In 2017, many people received letters from the Social Security Administration (SSA) announcing a change in regulations as part of an effort to make Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) procedures consistent nationwide. Beginning May 1 of that year, the SSA now required all claimants to submit all evidence to the ALJ no later than five days before their hearing dates.  When a person fails to provide the evidence to an ALJ at least five days before the hearing, the judge may refuse to consider the evidence. The logic behind the change was undoubtedly to prevent claimants from showing up for hearings […]