Determining the Severity of an Impairment

The process involved in procuring Social Security disability benefits involves several steps. One important step is known as the “severity step” and its purpose is to determine whether the applicant’s impairment is severe enough to warrant a payment of benefits. The purpose of the severity step is to separate candidates with legitimate impairments from those making frivolous claims. The Social Security Administration (SSA) considers a frivolous claim to be one involving no medically determinable impairments or slight medically determinable impairments that impose only minor limitations on one’s ability to work.

The most important factor evaluated by the SSA is the applicant’s residual function capacity. A Florida disability lawyer will be able to help applicants understand these complex terms and how they apply to the benefits process. Any applicant with a reduction in his or her residual functional capacity will likely meet the impairment requirement of the severity step.

An applicant with residual functional capacity is still able to perform work tasks but at a decreased capacity due to an injury. The SSA assumes that one with a reduced residual functional capacity has a medically determinable impairment for purposes of meeting the severity step. Impairments are divided into two categories: (1) those that are non-severe, and (2) all other impairments that are, by process of elimination, severe. In evaluating whether a person’s residual functional capacity is met, the SSA must consider subjective symptoms as long as they arise from a medically determinable impairment (whether severe or non-severe).

A physician is generally tasked with determining an applicant’s residual functional capacity for purposes of deciding whether an impairment is severe or non-severe for purposes of this step of the SSA’s inquiry. The physician will either decide the applicant has no medically determinable impairment, a clear medically determinable impairment, or is unable to determine clearly the effect of an impairment (these cases are generally decided in favor of a finding of impairment).

For more information about the complex cycle involved in determining impairments for purposes of Social Security benefits, contact our offices as soon as possible. Whether you are considering a claim or already embroiled in the benefits process, we can help. Contact Walter Carfora today.