Social Security Office experience - Need to vent...

Call your local congressperson’s nearest local office immediately. Arrange for an appointment with a staff member. Try to go alone so you do not have the deed burden of caring for your DH.

I am so sorry you had to go through this. There is no excuse for poor customer service. My stomach was in knots reading what happened to you. I suggest you contact an attorney that deals with social security disability and knows their stuff. I live in a tiny, remote community and thank goodness they had one here. I was not on the compassionate list, so the attorney told me he would help me after I was denied twice online and it would be a 2 year process. Once I won, social security back paid me from the day I submitted the application. When I got paid my first check after approval, he took 20% of that as payment. That was fine with me. I never paid a dime up front. He knew I had a good case, and yours is definitely solid.

Im sorry about your experience. Re trying to keep your emotions in check in such situations, I'd like to share a trick that helped me. Bring a bottle of water. Years ago in a work situation I was told about this. More often than we'd like women can get teary in an emotional situation. But, biologically, sipping water helps prevent the teary response. Months later I proved this to myself when I was on a business trip to India when I was dropped off at the wrong place and knew no one at the place. Sometimes when you need a distraction I can tell the full story. But sipping the water helped keep the emotions in check. I've continued to use it going in to stressful situations. I hope this is a trick you can use.

I agree with this approach. Also copy any information you can find about Compassionate Allowance to add to your documentation. Call the Helpline and ask a Care Consultant for the specific wording of Compassionate Allowance. I am not adverse to hiring a SSDI attorney for assistance, although it shouldn't be necessary.

Iris

DH#1 died of lung cancer which is an automatic qualifier. When he applied for SSDI he still had to do a phone interview.
I was still working and his interview was during my work time. When I came home he was visibly upset. The dolt of a guy had asked -“Did they give you a date of death yet?” Common sense and kindness are not a criteria for social security work hiring.

I’m sorry this happened to you.

I had mixed experiences dealing with SSA on multiple fronts; both in person and on phone, they all have varied levels of experience and customer orientation attitude (or lack thereof). Sometimes if I don't get a good response I just call back the next day and different person may give different answer. Also calling when they first open usually has very short hold time. For initial application to get SSDI, just as you did I gathered all relevant legal and medical documents but I called the national number instead of the local office to ask how to proceed. They suggested and scheduled an appointment because the online process is just a basic form that does not facilitate so much extra documentation. About 10 days later at the appointment I am pretty sure we were assigned someone knowledgeable in compassionate allowance. This agent was all business, collected everything and began the application, but said it was still likely to take time on the order of 2-6 months. Our tax dollars at work, slowly. Maybe a month later I got a request to visit someone purporting to be a medical reviewer for eligibility interview of some kind. It wasn't really a medical office, just a very generic rented facility with no decor and some disclaimer signs saying this is not a government facility and all agents are independent contractors. The interviewer did ask some relevant questions about ability to work, drive, perform ADLs. I got the impression it was a formality to weed out able people submitting bogus claims. A few more weeks go by and SSA office calls again asking me to confirm some information on the application (yes) and ask if I have anything to add (no). Another few months and got first official written response saying application is denied with instructions how to appeal. I knew this was a common practice so not discouraged. Immediately started searching for SS disability lawyers and called one for interview. They took all our details and said they would take over everything including filing appeal. Attorneys like this cost nothing up front and work for a capped portion of previously denied benefits on winning the case (including back pay if applicable). Many months go by with little new information to add, attorney reports at least monthly they are monitoring status. In the end it was 12 months from application date to approval, and 18 months from diagnosis. We got a lump sum payment for benefits that would have been paid from the time of diagnosis, which is when DW is considered to have become disabled. Having that date set way in the past also meant less time to wait for medicare eligibility. I understand the 2 year time may be less or eliminated now. In the end it was all worth it including the portion taken out for attorney. Had we been struggling financially, it would have been a real hardship to get by in the interim. If you need help now, do reach out to all the resources others have mentioned. I have heard of others getting approval on first application and only taking 1-2 months.