Alcohol and Drug Use in the Disability Process
Despite the fact that alcoholism is recognized by the medical community as a legitimate disease with both physical and mental components, Social Security uses its own rules to evaluate alcohol and drug use. In 1996, the Social Security Act was amended by Congress to deny benefits if drug and/or alcohol addiction or abuse is a "material factor" causing the disability. Because of this change in the law, SSA may use drinking or illegal drug use as reasons to deny your claim for disability benefits. Whether or not substance abuse will lead to denial of your claim depends largely on how it affects your medical conditions. Either way, you can be sure these issues will arise in the disability process if you've had drug and alcohol abuse (DAA) issues in the past.
Typically, SSA evaluates drug and alcohol issues by asking two questions. First, is the medical condition for which the claimant alleges disability caused, or made worse by alcohol and/or drug use? Second, would the medical condition improve to the point of non-disability if the claimant stopped using drugs or alcohol?
For example, if you are alleging disability due to a mental impairment and SSA finds that your condition improves during periods of sobriety, the agency may find that drinking is material to the condition, and deny the claim. However, materiality is also affected by potential improvement of the underlying condition. For example, if a person drank heavily for most of his life and was later diagnosed with alcoholic liver disease, it's possible that his condition might not improve even if he stopped drinking alcohol. In that case, alcohol might be found not material to the current claim, and benefits could be paid. In that case, it doesn't matter whether past alcohol abuse caused the medical condition, if the condition would continue in the absence of alcohol abuse. Finally, there may be some conditions that are not affected by DAA issues at all. If a person is alleging disability due to a severe back impairment or physical injury on the job, those conditions may be disabling even if there is ongoing drug and alcohol abuse.
If your claim for disability benefits is approved but alcohol or drugs are still an issue, the SSA may require you to have a representative payee. Representative payees are people designated by SSA to handle your disability funds on your behalf, and spend those funds in your best interest. Representative payees are used in a variety of situations, including disability payments to minor children, and situations where claimants are found unable to manage their own funds.
www.ForsytheDisability.com
