Any SSI recipients have a redetermination?
Hi all,
Despite tonight being a time of grief for me, something else has been a constant, nagging worry at the back of my head. I know we have disability workers on the boards, so maybe someone can help.
I am disabled with a syndrome which has no treatment or cure. For about eight or nine years now, I've been under the care of the University of Miami for pain management. That's all there is to be done, along with restrictive lifestyle changes.
When it came down to the point where I could no longer function, I filed for SSI (I had become disabled too young to get enough work credits for SSDI). The first two paper-only applications were denied, but I received a fully favorable decision after going before an administrative law judge. They granted me maximum SSI benefits, I made an agreement with them to pay fair share to my parents for living with them, and that has been it for all these years.
Recently, I received a paper saying it was time for a redetermination to see if I was still ill and eligible for benefits. It wasn't unexpected that it would eventually happen, so I filled out the short bit of paperwork and sent it along. My worries began when, a little under 30 days later, both myself and my mother were sent heaping questionnaires because they needed "more information" about my illness. We did those, and I am waiting in a very, very scared fashion to learn the outcome.
Is it normal for them to ask for more information? What I don't understand is why they'd need more if they have read my medical records at all. The pain management department at the university should have plenty of records showing that I am the same, if not worse, and they are still treating me for the very same disability I was given a fully favorable ruling on.
I'm worried that it's going to turn into a battle like it was when I originally tried to get approved, when everything I had read suggested this was an easy process if you were still ill. I'm not as well and up for the fight as I was back then.
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