Once your condition is considered “severe” by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and that you are not engaged in substantial gainful activity, the assessor will then determine whether or not your condition or combination of conditions is of the severity to meet or medically equal one of the medical listings of impairments.1 This determination is important because if your condition meets the criteria within the particular listing then you will be found disabled.

There are medical listings for conditions separated by each of the major body systems. There are separate listings between adults and children. The conditions contained in the listings are considered either permanent or expected to result in death, the condition has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months, or the listing will include a specific duration. The medical listings of impairments do not have every disabling condition listed. If your condition equals the functional limitations set forth in the listing then you may still be found disabled under that listing. Additionally, just because your condition has the same name as one of the listings is not an automatic finding of “disabled.”

Meeting or medically equaling the listings can be difficult and will only occur when the SSA determines that your records medical and nonmedical support a finding that you meet the criteria of that listing. The SSA will consider all evidence from your medical doctors as well as the medical information provided by the consultative examinations set up by the SSA that will give a medical opinion on your conditions. Do not get discouraged if it is determined that your condition does not meet or medically equal any of the medical listings of impairments. You may still be found “disabled” in one of the next steps of evaluation.

The Medical Listings of Impairments do get updated so it is important to check the SSA website to stay current on the qualifying factors of a particular listing. Our office will be posting follow-up articles with additional information on specific listings. Having an attorney knowledgeable in the medical listings will help you with collecting records and communicating with your doctors in order to prove to the SSA that your condition meets or medically equals one of the medical listings of impairments.