Obtaining Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) can be a time-consuming and stressful experience. Two out of every three applicants initially are denied. John Sanders thought that a series of back operations paved the way for him to collect his SSDI. Despite the severity of his injuries, read how Mr. Sanders still needed the help of Allsup to secure his disability benefits.

 

 

 

St. Louis, Missouri—John Sanders’ career crashed with the force of a 12-ton bus. In his mid-40s, he unexpectedly suffered a permanent disability and faced his greatest challenge—just proving he was disabled.

 

For 10 years, the St. Louis resident had worked as a service equipment specialist dealing with commercial cooking equipment. By March 2007, he was already nursing a bad back, having undergone two operations to repair a bulging disk and fuse vertebrae. Now he was in line at an intersection waiting for the traffic light to change.

 

“We started to move when the light turned green,” he said, “but the car in front of me suddenly stopped to make a left turn. I stopped and just barely missed his bumper.”

 

He hardly had time for a sigh of relief.

 

“Boom! A bus hit the back of my work van,” he recalled. “I didn’t even see it coming.”

 

Mr. Sanders was injured, but rather than be hospitalized he “went right back to work for six months.” “I was hurting, but I needed the money,” he said. “But then the pain got too bad for me to work anymore.”

 

In September 2007, his back surgeon ordered X-rays and an MRI. That led to a third back operation to remove disc fragments caused by the bus collision. He collected disability pay for six months as he tried to recuperate. The news got worse when his doctor said the patient—heavily medicated with muscle relaxers and pain killers—had reached “maximum medical improvement.”

 

Not long after that, Mr. Sanders applied for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. However, as is the case with most first-time applicants, regardless of the severity of their impairment, his disability claim was denied.

 

A couple of months after his unemployment payments ended, a member of his church told him to contact a company named Allsup to help him with his SSDI claim.

 

Allsup is a nationwide provider of Social Security disability, Medicare and Medicare Secondary Payer compliance services for individuals, employers and insurance carriers. Founded in 1984, Allsup employs nearly 800 professionals who deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible.

 

In November 2009, Mr. Sanders called Allsup, and he was impressed from the start. “They are just 100 percent the best thing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “They’re really on the ball. Everyone was very patient. I knew that they felt for you and that they cared.”

 

Even with Allsup’s help, Mr. Sanders’ appeal was denied. “I was pretty scared,” he said. “I thought I’d have to do side work to help pay the bills.”

 

Allsup professionals asked him not to worry. “They said, ‘we’ll go to the hearing with you and hope it will go favorably for you,’ ” he said.

 

The hearing before an administrative law judge, the next step in the SSDI application and appeals process, was held in late summer 2010. Allsup representative Danielle Schultz met with Mr. Sanders and his wife before the court session to prepare them for what to expect.

 

“Danielle was great,” Mr. Sanders said. “She put our minds at ease and answered any questions we had.”

 

At the hearing, the Sanders were uncertain of the outcome. “I thought the hearing went bad,” he said, “but Danielle thought it went pretty good.”

 

In the end, the representative’s instincts were correct. Weeks after the hearing, Mr. Sanders received a letter from Social Security to announce the judge’s favorable decision. “I was overwhelmed,” he said. “I was so happy. It wasn’t huge, but now I had a steady income stream.”

 

The SSDI benefits help Mr. Sanders financially, but he is resigned to ongoing physical pain. Now only 48, his doses of muscle relaxers and pain medicine cloud his memory and keep him from holding a job. Unable to lie on his back, he sleeps on a recliner.

 

Yet, he hastened to add, “I’m not doom and gloom. It is what it is, and I try to make the best of it.”

 

He also thanked Allsup professionals for their help in attaining his SSDI benefits. He said, “I’ve recommended Allsup to a few people who could use the same great help I received.”