Does refusing therapy affect SSDI benefits? My brother's worried about losing Social Security disability

The short answer is YES they absolutely can terminate benefits if you refuse treatment! SSA regulations state that if you refuse to follow prescribed treatment that could restore your ability to work without good reason, they can stop your benefits. It's in their rules. I've seen it happen to people. Your brother should reconsider or he's risking everything.

There's some nuance here that's important. SSA can deny or stop benefits if someone refuses treatment that would likely restore their ability to work - BUT this only applies to certain treatments that are clearly established to improve the condition. For pain management therapy, it's unlikely SSA would terminate benefits solely for refusing this type of treatment because: 1. Pain management therapy doesn't typically "cure" degenerative disc disease 2. The effectiveness varies greatly by individual 3. There are often legitimate reasons someone might decline this therapy During Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs), they're primarily looking at whether there's been medical improvement related to ability to work, not specifically treatment compliance. Your brother should document his reasons for declining if asked during a review.

This happened to my cousins friend!!! She didnt go to physical therpy and they cut her off and now shes fighting to get it back for like 8 months already with no income. Tell ur brother dont risk it!!!!!

Having dealt with the Social Security Administration for years with my own disability case, I can share some insight on this. The "failure to follow prescribed treatment" rule exists, but it has specific requirements: - The treatment must be prescribed by your physician - The treatment would clearly restore your ability to perform substantial gainful activity - You have no acceptable reason for refusing Pain management therapy rarely meets the second criteria for degenerative disc disease, which is typically a progressive condition. In most cases, SSA recognizes that pain therapy helps manage symptoms but doesn't "restore" work ability for serious spinal conditions. That said, during his next Continuing Disability Review, if a consulting doctor specifically asks why he declined therapy, he should have a reasonable explanation ready. Something like "I've tried similar approaches before without success" or "I'm managing with other doctor-approved methods" would be better than just "I don't want to."

Getting through to SSA to ask this question directly would give you the most accurate answer for your brother's specific situation. I recently used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) to bypass the phone wait times and talk to an actual SSA representative about a similar question for my mother. Saved hours of frustration! They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. The agent I spoke with gave me much clearer information than what I was finding online.

I think people are confusing SSI with SSDI. With SSI there are more requirements because it's needs-based. With SSDI, which your brother has, it's an insurance program he paid into through his work taxes. They're not monitoring his day-to-day medical choices. I've refused several treatments over the years (didn't want spinal injections) and it's never affected my SSDI benefits. During reviews they just want updated medical records showing you still have the disabling condition.

OMG I just remembered my sister works for a disability lawyer and she said its not therapy they care about, its if you dont go to your regular doctor appointments at all. If you have zero medical records for a long time they might think ur better and working! So ur brother should at least keep seeing his main doctor even if he skips the therapy

After reading through all the comments, I want to clarify the most important points: 1. SSA's "failure to follow prescribed treatment" rule rarely applies to complementary therapies like pain management 2. This rule is most commonly applied in cases like refusing surgery that would clearly restore function, refusing medication for controllable conditions like seizures or diabetes, or refusing psychiatric treatment for severe mental illness 3. For degenerative disc disease, which is generally progressive and permanent, they're mainly checking if the condition still meets disability criteria during reviews 4. Maintaining regular medical care to document ongoing disability is much more important than doing every recommended therapy 5. If asked about declined therapy during a review, having a reasoned explanation is helpful Hope this helps put your mind at ease about your brother's situation.