What is my “Date Last Insured?”

Back in January, I answered a question from a blog reader about Social Security disability credits. That reader wondered why Social Security had advised her that she had “run out of credits.”

You earn credits based on earnings during the approximately 10 year period prior to filing for disability. If you wait too file or if you allege disability as of a date where your credits have run out, you cannot recover disability benefits (you could recover SSI, but SSI benefits are usually lower than SSDI and SSI will be offset by household income or assets).

When you file for benefits, Social Security calculates something called your “date last insured.” As long as the judge or adjudicator finds you disabled on or before your date last insured, you will receive disability benefits. If you are found disabled after your date last insured, you will not qualify for SSDI benefits.

In my law practice, one of my first tasks with any new client is to determine that client’s date last insured. I have learned the hard way that if I am successful in proving disability, but the onset date used by the judge is after the date last insured, my client won’t receive any benefits and I won’t get paid for my efforts.

My colleague Social Security lawyer Tomasz Stasiuk in Colorado, recently posted a very well written explanation of the date last insured issue. Take a minute and read Tomasz’ post because it clearly discusses and explains the major issues related to your date last insured.

Free, Personalized Health Information Available on the Internet

Jonathan
August 7, 2007

I read an interesting article on the BBC News feed that spoke about a link between diabetes complications and a Vitamin B-1 (thiamine) deficiency. According to the article, diabetics expel Vitamin B-1 from their bodies at a rate 15 times that of non-diabetics. Thiamine apparently helps ward off common diabetic complications such as heart disease and eye problems.

Obviously, you should not attempt to treat yourself of starting taking vitamin supplements without first speaking to your doctor. The point here is that if you are a diabetic or a patient afflicted with any other chronic condition, you should use the power of the Internet to learn about new developments and treatments – both in the United States as well as elsewhere in the world.

Google, Yahoo and numerous other free services allow you to subscribe to alert services whereby you can receive an email notificaiton if a news story appears that includes specific "key phrases" you choose. You can and should also learn about RSS feeds – another way to keep up to date with information. I use the Google Alert service to keep up with developments in the Social Security disability area among other topics.

If you have a favorite trusted source for medical or health care information, please comment on this post – I’ll create a page on this blog with a repository of those links.

[tags] diabetes and thiamine deficiency, health care information on the Internet, Google Alerts, RSS feeds [/tags]

Recommended Blog: Disability Doc

Jonathan
May 12, 2007

I recently ran across a very useful disability blog called "Disability Doc," published by a medical doctor named Keith Holden. Dr. Holden has extensive experience in the Social Security world, having been involved in training State Agency adjudicators and consultants.

I find this site especially helpful in its discussions of the medical listings published by Social Security disability. Cases that clearly meet the listings are often approved early – the ones that don’t meet a listing end up in front of a judge where we argue for disability under a "functional capacity" theory or under a "grid" theory.

If your case meets a listing, you can avoid the two year delays and the hassle of filing appeals and endless paperwork. Dr. Holden’s discussion of the listings helps demystify the complicated medical jargon found in the actual text of the listings themselves.

Compare for example the actual listing for chronic heart failure in the listings with Dr. Holden’s explanation of chronic heart failure. You will see that the Disability Doc’s explanation contains definitions of medical terms, it describes the symptoms and it describes the tests needed to prove that you meet this listing.

It appears that Dr. Holden is adding pages about various listings over time. Right now, he has explanations of several of the most commonly seen listings, including cardiovascular disease, genitourinary diseases, Down’s Syndrome, some cancers and some musculoskeletal problems, blood disorders.

Realize that most physicians are focused on treating you, not on issuing narrative reports that track Social Security listings. I think that you will find the articles and discussions on the Disability Doc’s web site very useful in helping you understand the Social Security listings and other Social Security issues from an insider’s perspective.

[tags] disability doc, Dr. Keith Holden, Social Security listings [/tags]

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