About Disability Benefits Guidance
My Mission
In offering expert, confidential guidance with care and compassion, I hope to enable you to achieve a successful case outcome that will provide you financial security and essential healthcare needed to address your disability and to live fully!
My Goal
Disability Benefits Guidance, LLC aims to remove the typical barriers to obtaining a Social Security disability benefit, reduce the usual delays and improve the likelihood of an approval early in the process or a stronger case if appeals are needed. Ideally this service will also help you maximize your benefits and maintain them if approved.
“Knowledge is power” is no more true than when facing the Social Security Administration, one of the largest bureaucracies in the world.
My Method
Disability Benefits Guidance, LLC will give you a fighting chance with your claim by educating you early in the process or along the way. This can be achieved by demystifying the tricky eligibility rules so you know what you have to prove to be approved and how to address any case issues while building the medical evidence you need for a favorable decision. These are some of the steps I will take to achieve this:
Before Benefit Approval
1) Thoroughly review your case facts.
2) Analyze your case using the same 5 evaluation steps used by Social Security to decide your case.
3) Identify strengths and weaknesses in your case.
4) Whether applying or appealing, recommend specific improvements to your case and how to implement these recommendations which often includes obtaining better medical and/or vocational evidence.
5) If desired, follow your case through application, or the first appeal if needed, to ensure your case is on the right track.
6) If denied a second time assist you in finding appropriate and high-quality representation.
After Benefit Approval
1) Coach you on what to expect with your payments, your health insurance, when to expect the periodic review, and tips on managing your Social Security benefit.
2) Coach you on how to maintain your benefits and prepare for the periodic medical review.
3) Provide or refer you to free benefits planning which is crucial if you decide to work while keeping your social security benefit.
4) Provide you (free of charge) information and referral to link you with the many services, benefit programs, and disability-specific supports available to individual with disabilities.
"Wait times for Social Security disability benefit decisions reach new high"
Applicants now wait over seven months for a decision on an initial application, up 86% from 2019.
Source: USAFacts.org
The typical experience of an unassisted Social Security benefits applicant
The majority of Social Security disability applicants are denied due to lack of knowledge. Someone may have a good case but have no idea how to prove it. Due to inadequate claims information or evidence most will need two appeals and a hearing with a judge that requires expensive legal representation. Representatives must charge on contingency. If they “win” a case they charge their client 25% of past-due benefits not to exceed $9200 which takes a large chunk of the long-awaited benefits. Social Security attorneys who represent in Social Security cases usually select the well-paying or easily proved cases only. Even those ultimately approved wait three or more years for the “favorable decision” by which time their personal finances are in shambles. Some have even been known to die waiting. Disability Benefits Guidance, LLC offers a better, more pro-active option.
Average approval rates & wait times
(when unassisted at application or first appeal) – varies widely from state to state
-
Application: 38% approved; currently 225 days to process
-
1st appeal: Request for Reconsideration – 15% approved; 183 days to process
-
2nd appeal (legal assistance needed): Request for Hearing – approval depends on judge – nationwide average is 51%; 372 days more for a hearing date from date appeal is filed
-
Appeals Council: 2-3 years; rarely approved at this level
-
Federal District Court: 3-5 more years; very rarely approved at this level; a representative will collect 25% of your entire past-due benefit.
Who is this service for, how will it work, and how much will it cost?
The ideal client:
-
Anyone in the USA (including their support person if desired) who is interested in applying for a Social Security disability benefit for themselves or a child or who has started the process and been denied once, twice or repeatedly over recent years without appealing.
-
Anyone who wants to speed up their case.
-
Parents of children transitioning to adulthood will benefit from informed help navigating the many and complicated Social Security benefit changes that occur at this juncture.
-
Beneficiaries (those approved for and receiving benefits) facing a benefits review so they can understand how to prepare for the review and to avoid loss of benefits.
-
Beneficiaries who decide to work and need assistance understanding how wages will impact their disability benefit. This guidance is called "benefits planning." Benefits planning educates a beneficiary of the available Social Security work incentives, how wages will impact their benefit and potential pitfalls and advantages to starting or returning to work. In Virginia, Disability Benefits Guidance, LLC serves as a vendor for agencies such as the Department of Aging and Rehabilitation Services, Department for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and the Department of Medical Assistance Services who pay for benefit planning services for their clients attempting to work.
Disability Benefits Guidance LLC fills a vacuum of help at the start of the process
One or more sessions of “technical assistance” with an expert guide upfront, at a tiny fraction of the cost of retaining an attorney way down the road, can speed up your case and make all the difference in the outcome. Disability Benefits Guidance, LLC will walk you through the 5 decision steps used to decide your claim using your facts, identify other important factors that influence the outcome and identify weaknesses in your case right away so you can fix them. If denials occur guidance can be provided so you know how to navigate appeals. Throughout the guidance process you will learn ways to limit delays and create a strong and believable documentation trail. With a well-developed claim your case may be approved at the application stage or first appeal. If a second appeal is needed a legal representative is more likely to accept and champion your case before an administrative law judge with accurate and fully documented evidence. I do not represent at hearings but can refer to the best in the industry. Disability Benefits Guidance, LLC is guidance from the get-go!
Do you know…
The difference between SSDI, SSI, DAC and which of these benefit(s) to apply for?
The best way to apply?
What you have to prove to be approved?
How to navigate Social Security benefits when turning 18?
How your age, education, and past work history will impact your case?
How unemployment, workers compensation, veterans, or employer or private disability benefits will affect your case?
How to decide between collecting your retirement benefit at 62 or a disability benefit?
How to maintain benefits once approved?
How and how often?
One 1-hour consultation with me will likely be enough. First, you will complete a questionnaire in advance providing me with key facts about your disability and other circumstances to make best use of the session time. Using your facts, I will provide practical, individualized and comprehensive guidance regarding which program(s) to apply for, the best way to apply, the eligibility requirements and how your case facts will affect the decision, potential issues and how to prove your case. The guidance during this session will clarify this system and enable you to put your best case forward at the beginning of the process or even if your claim is under appeal. For an additional fee, I can conduct a medical records review before or after your consultation. Also, for an additional fee, I can provide you with a written, personalized game plan based on your disability circumstances that you can use throughout the process. I can provide additional sessions if needed at a reduced rate. Sessions will be conducted virtually, by phone, or in person when possible or preferred.
How much?
I offer initial and follow up consultations. Most people will only need the initial one-hour consultation. Additional consultations are available if desired and to maximize the benefits of this service.
Check out my affordable rates here.
Company History
Elizabeth Horn, founder and owner of Disability Benefits Guidance, operated a similar service, Disability Benefits Assistance, Inc., from 1997-2013. This company was a non-attorney alternative to obtaining representation for one’s Social Security disability case mostly at the hearing stage of a claim. Elizabeth often took cases at the application stage or first appeal and won them quickly by collecting compelling evidence from the start and creating a case argument that could not be denied! During this time, she represented over 200 individuals and maintained a 97% approval rate when the national average was only 60%.
From 2013 to 2024, Elizabeth served as a disability rights advocate for the disAbility Law Center of Virginia (dLCV) where she specialized in assisting those applying and appealing their cases or facing benefit dilemmas once approved. During this time, as their subject matter expert on Social Security benefits, she handled over 2000 inquiries addressing every imaginable case glitch while guiding individuals through the process. Often this involved researching Social Security regulations or their Program Operations Manual (POMS) and applying it to their situation. She also conducted social security case consultations and trainings throughout Virginia.
As of October 2024, dLCV terminated this service propelling Elizabeth to launch a new, more pro-active service, Disability Benefits Guidance, LLC, immediately filling this service gap. This consulting service is modeled after the approach she developed of problem solving a case in advance or correcting evidence issues along the way to speed up and ensure an approval. In effect, by educating an applicant on how to prove their case they become their own best self-advocate throughout the process. Of course, there is no limit to the number of sessions provided. Individuals choosing this service will have 28 years of Elizabeth’s Social Security advocacy expertise behind them.
Learn more about Elizabeth’s background as a lifelong disability advocate by checking out her LinkedIn profile here.
"Your legacy is every life you touch." - Maya Angelou