Denied SSDI - Any suggestions

[SGM Anaconda]

Team,

It's been a while since I've posted - anyone have good gouge on SSDI ? I applied for this and was denied. I've seen others that the SSDI went through and automatically approved.

I retired from Army via PEB/Med Board and then went on to work as GS -14 until Sept 2025 when the agency let me go with "medically unable to fulfill job", BLUF - Not a RIF or part of the recent cuts with USG. All of my Civilian ratings were Superior(Outstanding - 5) with both Cash awards and QSI's.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

SGM Anaconda

 

[Provis]

Team,

It's been a while since I've posted - anyone have good gouge on SSDI ? I applied for this and was denied. I've seen others that the SSDI went through and automatically approved.

I retired from Army via PEB/Med Board and then went on to work as GS -14 until Sept 2025 when the agency let me go with "medically unable to fulfill job", BLUF - Not a RIF or part of the recent cuts with USG. All of my Civilian ratings were Superior(Outstanding - 5) with both Cash awards and QSI's.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

SGM Anaconda

My wife was approved at the ALJ hearing. She just got her CDR and her health hasn't changed but they said she wasn't disabled anymore. So now more appeals. SSDI is rough. You basically have to prove you can't do anything and that's a super high bar. My wife was found disabled by the ALJ because she would miss too many days of work due to the frequency of her severe migraines that left her bedridden. Her benefits end next month. So now we have to appeal. She could have kept getting paid SSDI benefits while appealing if she filled out paperwork and got it to SSA within 10 days of the cessation letter. However, she didn't want to risk having to pay all that money back if none of her appeals were won. So if she gets approved at the reconsideration or at the ALJ again they will backdate all of her pay and then start paying her again.

I would talk to several SSDI attorneys and see if you have a good case. Its much harder to get SSDI. Also, the younger you are the harder it is to get approved. A SSDI attorney can tell you if you have a good case or not.

Lastly, if you were in a government job and let go shouldn't you be able to apply for a FERS disability claim? FERS requires you are apply for SSDI but not sure how that works. I know if you were still in the military as Guard or Reserves and Mil-tech then you get FERS disability regardless of whether SSDI approves you because you lost your job due to being unfit and so you couldn't stay in the Guard or Reserves and that was required for you to keep the Mil-tech job.