How Many Stage 4 Girls are getting SS disability..

I emailed my guy at  SSDI and he emailed back saying that a decision had been made in my case but he couldn't give me details.  I will have to wait for my letter by law.  But he said my husband and son will have to apply for their benefits.  He said I guess this is a hint about the determination on your case.  lol

Did you guys have to wait for a letter?

Watson

Thanks for all the info so far, it has been really helpful.

"About one page in it asks that crucial question, will your illness result in death." I didn't see this question anywhere. Is it on the main application for SSDI?

Tider, I am stilll a bit confused about your mom's situtation, but if I were you and your mom, I would continue the process. 

I'll explain a little better, she was dx Stage IV right before xmas this past year. She is a retired teacher and is currently working...she needs both this job and her small retirement check ($1200) to pay the bills. She was planning on quitting work if she qualifies, but since her retirement check puts her over the $900 limit, it looks like she won't. Can she qualify for limited benefits? It doesn't make sense that you could make less than $900 and possibly get a $2300 benefit, while if you make $1200 you get nothing.

I'll try and talk to someone at our SS office and see what they recommend. 

If your mom can work through May and then apply, I think they retro-activate from the date of the stage iv dx.  Basically, she would be working out the 6 month waiting period anyway.

I think....

I'd call the local SS office and ask.

I thought if you paid into a pension plan you didn't pay social security.  Would she be eligible for disability payments then?  I could be way off.  Just wondering.

Watson

It's Official.

I start getting my check in April.  It's for more than I thought (Yippee) and my son gets more than I thought as well!  They verified that he will get 50% of my income.  I guess it all depends on how many kids you have as to how they divvy it up?

This is just such a relief not only for now, but for later if you know what i mean.  I look at it as my way of helping to pay for his college.  Sigh.

Thanks for all your help!

Watson

They told me my first deposit will be April 9th.

Thanks for the heads up Lori.

Watson

Thank GOD for this site.  I applied online on 3/17/08 just to get started. When it came up to contact the ssd office I was going to wait a couple of days until I completed everything else. Two days latter I received a packet in the mail from them advising me they needed my original birth certificate, a signed medical release form (which they included in the packet) and completion of the Adult Disability report online. They also advised if I did not reply to them within 10 days from 3/18/08 my claim would be denied. 

I went ahead and completed the  Adult form which includes info about your illness and how you feel it affects your ability to work, the names and addresses of ALL the doctors, hospitals, clinics, labs etc that you have seen for your illness, names of medicaion you take and who prescribed it. It also included questions about your last 15 years of employment; all they wanted was to/from dates approximate salary and job title-later on in the form they ask you about your responsibilities. 

I took the signed medical release form and my birth certificate to the office 3/25/08.  I was diagnosed stage iv July 2007.  Continued to work and did not quit my job until Feb 2008. Although I took some time off because of bad days my monthly salary was still over the $800 somethin they use to determine if you were disabled. The lady told me my date I became disabled would be FEB 2008 and IF approved I would be eligible AUG 2008 and receive first check SEPT 2008. 

So everything I've read on these posts is correct in regard to you having to be not working OR if you are working you have to make under $800 monthly to apply for disability.

Thank you soooooo much for the information.  I finished my last treatment of Taxol today and will be on Herceptin until who knows when.

Bless all of you!!!!!

I know alot of you recommend getting your on medical records to take to social security office.  When I called my surgeons office to obtain my records, they said they would have it ready in a couple of days and that it would cost 60cents a page (WOW). I saw a notice in my oncologists office that said the same thing. 

Since my disability date is 2/08 do you think it would be financially better for me to wait a month or two to see if they receive the records from my main docs?

Thanks!

Evvy

They told me it would be 20 cents per page but when I went to pick the records up, there was no charge.  And thank goodness because they made me 2 copies of everything and it was about the thickness of a full ream of paper!

My SS office was in the process of moving to a new location so they changed my in office interview to a phone interview.  I had previously mailed everything in to them so it went very smoothly.  I was a little nervous mailing in original birth certificates, marriage certs, etc. but got them back in a few days afer mailing.

I was told each state determines the maximum that can be charged for medical records. 

Good luck,

Watson

Evvy, when I applied for SSDI last year, I brought no medical records, I just signed a release for my doctor to release my medical information, and SS took care of contacting my doctor.  My case worker told me that actually they have a website now that the doctors can use to send attachments, the records don't even have to be copied so no cost to the docs office.  My doctor must have responded promptly, because I received my acceptance letter exactly one week later after my appointment with the SS office

Chris

Hi,

STD and LTD plans through an employer are not based through your health at least not in NJ (check with your state) if it is a small group employer (under 50 employees in your company).  There are two qualifying events, 1. new hire or 2. open enrollment (once a year).  You would fall under the open enrollment and any employee can elect the STD or LTD coverage.  there may be a benefit wait period (usually 180 days) but they will allow coverage even if you have cancer.  You should definately keep both policies so that if you cannot work, you have at least a little cushion because if you don't have a husband, your cobra premium payments are usually high and you have to carry that for 29 months until medicare kicks in.

Hope this helped.

Roxanne

I qualified at Stage III.  Six years later I read on this board about minor children being eligible & filed a retro claim & they paid up (if I'd hired lawyers, they'd have a big chunk of it, but they would have demanded interest due too, haha). 

I just qualified in terms of quarters paid into SS.  I had done home before school care for a neighbor, and thank goodness I reported that small income to the IRS, which made enough quarters worked.  So, my benefit is quite small.  I definitely could not live on it but have a working husband (whose income I do not believe has any standing when qualifying for Disability.  Hope this helps, Dee

Faith,

Call back and you'll get someone else.  When I first called they told me the same thing.  I had to tell her I was applying for DISABILITY.  It's like KariLynn said.  If she worked enough in the last 10 years and is stage 4 she will qualify.

Good luck,

Watson

My mother was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer in January 2007. Since them she had forced herself to continue to work (because of inancial reasons) and even went through months of chemo and radiation trying to reduce the size of her tumor (was the size of a cantelope) enough to perform a radical mastectomy but this never happened in North Carolina, the doctors said it was not work the risk since it was not going to cure her ... just give her a better quality of life for the time she had left.

I live in Florida and was able to get her to finally come down to Florida to go to the Mayo clinic. The doctors were great and did her surgery within 2 weeks from her first visit. She is recovering now but will now have to get ready to start the battle over again.

My problem is that I applied for SSI for her before she came down to Mayo and she was denied because they said she was still working and if she can work she is not disabled. I tried to explain that if her job knew how ill she was and followed doctors orders she would not be working but they said it didn't matter. She is not working now so I plan on appealing but am worried that she will be denied again.

Does anyone have any input to offer?

Thanks