Social Security Disability: The basics.

Dec 10 2014

Those who have a medical condition and are unable to work may qualify for Social Security Disability benefits. Social Security Disability is a system that is designed to provide assistance to those who may need it most: the disabled. Those that have worked in jobs covered by Social Security who have a medical condition that fits the agency’s definition of disability and are unable to work should receive benefits. Once approved, applicants receive monthly cash benefits. However, actually receiving benefits can be difficult. Those who believe they qualify can benefit from having a basic understanding of how the system works….

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Consider all the possibilities when you’re injured at work

Dec 04 2014

Imagine you go to work one day, as you have hundreds of times before, and your day starts off as normally as possible. Everything falls in line with the routine you’ve established over the course of your career, and by the afternoon it appears that this is just going to be another day. But then you get a special request to go into the warehouse and retrieve something. You do as you’re told, and you follow proper employee etiquette and safety procedures. Once you get the materials you were ordered to retrieve, you begin to leave the warehouse — and…

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Will an injured Colorado man be eligible for workers’ comp?

Dec 03 2014

The first surgery lasted six hours. The second major operation lasted nearly three hours. The family and friends of a Colorado man seriously injured by falling boulders west of Denver hope that the surgeries signal a return to health for the 49-year-old. The Grand Junction man was reportedly driving a work van when boulders as large as six feet in diameter rumbled onto a highway near Carbondale. The van apparently slammed head-on into one of the boulders. He suffered internal injuries and broken bones when he was pinned by the steering wheel. He is listed in serious condition in a…

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American Diabetes Month is a time to learn, live better

Nov 21 2014

The American Diabetes Association has declared November as American Diabetes Month. The organization is determined to help people learn more about the condition that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says “is one of the leading causes of disability and death in the United States.” Uncontrolled diabetes can result in blindness, nerve damage, chronic pain, kidney disease and other complications. The condition already affects nearly 30 million U.S. adults and children, with another 86 million in a prediabetes condition that puts them at risk of type 2 diabetes development. If the brakes aren’t applied to diabetes, the American…

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What are the leading causes of disability?

Nov 12 2014

Disabilities are as varied as the people who have them. Disabilities don’t discriminate on the basis of gender, race or religion and not even on the basis of age. There are, however, some leading culprits that disable more Americans than other conditions do. The leading cause of disability? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leader is arthritis.    More than 8.6 million Americans battle arthritis or rheumatism every day. For some, the disease has advanced to a stage that prevents them from working. For others, the fight against the pain, fatigue and stiffness goes on at…

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What does ‘claimant per se’ mean and should you be one?

Nov 05 2014

Claimant per se. If you don’t know that term means, you might not want to be a claimant per se. The term refers to a person making a Colorado workers’ compensation claim in a legal proceeding without the help of an attorney. When a person is injured on the job or comes down with a work-related illness, an employer or employer’s insurer might do what they can to have that person’s workers’ comp claim denied. When that happens, many claimants want to have at their side a Denver attorney well-versed in Colorado workers’ compensation law.    Some prefer to go…

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Significant Social Security Disability backlog may hinder your case

Oct 30 2014

Without the right legal help, you could be lost in the bureaucratic system for months, even years. Nobody wants to be put out of work by a disability. But sometimes a disabling condition strikes without warning, leaving you unable to work and in need of help with your bills. For those who have paid into the system for a sufficient amount of time and otherwise qualify, Social Security Disability benefits can be an important lifeline. However, even though Social Security Disability payments are an earned benefit, it can be very difficult to quickly and effectively pursue a Social Security Disability…

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SSDI backlog rising, while the approval rate is falling

Oct 28 2014

The line began to form when Gerald Ford was president. The president who so loved Colorado ski vacations left office back in January of 1977. That’s when the backlog of Social Security disability cases waiting to be heard on appeals began. All these years later and the backlog is growing faster than ever. The Washington Post did an in-depth report on the problems at the Social Security Administration and found that it is nearly a million cases behind.   The Post calls it the “backlog of backlogs — a queue of waiting Americans larger than the populations of six different…

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Oil drilling in Denver’s backyard

Oct 21 2014

The controversies raging over the method of oil drilling known as “fracking” are perhaps better known in Denver and surrounding communities than in most of the nation. That’s because the practice is going on in some areas very close to home. It’s not our job to weigh in on the pros or cons of the practice, but rather to focus here in our blog on the injuries that inevitably result when oil drilling is carried out, regardless of the drilling methods. Oil drilling is simply put, dangerous work, posing risks of injuries to workers, but also to those who live…

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Contrary to popular belief, getting disability benefits is a difficult process

Oct 20 2014

One mistake or lack of proper documentation can lead to a rejection There has been a lot of recent news regarding the state of America’s Social Security disability system. For example, a quick online search reveals that SSDI will become “insolvent” in 2016. Many articles claim that SSDI discourages work by paying people to lie around who would otherwise find jobs. Doctors and applicants who commit fraud to secure benefits repeatedly pop up in the news. Combined, it can seem that obtaining disability benefits is just a matter of checking a few boxes on a form and waiting for a…

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