If chronic headaches prevent you from doing the day-to-day activities your job requires, you may be eligible for benefits through the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. Even if your migraine headaches are disabling, getting approved for migraines disability benefits can be difficult.
When it reviews an application for disability benefits, the Social Security Administration (SSA) relies on its Listing of Impairments to determine whether a person meets the SSA disability definition. Migraines and headaches are not listed medical conditions on their own, but they may be associated with other medical conditions that are on the Listing of Impairments. That’s why it is important to rely upon a skilled and experienced migraines disability benefits lawyer as early in the application process as possible to give your claim the best chance of success.
Migraines, which are not a listed medical condition, may be a symptom of other medical conditions that do appear on the Listing of Impairments, including:
You must be examined and properly diagnosed by a physician in order to have the medical evidence, including clinical findings and results of diagnostic testing, to support that you are disabled and unable to work because of migraines.
If your diagnosis of migraines disability is not, according to your medical evidence, associated with a medical condition in the Listing of Impairments, you may nonetheless qualify for SSI or SSDI as disabled. Your disability must prevent you from performing the activities required to do your job, and the impairment must have lasted or be expected to last for at least 12 months or result in death.
You may qualify for migraines disability benefits through a medical-vocational allowance. Social Security will conduct a residual functional capacity evaluation to determine whether your migraines disability allows you to do the type of work that you did in the past. It also takes into consideration whether migraines prevent you from doing other types of jobs that are consistent with your age, training, education, and experience. If you cannot do past work or other types of work because of migraines, you may qualify for migraines disability benefits.
More than two-thirds of applications result in a denial of benefits during the initial disability determination process, but you should not give up. Federal regulations provide a four-level disability appeal process to challenge the initial determination and win the migraines disability benefits that your medical records entitle you to receive.
If you suffer from migraines, a consultation with a migraines disability benefits lawyer at Disability Partners, PLLC, provides insight into the SSI and SSDI programs along with options about how to qualify for benefits. We work with your doctors to prepare a well-documented claim supported by medical evidence at the initial application or appeal stages. Contact us now for more information.