Expedited Hearings and Social Security Disability

Generally, the Social Security Administration will expedite hearings under the following three circumstances:

1) The claimant’s illness is terminal. “TERI”, or terminal illness cases, are not supposed to be verified by Social Security personnel of allegations of terminal illness before expediting their hearings. However, before the client may be found disabled, proof must be provided that the claimant is indeed terminally ill.

2) The claimant is without and unable to obtain food, medicine, or shelter. In order to show “dire need”, the following is required:

a. A dire need situation exists when a person has insufficient income or resources to meet an immediate threat to health or safety, such as the lack of food, clothing, shelter or medical care.

b. The claimant must allege specific, immediate circumstances: (1) lack of food (i.e., without and unable to obtain food), (2) lack of medicine or medical care (e.g., the claimant expresses that he/she needs medicine/medical care but is without and unable to obtain it; the claimant does not have any health insurance, or indicated that access to necessary medical care is restricted because of lack of resources) and/or (3) lack of shelter (e.g., shut-off of utilities such that home is uninhabitable, homelessness, expiration of shelter stay, or imminent eviction or foreclosure with no means to remedy the situation or obtain shelter).

Though many people would consider themselves in a critical situation, such as living in a homeless shelter, this would not qualify them for an expedited review, since a homeless shelter is still a form of shelter. Few people are able to obtain an expedited hearing under these strict policies.

3) The claimant is suicidal or homicidal.

Claimants who are “wounded warriors” have also been promised expedited hearings by Social Security. The “Wounded warriors” category applies to claimants who allege disability resulting from injuries received while in military service after October 1^st, 2001. It applies regardless of whether the injury occurred on foreign soil or in the United States, and regardless of whether the injury occurred as a result of hostile action. Whether a claimant with mental wounds rather than physical wounds can classify as a wounded warrior remains unclear.

To increase your chances of winning your Social Security Disability claim it is important for you to hire an experienced Social Security Disability attorney to get you the Social Security Disability help you deserve. Please call us at 1-800-882-5500 or fill out a form on our website for a FREE claim evaluation.