What A Disability Benefit Recipient Should know about “Medical improvement likely”?

Every year the Federal government of USA provides 8.5 million people SSDI benefits and SSI benefits to another 8 million recipients. While there are many instances where outsiders think that it is easy to get SSDI or SSI to earn free income. However, those working with the disabled understand the difficulty of receiving benefits under the SSA. 

The SSA administration facilitates US citizens who are suffering from a complete disability or are suffering from critical medical conditions that do not allow them to earn their living. Applying for social security disability and winning the same is a time taking process. Almost 47% of the total SSDI application each year gets rejected due to noncompliance with the Blue Book. Another 23% of applications get rejected every year applying for the SSI program.

With the statistics, it is clear how difficult it is today to receive social security benefits under the SSA programs. 

In the year 2019, a new phrase is introduced to the SSA called ‘Medical improvement likely’. This is considered to have a mentionable effect on those who are beneficiary to SSDI or SSI. Questions may arise if you are receiving benefits under SSA. Here we will cover most of the questions related to the new proposed rules in SSA.

What does ‘Medical improvement likely’ mean?

In late 2019, a new section is proposed to be considered while reviewing the SSA beneficiary application. 

It is said that disability may or may not be permanent. Different people will take different time frames to recover. Therefore, a review of the applicant’s medical condition will be judged in intervals to evaluate their recovery status. However, their frequency of reevaluation may depend on the present medical condition of an applicant.

Currently, three categories are considered for reviewing the disability of a beneficiary, such as:

1. MIE or Medical Improvement Expected- This is applicable for people who are suffering from a probably quick recovery disability such as premature birth. In such a case, the reevaluation is done in an interval of 6 to 18 months.
2. MIP or Medical Improvement Possible- This is applicable where a person has a scope to recover but there is no guarantee of recovery. In such cases, the reevaluation is done in 3 years.
3. MINE or Medical Improvement Not Expected- This is applicable for people who have no mentionable chance of recovery. This may be applicable for a person suffering from the loss of a limb. In such cases, re-evaluation is done every 7 years.

So, now the question is, how Medical improvement likely is different from the above-mentioned categories? Well, under Medical development likely re-evaluation will be done every 2 years, and it will be considered somewhere between MIE and MIP.

How will it affect the applicants of SSA?

If you applying for disability benefits today, then you will understand the complication of the process. Moreover, it is incredibly time-taking as the application has to pass through a lot of scrutinies. If medical improvement likely gets implemented, the process will become more time taking than ever before. Therefore, you cannot submit an incomplete application while you apply for disability benefits under the SSA.

Other than that, more than 2 million disability benefit recipients including children and elderly over the age of 56 to 60 will be affected by the amendment of SSA rules.

What should you as a beneficiary or as a new applicant for social security benefits?

There are a lot of other details that need to be considered while applying to the SSA programs. If you are a recurring beneficiary of social security benefits under the Federal government or want to apply a fresh application to receive such benefits, then consult with your Disability Lawyers. An experienced social security attorney will be able to answer all your queries and help you to process your application to help receive disability benefits at the earliest. 

It is a wise choice to consult an experienced disability lawyer

It is suggested to contact Disability Lawyer at The Chermol & Fishman, LLC to make it an easy process to receive the benefits without facing a denial. We are known to handle disability cases very strategically so that the disabled and his/her family members get the benefits for their loss. Therefore, it is recommended to consult a disability lawyer in your locality so that they can guide you accordingly.