Disability for Asthma. Severe, persistent, and despite treatment.

How Social Security evaluates asthma

The asthma listing has two parts, and both are required. First, an FEV1 at or below the value in Social Security’s table for your age, sex, and height, measured while you are stable. Second, exacerbations or complications requiring three hospitalizations within a 12-month period, at least 30 days apart, each lasting at least 48 hours. The breathing test must fall within the same 12-month period as the hospitalizations. If the listing is met, Social Security considers you disabled for one year from the last hospital discharge and then reviews what remains.

When no listing is met

Most claims are decided on residual functional capacity: what you can still do in a work setting despite your symptoms. Social Security then asks whether any jobs fit those limits. For asthma, the limits that matter are environmental: dust, fumes, smoke, chemicals, temperature extremes, and exertion.

Evidence that matters

• Spirometry done while stable.
• Hospital admission and discharge records, with dates and length of stay.
• Emergency and urgent care visits.
• Medication history, including steroid courses and biologics.
• Records identifying your triggers.

Ask your doctor to complete the physical impairments form in our free doctor forms. It records your limits in the terms Social Security uses.

Why these claims are denied

• Attacks treated in the emergency room without admission, which do not count toward the listing.
• No baseline breathing test.
• Gaps in treatment or medication not taken as prescribed.
• No description of workplace triggers.

Arizona air

Dust, heat, and seasonal air quality affect many people with asthma in Arizona. If conditions outdoors or in past workplaces set off attacks, tell your doctor so the triggers are in your records. They narrow the jobs Social Security can say you could do.

If you are 50 or older

Under Social Security’s grid rules, a person limited to sedentary work at 50, or light work at 55, may be found disabled depending on education and past work.

Next steps

If you have been denied, you have 60 days to appeal. See what to do after a denial in Arizona, SSDI in Arizona, and SSI in Arizona. There is no fee unless benefits are awarded.

J Disability Law Firm, PLLC · Joseph J. Duerst, Attorney · 18444 N. 25th Ave, Suite 420, Phoenix, AZ 85023 · (602) 607-0000. This page is general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different. Past results do not predict the outcome of your case.