Winning Your Disability Case by Combining Impairments

People who apply for Social Security disability have severely disabling conditions, which, unfortunately, do not automatically qualify them for benefits under the Social Security Disability rules.

Social Security Administration lists a number of impairments that automatically qualify an applicant for disability benefits. Most of these require very specific medical or laboratory findings. If your medical evidence meets the requirements of an impairment listing, you will automatically be found disabled. However, even if you do not meet the detailed criteria of a listed impairment, you may still qualify for Social Security disability benefits if your symptoms and diagnosis are “medically equivalent” (i.e. equal in severity) to the listed impairment may have a condition which is not found in the listed impairments but is equally severe in its debilitating effect. Or you may have a combination of impairments which are found on the list but lack one or more of the detailed criteria to qualify you under the Rules for disability; added together, though, they are medically equivalent to the listed impairments.

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