Social Security Benefits Applications: How Much Medical History do They Need?
If you are filing for social security benefits, you will need to provide the correct documentation to your local social security office. There are a number of forms you will need to fill out. However, you will also need to obtain medical evidence from your doctor about your disease or illness, and you will also need to provide some medical history to prove that you need the benefits.
For a social security disability case specifically, medical evidence will need to come in the forms of physical examination documents, treatment notes, mental health records, blood work panels, and reports of imaging studies such as MRIs, CAT scans, and X-rays. The medical evidence needs to be accurate and sufficient in order to be approved by the social security office. Providing proper medical evidence from the doctor who treats you will greatly reduce the need for the social security office to obtain other medical evidence, which means that you can get a faster decision on your disability claim.
Appropriate records need to recent enough to show relevance to your current medical disorder. This depends on what kind of illness you have. If you have a condition that changes frequently, then you will have to provide a lot of updated information as time goes on. Usually, the SSA doesn’t like to have records that are older than six months. However, if you have records that date back to a year old, using those may help you in the long run. The SSA might like to see how your condition has changed in the past year.
Make sure the records you provide are accurate as possible. For example, if you see a specialist aside from seeing your primary doctor, then you need to provide those documents as well. You need to provide all information to get the best social security benefits for you. If you skimp on your records and on the accuracy of the documents you provide, the chances of you getting the benefits you deserve are cut down tremendously.
The SSA is going to want to know some basic information about you, such as what kind of treatment you have had, what kind of treatment you still need to have, and the effects of your medication, and how long you have taken certain kinds of meds. The more specific you are, the better. If you provide all of this information to the SSA as soon as possible and with no issues, then you will most likely be eligible for the benefits you want.
