Finally, the Disability Industry needs to be crushed. Attorneys today specialize in getting people declared permanently disabled. These people are sucking the Social Security and Medicare funds dry. You would be appalled by the number of twenty-, thirty-, and forty-something year olds who have won the disability lottery jackpot.
Unless newer rules have changed, those attorneys are paid out of anticipated future SS/Disability payments. Thus, applicant must win disability. If the applicant loses through the appeals process, the attorney gets nothing and cannot bill the applicant.
If the applicant wins, the attorney is paid out of the 'waiting year' the applicant had to endure before he/she could apply. Payments are pre-dated to the date when the applicant filed, less 4 months (IIRC) and less the legislated amount allocated to the attorney.