Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs)

Continuing disability reviews (CDRs) are becoming more of a topic these days among attorneys and the Social Security disability claimants they represent.  When you are awarded a disability benefit, Social Security schedules a future CDR in the computer.  It may be one year in the future or three years, but it will be coming along.  The purpose of a CDR is to determine whether you are still eligible to receive disability benefits.  If Social Security determines that there has been significant medical improvement which allows you to return to work it will terminate your benefits after providing a written notice.  Usually it gives at least a 60 day notice before the checks stop.

Beneficiaries have 60 days in which to appeal cessation of benefits.  However, they only have 10 days to request that their benefits continue pending the outcome of the appeal.  So it is vital that all beneficiaries under the claim give written notice to Social Security that they want their benefits to be paid pending the final outcome of the appeal.  This request must be in writing.

Then what happens?

Beneficiaries (persons receiving benefits) will file a request for reconsideration and give Social Security any evidence they have to support their position that they are still disabled.  You have the right to ask for a face-to-face appearance with Social Security before your reconsideration decision is made.  If the decision is unfavorable, you may ask for a hearing before an administrative law judge.

If your final decision is unfavorable, Social Security can ask you to repay all of the money you received during the appeal (or after your "last regular" benefit check).  However, you may ask for a waiver of the repayment.  If you can prove that your need all of your income for necessities of living, Social Security may waive any overpayments.

As you can see, being the subject of an unfavorable CDR can be quite painful and serious.  Unfortunately, it is often difficult to find an attorney or representative who will help you appeal an unfavorable CDR decision because there is no back pay involved and it is difficult for the representative to be paid for his or her service.  What usually happens is that the claimant agrees to set aside a percentage of the ongoing benefit in an escrow account.  When the appeal is over, the representative can petition Social Security for permission to use money in the escrow account toward his or her fee.  Since representatives often bill $250 per hour or more, unfavorable CDRs can become expensive burdens for Social Security disability beneficiaries.  Fortunately, the majority of continuing disability reviews do not result in an attempt to terminate benefits.

I will be posting a second article on this blog site about what you can do to prevent problems with a CDR.  Look for it on this site, as it contains practical things you can do to prevent problems when (not if) your claim gets reviewed for continuing disability eligibility benefits.