Feb
3
Written by:
Sam Schad
2/3/2011 9:24 AM
continued from Part 1
Dire need has the obvious benefit of getting the hearing to happen faster. If you have recently filed your Request for Hearing, this tremendously shortens your wait. (At the time of writing, the average wait in the Louisville ODAR office was at 14 months, Indianapolis was 18 months, Evansville was 11 months, and Lexington was 10 months).
The downsides? If you are close to the end of your wait for a hearing, having your case designated as a dire need case will not offer you too much benefit. And, if you are in the initial stages of a claim, you cannot file for dire need until you request a hearing- after your second denial.
Whether you are a Schad and Schad client or you are using other counsel, make sure your representative is aware of the following:
- If you are suffering from an impairment that will likely end in imminent death without the proper treatment, call immediately.
- If you are being evicted and have received a letter to that effect, call immediately.
- If the home you live in is being foreclosed upon, and have received a notice of foreclosure, call immediately.
- If you cannot provide food for yourself or your children.
The above scenarios are, in our experience, the most likely to be granted dire need status by the hearings office. We also encourage our clients to contact us with any threatening letters they receive regarding eviction, foreclosure, the need for surgeries or treatments. You never know how it will be viewed by the hearings office- and it never hurts to ask.