If your Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income case gets denied, you should file an appeal. Generally, there are four levels of appeal for purposes of Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income benefits. These include Reconsideration, Hearing, Appeals Council, and Federal Court.
After your initial application is denied, you must file an appeal, or Request for Reconsideration, in writing, within 60 days. A disability examiner, who did not review your case at the initial application level, reviews your case at the reconsideration level, and makes a fresh determination regarding your disability. If you are denied benefits after your case has been reconsidered, and you wish to continue with your case, you must file a request for a hearing, in writing, within 60 days. An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), who took no part in the initial or reconsideration decision, will hear your case and make another fresh decision regarding your disability.
If the ALJ finds that you are not disabled, and you disagree with his or her decision and wish to continue with your case, you may file an appeal, or request for review, with the Appeals Council. The Appeals Council looks at all of the requests for review it receives. However, it may decide not to review your case if it finds that the Judge’s decision was correct. Alternatively, the Appeals Council may find that error was committed and/or that there is a further need for review. It may remand the case to the Judge or vacate the judge’s decision and issue its own decision. If the Appeals Council refuses your request for review, or you disagree with the Appeals Council’s decision, and you wish to continue with your case, you may file a law suit in a federal district court.