I actually had no idea how bad things were in this respect until a friend of mine with very bad multiple sclerosis could not secure disability benefits ...for years.

There was no question he was badly disabled. He certainly could not work. He had the emergency hospitalizations, reams of medical records, and all sorts of other evidence to show that.

But the system is designed to first deny, and then to begin a very long appeals process that might possibly result in a disability adjudication, eventually —even when the patient, like my friend is profoundly and obviously physically disabled.

He actually had medical imagery of lesions in his brain, but that wasn't enough for a quick approval.

I can only imagine how much more difficult a disability ruling would be for someone whose illness is less evident or obvious.