The Social Security Disability, SSDI claims may be denied due to individual reasons in each case, but in most cases it is denied due to two basic reasons. Either your medical eligibility does not fit the disability eligibility criteria, or you did not file the application properly. There may be various other reasons why your disability claim was denied including:

1. Lack of hard medical evidence

If your disability is not listed in the listings of Blue Book or if the SSA finds out your disability is not severe enough to last at least 12 months long or result in death, or if your physician/medical records are not enough to prove the above, then your disability claims would be denied.

2. Your income

The social security disability mostly approves claims if people who are entitled to SSDI payments are actually disabled enough to not be able to go to work, or if they do go to work, then they should be earning below the ceiling income of $1180 for non-blind and $1970 for blind people.

3. You forgot to follow up

It may be that you filed for social security disability but forgot to follow up with proofs of medical records, social security taxes or other required documents with the social security examiner assigned to you. It may be that you were travelling or simply caught up in unavoidable circumstances, but if your application was denied because you forgot to follow up, you may appeal to the court for reconsideration with the help of a social security advocate for higher chances of your claim being accepted.

4. The SSA could not contact you

If you moved your address across the street or if you moved states, you are responsible for notifying the SSA of the change in your physical address and the change of other contact numbers. If you fail to do that the SSA will simply reject your claims because they could not contact you.

5. You do not cooperate

Once you file your initial SSDI application, you are required to assist the social security examiner assigned to you in providing him/her all the hard medical proofs and social security taxes payments details. If somehow, you fail or refuse to do that, or your doctor does not provide sufficient medical proof for your disability to be eligible in the Blue Book, then your SSDI claims would be denied on non-cooperation basis.

6. Failure to follow treatment

It may be that you qualify in the disability eligibility and your social security examiner has enough proof for your application to qualify under disability insurance, but if you fail or refuse to follow the treatment your doctor or SSA's special assigned doctor have prescribed for your condition, then you may be denied on the basis that you don't want to treat your disability. There may be some exceptions to this rule if:

  • You do not follow the treatment due to your religious beliefs
  • You could not afford the prescribed treatment
  • You have other side effects or allergic reactions to the prescribed treatments
  • The prescribed treatment contradicts another doctor's prescribed treatment

7. Drug or alcohol abuse

If you do drugs or alcohol abuse and are not in a decent condition to help yourself treat your disability simply because of your addiction or substance abuse, then you might be denied. Also, substance abuse may prevent your disability to also qualify in the Blue Book's disability eligibility.

8. Criminal record

If you are disabled but have a criminal record, or if you became disabled while in jail, or if you qualified under disability but are in jail at the time of your disability application, then you might be denied SSDI claims. You will not be awarded SSDI claims even if you qualify until you are well out of the jail.

9. Prior denials

Many people are mistaken when they think that it is better to file a new application than appealing to the previous denied claims. In such situations, the social security administration may simply deny your claim if they see that your previous application was denied without you appealing to the denial even when you were within the appeal deadlines (within 12 months of denial).

10. You misrepresented information

No matter how much you think you deserve that SSDI, if you manipulated facts in your application such as fake medical records or SSDI taxes payments, then your application will be straight away blacklisted.

While it is necessary to keep the above tips in mind while filing your application, a social security representative at Social Security Administration Office states that people have a 43% higher chance of having their SSDI claims being accepted if they have a Social Security Representative or Advocate filing for their case.