Does My Heart Condition Qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits?
Social Security recognizes many cardiovascular impairments that are eligible disability benefits. These include:
- Chronic or congestive heart failure: These are catch-all terms that basically mean your heart isn’t working properly. A number of diseases and conditions can cause this.
- Ischemic heart disease: A blockage in, or narrowing of, one or more coronary arteries can hamper blood flow to your heart.
- Recurrent arrhythmias: Your heart doesn’t beat at a regular rhythm, which can overwork it.
- Symptomatic congenital heart disease: A defect in your heart or major arteries can be one you’ve had since birth.
- Heart transplant: Social Security considers this a disability for one year after the surgery.
- Aneurysms: A bulge in the heart or major arteries would be life-threatening if it were to burst.
- Arterial or venous conditions: These make it hard for blood to flow to or from the legs.
It’s OK if your condition or symptoms don’t perfectly match Social Security’s idea of a heart disease. You still may be eligible to collect disability benefits.
Regardless of what diagnosis you have, you must prove to Social Security that:
- Your condition keeps you from “substantial gainful activity.” In other words, you can’t do a job that earns what Social Security considers a minimum livable income.
- You can’t do past jobs or new jobs with your health problems
- Your condition is expected to last a year or more.
If you have questions about your condition and eligibility and you live in Oklahoma, Troutman & Troutman Social Security Disability lawyers can help.
There’s no fee to have an initial conversation with us and get an idea of your path forward.
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How Do I Prove My Heart Disease Qualifies for Social Security Disability?
To prove to Social Security that your heart disease keeps you out of work, you’ll need to do your homework. They won’t take your word for it—or your doctor’s, for that matter. You’ll have to back up your claim with hard medical evidence.
The first step is to describe the demands of your job, your past jobs, and any other job your skills may qualify you for.
Next you’ll have to carefully document your symptoms that get in the way of those tasks. With a heart condition, this could be constant dizziness, shortness of breath, numbness, discoloration or swelling in your arms or legs, as well as a host of other debilitating signs of cardiovascular problems.
The key to a solid claim will be the medical records that are created when you go in for treatment. Social Security will want to see:
- Physical exams reports
- Exercise test results
- Electrocardiogram (ECG) data
- Lab test results
- Your treatment plan
- Medications you are prescribed to take
- Assessments of how your efforts to manage your heart disease are working
- The history of your condition over time, as complete as possible
Gathering this information takes time and coordination with your medical team to check all the boxes Social Security puts in front of you.
At Troutman & Troutman, we deal with this system every day on your behalf.
When heart disease is disrupting your ability to support yourself and your family, we’re here to help you get financial assistance and a sense of stability and peace back in your life.
Sometimes the problem is the way you explain your situation.
Don’t gloss over details about how your health problems restrict your daily life just to sound more positive, for example. Don’t go to a checkup and tell your doctor you feel OK just to be polite.
But don’t exaggerate your struggles, either.
Social Security Disability lawyers who’ve been through this process thousands of times know how to strike the right balance for your disability appeal. And you don’t pay a fee for an attorney unless you win.
Let us handle the tricky parts of the disability determination process, so you can get financial relief and move on.
Contact Us Today! »Wherever You Are in the Disability Benefits Process, We Can Help
You may be trying to determine if Social Security Disability benefits are right for you. You may be facing a long, complicated benefits application. Or maybe you’ve applied and been denied. Now what? The Troutman & Troutman Oklahoma disability attorneys can help.
Disability Attorneys Answer Your Questions about Social Security
Your life has been disrupted by health problems. You’ve had to leave work. You’re worried about money. Social Security Disability benefits can provide relief, but they’re complicated. You’ve got a lot of questions. The Troutman & Troutman Tulsa disability lawyers have answers.
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