High blood pressure impacts one-third of the adult population in the United States. It provides a gateway to other serious diseases, such as stroke, heart disease, and kidney issues, which seriously impact an individual’s ability to work. So, does high blood pressure qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)?
High blood pressure does not qualify for SSDI benefits on its own. However, the Social Security Administration (SSA) takes high blood pressure into account in conjunction with other conditions when determining eligibility for benefits.
Continue reading to learn more about how high blood pressure can qualify for SSDI benefits.
Does High Blood Pressure Qualify for SSDI?
High blood pressure is included alongside a wide variety of other disorders in the SSA Blue Book. Several paragraphs in Section 4 (Cardiovascular System) of the Social Security Administration’s Blue Book describe it as a symptom, complication, or cause of other conditions.
The SSA takes your high blood pressure into account, along with any other organs or systems it may have impacted, when determining your eligibility for disability benefits.
The body organs that can be affected include the heart, lungs, eyes, kidneys, bones, brain function, as well as the brain itself.
Additionally, when determining your residual functional capacity or ability to work, the Social Security Administration will take into account any limits caused by high blood pressure, such as problems with physical exertion or concentration.
The Social Security Administration will also evaluate whether your high blood pressure meets certain requirements:
- It causes severe impairment that affects your capacity to work
- It prevents you from retaining employment when combined with other impairments
- It has lasted for at least a year, is expected to last for a year, or will result in death
How to Apply for SSDI with High Blood Pressure
You can apply for SSDI benefits if your hypertension (the medical term for high blood pressure) prevents you from working. But in order to do so, you must provide evidence that your hypertension has an impact on one or more of your body’s systems to the extent that you can’t engage in any gainful activity.
There is no particular entry in the Blue Book that the Social Security Administration uses to assess SSDI claims for high blood pressure. Instead, the Social Security Administration \considers your claim for disability based on which of your body parts are impacted by your blood pressure.
The following sections of the Blue Book include criteria for the most common impacted body systems:
- Heart (Section 4, Cardiovascular System)
- Brain (Section 11, Neurological, 11.4, Central Nervous System Vascular Accident)
- Kidneys (Section 6, Genitourinary Impairments)
- Eyes (Section 2, Special Senses and Speech)
Your eligibility for SSDI benefits will be determined based on the specific criteria outlined in these sections.
The exact medical documentation you’ll need to provide will also be determined by which of your body’s functions are impaired. However, you will be required to provide all relevant blood pressure test results.
Given that the SSA will take all of your medically determinable conditions into consideration, you will need to provide a list of all of the physical and mental conditions that you are dealing with, regardless of whether or not the conditions are related to your high blood pressure.
Even if none of those conditions individually match the Blue Book criteria, you can still be eligible for disability benefits if the combined effects of all of your impairments are equal to one of the conditions listed in the Blue Book.
In addition, you can qualify for benefits if you can prove that your disabilities prevent you from continuing to do any available job for which you could reasonably be trained.
If your high blood pressure is caused by renal failure (kidneys), heart failure, or any of the other conditions that have been specified in the Blue Book, then it is quite likely that you will be examined according to the criteria for those conditions.
Nonetheless, you should still provide as much detail as you can regarding your high blood pressure.
How to Maximize Chances of Approval for SSDI with High Blood Pressure
If you are applying for disability benefits with high blood pressure, the following tips will help you understand how to improve your chances of approval.
Document All of Your Medical Conditions
In most cases, high blood pressure is observed in conjunction with or as a result of other serious medical problems. You can improve your chances of getting disability benefits by carefully documenting all of your medical conditions, not just high blood pressure, even if that isn’t enough to qualify you on its own.
When determining eligibility for SSDI, the Social Security Administration carefully evaluates all relevant medical information, including both past and current health conditions.
Your application, supported by medical documents and additional information, must effectively convey that your disabling condition(s) renders you unable to engage in work.
Document Your Treatment
In order to prove your eligibility for SSDI, you must demonstrate to the SSA that you have exhausted all other options for managing your high blood pressure.
You should include details of any medications that you have tried, dietary changes you’ve adopted, and exercises you did under the direction of your doctor in order to control your blood pressure.
Document Your Condition’s Duration
To qualify for SSDI benefits, an applicant’s condition must have lasted or be expected to last for a minimum of 12 months. If you are applying for SSDI based on high blood pressure, you will be required to prove to the SSA that your uncontrolled blood pressure meets this basic eligibility criteria.
Consult a Disability Lawyer
Applications for high blood pressure are often evaluated using a “residual functional capacity” (RFC) exam. This is done when an applicant’s medical condition does not fit into one of the established disability categories.
In order to be eligible for benefits through RFC, you need to have a thoroughly documented case file and medical records. You can improve your chances of receiving SSDI benefits by working with a disability advocate or attorney who specializes in Social Security law.
Conclusion
While SSDI applicants can’t qualify for SSDI benefits solely based on high blood pressure, they can present medical documentation demonstrating how their hypertension is more severe than average, how it impairs them, and how they are unable to work in any type of job on a consistent basis.
