What Are Dire Needs Cases in Social Security Disability?
When Wisconsinites Can Speed Up a Disability Benefits Review
Getting approved for Social Security Disability benefits can take months, if not years. This is a problem for people who need a financial lifeline right away.
If you can’t afford food or medical treatment, you can’t wait for an examiner at the Social Security Administration (SSA) to get around to your claim.
You need to ask for a dire need designation for your case, and the Madison disability lawyers at the Becker Law Office and Hawks Quindel can help you make that request.
You pay no attorney fee until you win benefits.
Getting a dire financial need designation can drastically speed up the disability benefits review process, but you should remember it doesn’t mean you’ll be approved.
You could still get denied disability benefits if you don’t fit Social Security’s narrow definition of a disability, and meeting those standards is never easy.
You’ll need evidence of your medical condition and how it affects your ability to work and support yourself. You’ll need to fill out forms correctly and avoid mistakes that could get your claim denied.
This process is intimidating, and you shouldn’t go through it alone if you’re in dire economic need.
Becker Law Office and Hawks Quindel have helped thousands of people in Madison and across the state of Wisconsin get approved for life-changing disability benefits.
If you think that you have a dire needs case, we want to do everything we can to help you receive financial relief as quickly as possible.
How Does the SSA Define a Dire Need Case?
Waiting for a Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claim to get approved always takes a long time.
This is stressful for anyone, but some people are fortunate enough to have savings, a spouse’s income, or other assets they can rely on.
If you don’t have any other resources, you could be unable to afford essentials like housing and food because you haven’t started receiving your benefits yet.
The dire need designation is specifically for times when an applicant has to go without essentials due to their financial situation.
Valid reasons for asking Social Security to speed up the process include:
- Food insecurity: An applicant doesn’t have food, can’t meet their basic nutritional needs, and has no way of obtaining more food due to a lack of resources.
- Medical emergencies: An applicant needs essential medical treatment or medications, such as dialysis or chemotherapy, but cannot afford them.
- Housing instability: If someone can’t pay their utility bills, or they face foreclosure or eviction, those can be valid reasons to request dire needs consideration.
If you can’t afford food, medicine or housing, and you may soon fall into homelessness, malnutrition or medical emergency, you need Social Security to make a decision on approving you for financial support now.
Dire needs cases aren’t for people who are inconvenienced by the wait for benefits and feeling like money is tight—that’s everyone who applies for disability benefits.
This special consideration is for people in immediate danger from lack of money.
Once your claim gets the dire financial need designation, it will be reviewed no later than the next business day. The Social Security claims examiner will follow up, expedite a medical review, and do anything else needed to see if you qualify for benefits.
Social Security will never just guess or assume you need benefits on an accelerated schedule.
You or your disability attorney has to request the dire need designation for your disability claim.
Our Wisconsin disability attorneys can help.
How to Request the Social Security Disability Dire Need Designation
You need to write a letter to your local SSA office clearly outlining your situation and why you have a dire financial need for benefits.
If you’re too vague or don’t make it clear why you should bypass the normal waiting period, you won’t convince anyone to give your case dire needs consideration.
Your request should include:
- Specifics about your financial struggles, like how much you’re behind on essential bills
- Objective evidence of economic hardship, like eviction notices, medical bills and bank statements
- Details about your health problems and how they are tied to your dire financial needs
A Madison disability lawyer can help you write your letter, but this request should really be in your own words. Think about your situation and include details.
Convincing the SSA of your dire financial need will speed things up, but you’ll still have to wait a short amount of time for payments to be prepared and released.
Still, getting the dire need designation for your disability claim can allow you to skip months of waiting that are typical of this process. That’s vital when you’re worried about affording necessities.
If you’re struggling with health problems and have extreme financial need, we want to help you.
Applying for SSDI or SSI benefits is a deeply personal process, so you don’t want to work with just any big national disability representative company that’s going to see you and your disability claim as another case number.
The disability lawyers of Becker Law Office have been helping people like you for more than 30 years. We’ll take the time to understand your disability claim and your unique situation.
Disability law is all we do.
If you think you have a dire need Social Security Disability case, talk to us right away.