Long Covid Disability Benefits – How to Get Them
Since 2020, we’ve known that Covid-19 is harmful, highly contagious, and could result in death. While newer mitigations have emerged to protect Americans from death and hospitalizations in the short term, there is a significant percentage of infectees who suffer from long-term symptoms.
If you suffer from what is more commonly referred to as Long Covid, you may be able to get disability benefits, as well as special accommodations at work, if you’re still working.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), nearly 7.5% of American adults face Long term Covid symptoms after their initial infection.
People with Long Covid suffer from the after-effects of Covid for weeks, months, or years after surviving the virus are referred to as Long haulers, and examples of symptoms they may suffer from include:
- Tiredness or fatigue
- Brain fog – Difficulty thinking or concentrating
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Headaches
- Dizziness on standing
- Heart palpitations
- Chest pain
- Cough
- Joint or muscle pain
- Depression or anxiety
- Fever
- Lost of taste or sense of smell
To provide some context for these symptoms, a recent report issued by the Brookings Institution estimates that 2 to 4 million Americans are currently out of work because of Long Covid.
Long Covid & Disability Benefits
Is Long Covid a disability? The short answer is yes, but there are Like the definition of the condition itself, Social Security disability, and Long Covid, the situation is muddled at best.
As the Covid pandemic engulfed the nation, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in July 2021 recognized Long Covid as a disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Among other things, the ruling of this medical condition means that the Social Security Administration (SSA) recognizes how Long Covid can affect your ability to work.
This means that Long Covid patients can qualify for social security disability insurance (SSDI) and supplemental security income (SSI).
If Long Covid sufferers are still able to work, they can ask for special workplace accommodations, such as job duty restructuring and a modified schedule to accommodate their rest and care needs.
Social Security Disability and Long Covid
According to some reports, up to 5 percent of new disability claims submitted to the Social Security Administration (SSA) in recent months involve people dealing with Long Covid.
Unfortunately, these claims are among the more than 1 million total disability claims currently awaiting processing by the SSA. Further complicating matters, to date the SSA has not given agency employees who review applications specific instructions on how to evaluate Covid claims.
So to sum up, you may qualify for Social Security disability benefits if you suffer from Long Covid and are unable to work. Still, the application process is Long and difficult, and you must be braced for rejection and appeals in your quest for disability payments.
How Leventhal Sutton & Gornstein Can Help You
If you suffer from Long Covid, how can you secure Social Security disability benefits? One important step you can take is to secure the services of an experienced SSD attorney in Montgomery, PA.
At the law firm of Leventhal Sutton & Gornstein, Social Security disability law is our specialty. Over the years, we have helped our clients secure millions of dollars in disability benefits to which they are entitled. Our social security disability lawyers want to help you as well.
We can’t promise that the process will be easy, but we can promise you the very best legal assistance. We will help you prepare your application, making sure you include the stringent medical documentation required by the SSA, and will stand by you throughout your appeals process, all the way to the federal courts if necessary.
As we said, we want to help you, and we urge you to contact our law firm for a free, no-obligation evaluation of your claim for Long haul Social Security disability benefits.