You have probably heard over and over that you need to be getting medical treatment for Social Security to find you disabled. Your own doctor may have told you that you are disabled and to apply for Social Security disability benefits. However, sometimes this is not enough.
Whether you are disabled is not a yes or no question. Social Security must apply a legal analysis to determine your disability. This analysis is called the Sequential Evaluation Process, also known as the 5-step analysis.
Medical questionnaires completed by your doctors can be extremely helpful for Social Security to make their ultimate decision. If you have a doctor who says you are disabled, that does not tell the decision makers what you are capable and not capable of doing. It does not tell the judge how long you can sit or stand, how much you can lift, how far can you walk, or whether you can interact with other people or adapt to basic work changes.
The questionnaires are designed to ask specific questions of your medical providers regarding your medical condition and the severity of your symptoms. The questions are tailored to meet Social Security’s rules and regulations for determining disability status. The medical questionnaires help the judge understand your limitations.