Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) can be a time-consuming and stressful experience. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. Read how Allsup helped Silvia Gonzalez receive her SSDI benefits so she has money to pay for medications and other necessities.

 

 

 

Miami, Florida — For more than three decades, Silvia Gonzalez fielded customer service calls for a power and light company in Miami.

 

It’s a job she enjoyed for 33 years, but by 2006, Ms. Gonzalez was hurting. She spent a lot of her workday sitting in a chair. The pain would start in her lower back and linger off and on.

 

She learned to work with the pain, but one August day it was too much.

 

“I passed out at work from the pain,” Ms. Gonzalez said. “I went right to the hospital.”

 

At the hospital, Ms. Gonzalez, now 61, told doctors about the excruciating pain in her back.

 

“The pain started getting worse and worse,” she said. She was in the hospital for 11 days by the time a neurosurgeon suggested exploratory surgery.

 

Doctors opened her back and searched for the cause of the pain for two hours. They found nothing.

 

“Unfortunately, it didn’t work. It was like trying to put a little Band-Aid on a big problem,” Ms. Gonzalez said.

 

She returned to work. The back pain was still there and now she walked with a limp.

 

Another doctor thought the problem might be in her knees and suggested she see an orthopedic surgeon. The orthopedic surgeon told Ms. Gonzalez it wasn’t her knees and asked her to return to the neurosurgeon to recheck her MRI.

 

“It was a Tuesday night in late September,” Ms. Gonzalez recalled. The doctor called she had two herniated disks in her lower back.

 

Herniated disks are typically caused from a fall or some other strong impact.

 

“I had never fallen,” Ms. Gonzalez said.

 

The reason the herniated disks weren’t found during the exploratory surgery was because doctors had cut into her back too high, Ms. Gonzalez said. They hadn’t looked at her lower back.

 

The first week in October, Ms. Gonzalez was on the operating table for six hours to repair her spine. Doctors inserted four screws designed to fuse her spine and fix the disks.

 

Her doctor didn’t want her to return to work, but Ms. Gonzalez didn’t have a choice.  She needed the money. By December, she was back in customer service, but instead of sitting, they had her walking the floor so she could assist other representatives.

 

Sitting for long periods of time was painful. The drive to and from work was brutal. She’d get home and stay on her feet. She would do anything to avoid sitting.

 

After the surgery, it was difficult for Ms. Gonzalez to keep her balance. She would fall and end up in the hospital. Every fall would shift the screws in her spine and not allow them to fuse to her body.

 

Her doctor suggested she look into applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). “I had all the things it takes to be disabled,” Ms. Gonzalez said.

 

Ms. Gonzalez put in for retirement and told her company she also wanted to apply for SSDI. They told her about Allsup.

 

Allsup is a nationwide provider of Social Security disability, Medicare and Medicare Secondary Payer compliance services for individuals, employers and insurance carriers.

 

The company, based in Belleville, Ill., near St. Louis, has helped more than 150,000 people with disabilities from across the United States receive more than $14 billion in entitled SSDI and Medicare benefits. Founded in 1984, Allsup employs nearly 800 professionals who deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they maylead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible.

 

Her first application was denied, which is the most common response from the Social Security Administration.

 

For about two years, Ms. Gonzalez worked with Allsup representatives. “They always kept me informed,” she said. “They were great doing the work so I did not have go to a hearing.”

 

By May 2009, Ms. Gonzalez’s application process had reached level three, which is the step before a hearing. That’s when she received the letter that her SSDI benefits had been approved.

 

“Social Security sent me a letter,” Ms. Gonzalez said. “After so many years of not getting a salary, I was very pleased. It was a godsend. Money isn’t everything. Even if you have a lot of money, you’re still ill. It doesn’t help you, but at least now my medication is paid for.”

 

Today, Ms. Gonzalez relies on help from her friends, sons and daughter. She still can’t sit for long periods of time.

 

“I’m home and I try to do as much as I can without hurting myself. I really can’t swing a mop,” she said. “My days of the tall shoes are gone. I try to wear comfortable shoes.”

 

Ms. Gonzalez tries to encourage others living in pain to apply for Social Security disability benefits.

 

“Some people are afraid to apply. They’re afraid to take that step,” she said. “I have a friend who had a very bad accident on a snowmobile. I’m going to see if Allsup can help her as much as they helped me.”