Social Security disability-the Listings

The Social Security disability process is quite different from workers compensation. In Colorado if you are hurt on the job it means you may have a claim for workers compensation benefits which may include temporary benefits, medical benefits, a disfigurement award and permanent benefits (which can be partial or total). In Social Security disability your overall health is important so they do not just look at job injuries. Also the benefit is a monthly check which often can go for the rest of your life (the agency does review from time to time). There are no "temporary" benefits while they medically treat you to help you recover as is often done in workers compensation cases. Instead only if you are obtaining monthly checks do you have Medicare benefits and even then it kicks in two years from the start of your monthly checks or when you should have had your checks start (it can be backdated). In any event one of the things the Social Security process can involve is trying to see if you qualify based on what they call "The Listings" which are health problems so severe that you are approved if you meet one of those listings. Otherwise you have to show that your restrictions and other factors make you unemployable in a full time job. Most people do not meet a listing but that does not mean you cannot obtain benefits. You then must show that you can no longer work based on your overall functional abilities and that is a very personalized matter which factors in your age, education, past work and overall functioning. It is more complex then I can say here but that's the essence of it.