Social Security looks at your age, education, prior work, and transferable skills when you apply for disability benefits. Age is divided into three categories to figure out if you, a claimant, can adapt to other work. The three age categories are younger person, closely approaching advanced age, and advanced age.
Individuals between the ages of 18 and 49 are in the younger person category. For younger individuals it is much harder to meet or equal disability at this age because Social Security does not consider your past work but looks at all work available in the national economy.
Closely Approaching Advanced Age are individuals who are 50 to 54 years old. At this level, Social Security considers your past work, meaning work done in the past 15 years or recent education. You must be able to return to one of your previous jobs from the past 15 years or have transferable skills to move to a closely related job.
The advanced age is considered 55 to 59 years old. This age becomes more advantageous to disability. Social Security thinks it is harder to learn a new job. They closely look at your past work to determine if you can return to doing anything you’ve done in your past 15 years of employment.
Approaching Retirement, age 60-67 years old, affects the transferability for claimants. The rule becomes: if the person is at the light exertional level after 55, if the person meets the medical criteria, the case should be deemed disabled. Those who are at the light exertional category, with skills that are transferable at skilled or semiskilled work, only if the light work is so similar to the previous work requiring, very little if any vocational adjustment. Adjustment would be looked at in terms of tools, work processes, work settings, or industry. If the changes are more than very little change, the person would be considered disabled.
When age is used as a determining factor, this is one time; being older is in your favor. Fifty seems to be the magic age for disability, and the rules change at 50, 55 and 60, making it easier to receive a favorable decision regarding disability as you age.
Please feel free to contact Patty Sexton at Patty@mpes.net or 866-686-7556. ~ Patty
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