medical evidence concerning the diagnosis of the disability or the level of severity of the resultant disabling condition.  This forms a strong basis for the reconsideration of the claim and the eventual approval for benefits.  If the applicant is just unhappy with the claim outcome and he doesn’t really have anything new in medical evidence or status deterioration to add during a reconsideration process then he would just be wasting everybody’s time and effort to go forward with the appeal. 

Oops, Missed the Deadline

Where an applicant genuinely believed he had a valid claim, but for some reason, after receiving his notice of claim denial, he missed the sixty day deadline for submitting his request for reconsideration of his disability claim.  In this case the applicant would be well advised to reapply for benefits based on the same disability claim but in the re-application he should including the exact same new or additional medical documentation that he would he would have provided to further support his claim if it had been subject to an appeal or case reconsideration process by Social Security.   There is no limit on the amount of time that must pass before a previous applicant may re-apply for disability benefits; and so as they say, start today!

Negligent Diagnosis or Medical Evaluation

Sometimes an applicant would seek to re-apply for disability benefits instead of requesting a reconsideration of the claim if they have discovered that a significant error of some kind was made in the information, diagnosis or other important element of the disability claim was made within the previous application.  It may be less confusing to simply re-apply for benefits under the correct diagnosis of the disabling condition than to try to explain in a request for reconsideration why the diagnosis was patently false due to an instance of medical malpractice or negligence or similar unexpected contingency with the evidence supporting the disability claim.

Getting Legal Help

If you or a member of your family is confused or undecided as to whether to file an appeal of a claim denial notice or to simply re-apply for disability benefits then it would be important to contact a disability lawyer to access some experienced guidance on the best next step to take in the disability claim applicant application process.