There are several reasons that someone may suffer from vision loss. It could be because of an injury to the eye, disease, or because of complications from another medical issue. The Social Security Administration (SSA) will award disability benefits to a claimant who meets the criteria of the listings set forth in the Blue Book regarding visual loss. Your blindness or vision loss must involve the loss of central acuity, contraction of the visual field of the better eye, or loss of visual efficiency or impairment. You will need to supply medical records that indicate one of these situations apply to your visual loss.
What Happens When You Are Approved With Vision Loss?
Upon approval of Social Security Disability benefits for your vision loss, your monthly benefits get underway from the sixth month following your onset of disability. Make sure all your symptoms and any side effects of medication are indicated when filing supporting paperwork. You should be precise about when any symptoms and problems began and when you reached the point of being unable to work. Provide all your medical records, which will clearly detail your symptoms, side effects, restrictions, and limitations, indicating how your vision has been impacted by your condition.
Back Pay And Vision Loss
If you are no longer able to work because of vision loss, filing your disability claim could seem challenging. To ensure your claim’s success, hard medical evidence will be essential. Provide a detailed list of providers who treated you for your vision loss, including all doctors, optometrists, ophthalmologists, clinics, eye care facilities, and hospitals. You must provide a detailed list of all providers, their addresses and phone numbers, and when possible, the dates of service. You might be eligible for backpay, which could date back to when you filed your claim for Social Security disability. That backpay will begin from the date you became disabled until the date you were approved for disability benefits. Usually you will receive an installment of backpay within 60 days after your disability benefits approval.
Retroactive Payments For Vision Loss
Some applicants are disabled for a while before they decide to pursue their claim for disability benefits. If that applies, you could qualify for retroactive disability benefits that date back as far as 12 months before you filed your claim. You must provide documentation that supports this and shows you were disabled during that time. To be eligible for retroactive benefits, you must be able to prove your disability existed for at least 5 months before you applied for benefits.
How To Calculate How Much You Could Receive With Vision Loss
Your disability benefits are affected by how much you paid in Social Security taxes. Your earnings history will be considered with the taxes that you paid. Your average indexed monthly earnings (AIME) and your primary insurance amount (PIA) will be calculated to come up with your monthly benefit total for vision loss.
Applying For Disability Benefits
If you are no longer able to work because of vision loss, you can file your application for Social Security Disability benefits today. The application can be filed online at www.ssa.gov or by calling 1-800-772-1213.
