Don’t Miss Your Social Security Disability Hearing

While some appointments are easy to miss – an appointment for a root canal or even a yearly physical at your doctor’s office – skipping a hearing for Social Security disability is highly frowned upon.

A Social Security hearing is very important for winning your benefits. Think about this: you took all the time to fill out your application, waited for months for a decision and were denied. Going through the appeals process takes time. Skipping a hearing looks very bad on your part since an administrative judge does preside over the case. If you miss your hearing, you might have to start all over on appealing a decision. The case will be dismissed and you will further be without benefits.

Some have missed hearings simply because they did not know about it. When filing the appeal, make sure you provide your current contact information such as phone number and address.
If you do have a good reason for missing a hearing, such as your car breaks down or you are very ill, do not fret. Your hearing can be rescheduled, but it could take a few months before you stand before the administrative judge. But don’t miss it for any other reason other than a true emergency.

Tags: Appealing a Claim, Applying for Benefits

This article was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010