If you receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), then it’s not abnormal for you to be asked to submit for a Continuing Disability Review (CDR) on occasion. What you may not be aware of is what the Social Security Administration (SSA) is looking for when they perform this review and how often they tend to ask you to submit to one of these.
The SSA regularly performs CDRs of either a recipient’s medical or work situation or both. The whole purpose of the medical review is for the SSA to make sure that your condition is severe enough that you warrant continuing to receive SSDI benefits.
There’s a Medical Improvement Review Standard that prohibits secondary case reviewers from stepping in and trying to override an original adjudicator’s decision. That same standard also prevents the SSA from withdrawing benefits from a recipient simply because of disability criteria changes.
Disability benefits recipients generally don’t have to undergo regular CDRs if they are participants in the Ticket to Work program or if they’ve received SSDI for 24 months or more.
Recipients may be subject to a work review if they are engaged in substantial gainful activity. This means that any recipient that receives $1,090 per month or more may be subject to having a CDR and have their benefits terminated.
There’s no set timeline for how often CDRs may occur. Most recipients can expect to have their case files reviewed within the first six months from the time that their benefits start. It can take as long as 18 months though. Most re-checks are conducted no sooner than three years out but can be spaced as long as seven years apart.
Applying for and maintaining SSDI benefits isn’t easy. Various factors can cause you to lose the stipend that you receive. It can be difficult to restart benefits once they’ve stopped. An attorney can help you navigate the system so that you have the best chance of securing the benefits that you need and deserve here in Oklahoma City.