This CE will be useful to health insurance agents seeking a better understanding of how the SSD process works. It will cover the major steps an attorney takes in a disability case from intake to appeals, including:
· the five steps involved in a sequential evaluation of disability
· SSA and the Administrative Law Judge
· Medical opinions
· the distinction between SSD and SSI, and
· how long term disability insurance affects SSD and Medicare eligibility.
Joanne found her niche as a legal advocate and has been helping clients win disability claims for nearly ten years. Admitted to the Florida Bar in 1997, she has been a practicing attorney since 1998.
Also an educator, Joanne has combined her love of teaching with a passion for justice that began in her 20’s when her family’s business closed and the family suffered serious financial loss. Her continuing work as a legal advocate enables her to help often frustrated disability claimants learn to navigate the system, maintain their dignity and secure the monthly income and benefits to which they are entitled.
Her law career began when she relocated from New York to the Tampa Bay area and became the elder law advocate with Bay Area Legal Services, New Port Richey, Florida. In 2003 she took the helm of a 23-year old practice in Inverness that became Stepp & Wilburne, P.A., soon renamed Joanne S. Wilburne, P.A.
Today, with offices throughout central Florida, the firm’s concentration is in social security disability, VA disability, probate and guardianships, Medicare drug denials, and also handles wills, trusts and durable power of attorney.
In addition to court admissions in the U.S. Middle District of Florida and Florida Courts, Joanne is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. In Social Security matters, she is able to practice in all 50 states.
She is a certified teacher in New York and Florida and was an adjunct professor of law for Argosy University at the Tampa campus.
Joanne earned her Juris Doctor in 1997 from City University of New York School of Law. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Syracuse University and in 1982 obtained a Masters degree in secondary education from New York’s Long Island University.
