3.02: Chronic Respiratory Disorders

What actually decides a claim under 3.02

Spirometry values — chiefly FEV1 — compared against a table keyed to your height and gender, with parallel routes via arterial blood gas values or chronic impairment of gas exchange. The testing has to be done properly and while you are at your baseline: results taken during or immediately after an exacerbation are rejected as unrepresentative, which surprises people who tested when they felt worst.

Conditions evaluated under 3.02

• COPDHow SSA evaluates it, the evidence that decides it, and why claims are denied

Frequently asked questions

Do you have to meet 3.02 to be approved?

No. Meeting a listing is one route to approval and not the most common one. Most awards are made on residual functional capacity — what SSA concludes you can still do across a full working week, given your age, education and past work. A claim that falls short of 3.02 can still be approved that way, which is why a denial citing this listing is not the end of the matter.

What if my records do not meet 3.02 exactly?

Two things can still happen. SSA can find your condition medically equals the listing — equal in severity and duration without matching every criterion — or it can move on to the functional assessment described above. What sinks these claims is usually a gap in the file rather than a gap in the criteria: a limitation you live with that no doctor wrote down.

Which conditions are evaluated under 3.02?

COPD. The criteria are the same; what differs is the evidence each condition needs to satisfy them.