Nearly half of all American adults suffer from cardiovascular disease, with heart disease being the leading cause of death among men and women nationwide.
Unfortunately, many individuals living with chronic heart conditions are unable to perform everyday activities or maintain employment. Those with debilitating heart conditions often suffer a lack of financial resources for necessary living expenses and much-needed medical care.
Are you a Michigan resident disabled by a heart condition? Unable to work and earn an income? You may be eligible for Social Security disability benefits for your heart condition.
Michigan SSDI attorneys explain the qualifications, guidelines, and process for winning SSDI claims for disabling cardiovascular diseases. Our attorneys are not only award-winning experts in the field but renowned for their compassionate and zealous representation.
What Are Qualifying Heart Conditions for Michigan Social Security Disability Benefits?
In what is known as the SSA bluebook, the Social Security Administration has compiled a list of specific heart conditions qualifying for disability benefits. In addition to listing the conditions, the SSA details particular eligibility criteria that must be met to receive a claim award for heart-related illnesses. However, there are exceptions to being eligible for disability benefits, even if your heart condition does not arise to the severity level of one of SSA’s bluebook listings.
Heart conditions that qualify for disability benefits under the SSA bluebook listing include:
- Myocardial Infarction
- Ischemic Heart Disease
- Chronic Heart Failure
- Arrhythmias
SSDI attorneys advise that while SSA lists several qualifying heart conditions, you are not restricted to those conditions alone. You may apply for SSDI for any heart condition providing it meets the characteristics of a disability. In other words, as long as your conditions renders you incapable of performing work you have done in the past 15 years, and other substantial work, then you could still be eligible for disability benefits.
What Criteria Must a Heart Condition Meet for SSDI Benefits?
SSDI evaluates several factors when determining eligibility for benefits for heart conditions. Heart conditions listed in the SSA blue book are each accompanied by a detailed list of criteria that must be met to qualify for SSDI benefits:
- medical diagnosis
- imaging which shows heart abnormalities
- stress tests and failures
- treatment plans
- related surgical procedures and hospitalizations
- Resulting physical limitations and accommodations
As mentioned, even if you do not meet the bluebook criteria, you may still qualify for SSDI. SSA will consider what your Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) is including all of the related limitations your heart conditions, as well as any other impairments you may have, cause you to experience.
Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) details your condition and its effect on you. An experienced disability attorney in Michigan can help your case by drafting a cardiac impairment RFC form that your doctor, including your cardiologist, can complete. The form should detail the specific heart-related symptoms, diagnoses, treatment, and limitations you have. Once completed by your medical provider, the form can be submitted to SSA as supportive evidence in your case to consider, increasing your odds of approval.
The eligibility criteria alone for heart conditions make navigating an SSDI benefits claim complex. Seeking counsel from a seasoned SSDI benefits attorney will help you avoid any missteps that might result in a delay or denial of your claim, and help position you in the best way possible to be approved from the start.
Filing a Michigan SSDI Benefits Claim for Heart Conditions
If your ability to work is impaired due to a heart condition, medical records documenting your symptoms and the overall severity of your impairment will be helpful for a disability case. Further, RFC forms and letters from your doctor supporting your symptoms and limitations they cause you, can help your claim result in an approval from the start.
Michigan SSDI benefits attorneys at Disability Law Group will work with you and your doctor to assess your ailment in the context of SSDI guidelines. If it is determined that you have a viable SSDI claim, our attorneys will assemble necessary support documentation and file a claim for benefits on your behalf so that you can focus on your health.
Your claim must be well prepared and substantiated with relevant medical reports and documented work limitations for the best chance of approval. If your claim is denied, your attorney will work with you to file an appeal. Relying on the skill and expertise of legal counsel familiar with the Social Security Benefits process is essential.
How a Michigan SSDI Benefits Attorney Can Help You
Navigating the complex rules and regulations of Social Security benefits for heart conditions is challenging. The last complication you need when struggling with reduced income or unemployment due to a health ailment is to go through the disability process alone. The monetary benefits and insurance that accompany a disability claim can be life-changing and you will want an experienced, compassionate team of attorneys on your side from the start.
When you work with the SSDI legal team at our office, you can feel confident that we will put our expertise and resources to work for you. Contact our office today for a free comprehensive case review with an experienced Michigan SSDI benefits attorney.
