How Age Affects Your Social Security Disability Claim
Age affects how the Social Security Administration (SSA) evaluates your ability to adjust to other work. If SSA denied your application, understanding how age affects your Social Security disability claim can help you see why the decision may deserve review.
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) supports workers who paid into the system and later developed a qualifying disability. You qualify only if you have a work record that is long enough and recent enough. You may need covered work within the last five years, and your SSDI coverage can expire if you have been out of the workforce too long. Our SSDI attorneys review your insured status when we prepare your appeal.
How Does Social Security Consider Your Age?
The SSA does not decide your SSDI application based on age alone. Under 20 Code of Federal Regulations§ 404.1563, the SSA considers your age together with your residual functional capacity (RFC). The SSA also evaluates your education and past work. Your RFC shows what you can still do at work after accounting for your medical limitations.
The SSA places you into an age category when deciding whether you can adjust to other work. The SSA classifies workers under 50 as younger individuals. Workers between 50 and 54 fall into the closely approaching advanced age group, and workers 55 or older fall into the advanced age category.
If the SSA denied your Social Security disability claim, your age category becomes important when they find that you cannot return to your past work. The next issue is whether you can still perform other work.
How the Medical-Vocational Grid Rules Can Help Older Workers
The SSA’s medical-vocational guidelines in 20 C.F.R. Part 404, Subpart P, Appendix 2 are commonly called the grid rules. The SSA applies the grid rules when medical evidence alone does not resolve your claim, and you cannot perform your past relevant work.
The grid rules consider your RFC and age. They also consider your education and whether skills from your past work transfer to other jobs. For individuals age 50 and older, the rules can more readily support a disability finding when you cannot return to past work and have limited transferable skills. This can help if you are an older worker whose past jobs were physically demanding and you cannot easily shift to lighter or unfamiliar work.
Turning 50 does not automatically qualify you for SSDI. Your Social Security disability application still requires insured status before your disability began, although your age affects the requirements. If your insured status expired before your disability began, age alone cannot restore coverage.
If the SSA denies your claim, we guide you through the appeal process, including reconsideration and a hearing before an administrative law judge. SSDI hearings are informal proceedings. In an age-related SSDI case, we review your denial and identify the vocational issues that matter. We gather the relevant medical records and help you prepare to testify.
Contact an SSDI Attorney at Schaffer & Associates To Learn How Age Affects Your Application
If you want to understand how age affects your Social Security disability claim after a denial, we at Schaffer & Associates review how the SSA treated your age and RFC. We also review your education and past work. We focus on denied SSDI claims and appeals.
Schaffer & Associates is a small, specialized firm. We serve clients in northwest Ohio and the surrounding area. You speak directly with our attorneys, and you continue working with the same team throughout your appeal. Contact us today to discuss your SSDI denial and the next step in your case.