Obsolete Jobs & Denial of Disability

 

Effective Saturday, June 22, 2024, the Social Security Administration took a baby step toward eliminating obsolete jobs in its disability determination.

Social Security has two disability programs, Supplemental Security Income Disability (which has an income and asset test) and Social Security Insurance Disability (which requires prior work under Social Security). 

If claimants satisfy income and assets or insured status tests, Social Security has a five-part sequential determination:

1.   There is a limit on what claimants can earn at the time they are applying for disability.

2.    Social Security must find that the claimants have a severe impairment or a combination of impairments, and, if so:

3.    Claimants are approved if their impairments “meet” or “equal” certain Social Security “listed impairments.”

4.    But if claimants do not “meet” or “equal” certain Social Security “listed impairments,” they are denied if they can work in their past jobs.*

5   But if claimants cannot work in their past jobs, claimants are denied if they can do other work which exists in significant numbers in the national economy.  But claimants are approved if they cannot do other work which exists in significant numbers in the national economy.

According to the Washington Post, Social Security can no longer cite some 114 occupations in the 1977 Dictionary of Occupational Titles (US Dept. of Labor) as jobs that “exist in significant numbers.”  So those obsolete jobs cannot be used to deny disability benefits.  Additionally, Social Security has identified 13 job titles that will require particular scrutiny before denial of benefits.

Social Security routinely uses “vocational experts” in its hearings, and those experts base their testimony in large part on the 1977 Dictionary of Occupational Titles.

The Post article noted that Social Security will still rely on 3127 unskilled job listings in the 1977 Dictionary of Occupational Titles, which has approximately 12,700 total listings, both unskilled and skilled.  Since 2012 and at a cost of $300 million, Social Security has been studying an updated system from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (US Dept. of Labor).

*See my posts regarding obsolete jobs at step 4, past work:

https://disabilitydisability.blogspot.com/2016/08/overturn-thomas-decision.html

https://disabilitydisability.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-grammatical-rule-of-last-antecedent.html

See https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/24/social-security-disability-benefits-jobs-list-outdated/

See Charles T. Hall blog: https://socsecnews.blogspot.com/

See Social Security: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/reference.nsf/links/06212024022159PM

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/reference.nsf/links/06212024021759PM

See my post:

https://disabilitydisability.blogspot.com/2023/01/another-way-benefits-are-denied.html

 

 

 

 

Long Covid & NIH Study on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

 

A new study on myalgic encephalitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) from the National Institutes of Health also looked at Long Covid whose conditions are considered “closely related,” the Washington Post reported recently.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/11/long-covid-treatment-research-hope/

The Post said that the research was “the most in-depth and multidisciplinary study of ME/CFS to date, involving more than 75 investigators across 15 NIH institutes and taking nearly eight years to complete.” The manuscript was published in Nature Communications.  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45107-3#Sec17

In summarizing the results, the newspaper noted:  “[t]he research provided clear evidence of physiological abnormalities in ME/CFS patients. . . . [r]esearchers found functional and not structural abnormalities. . . . [and] investigators discovered significant differences between men and women. . . . in immune cell populations and markers of inflammation.”

The Post said the study “support[s] the hypothesis that ME/CFS is due to persistent immune activation [or] ‘post-infectious syndromes’ . . . .”  The same characterization may apply to Long Covid and other conditions.

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RE: Social Security and SSI Disability, see SSR 14-1p: Titles II and XVI: Evaluating Cases Involving Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/rulings/di/01/SSR2014-01-di-01.html

 

 

Nociception and other pain information

 

“Why doesn’t my doctor believe I’m in pain?” by Trisha Pasricha, MD, a neuro-gastroenterologist, recommends, among other things, that when you are experiencing pain, that you bring a support person to your next doctor’s visit to help you advocate for yourself.

In my book, “How To Get Social Security Disability & SSI Disability,” I also recommend that you have a Personal Advocate to help support you in a process where many people, not just your doctor, may not believe that you are in pain.

See,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/09/25/chronic-pain-management-doctor/