Social Security Disability & Eligibility

To qualify for Social Security Disability, one must fulfill various qualification criteria set by the SSA.

The first one stipulates that the applicant for the claim must prove to the SSA that he/she is disabled on a permanent basis, or is suffering a condition that has lingered or is predicted to go on for more than a full year. Due to the time, it is necessary for applicants to carefully store, update, and arrange their medical details, documents, and other paperwork to avoid any ambiguity or confusion about the severity of the disability.

Also, the SSA will try to determine if the condition of the claimant is enough to prevent the person from carrying out any significant or gainful activity as an employee. Such a condition must be one that obstructs the performance of the applicant’s official responsibilities at his place of work. It would also need to be severe enough to remove the possibility of getting another.

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)

The federal government has two programs which offer support to people with disabilities and SSDI is one of them. SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) is financially supported by the Social Security Tax Fund. Thus, eligible, disabled individuals according to the above guidelines must possess enough work credits to be entitled to receive payments. Technically, a person must have been settling all social security taxes on their earnings for a significantly long period to be eligible for benefits. The interpretation of this is that applicants must possess a slightly consistent employment history and have been employed for at least half of the decade leading (before) the beginning of disability.

Younger claimants may have a lower requirement for work credits because the work credits of parents can cover claimants below 22 years of age.

 

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

For need-associated SSI (Supplemental Security and Income), work requirements do not apply due to the funding of the initiative via general tax revenues, rather than the Social Security tax. To be eligible for SSI, an applicant has to be above 65 years of age, be genuinely blind or disabled, and possess assets whose worth is lower than $3000. According to the SSA, assets refer to earnings or income (such as pensions, wages, and other benefits project), and resources like real estate, cash savings and stock holdings. Applicants who fulfill these requirements may qualify for payment from SSI no matter their prior work history.

 

Getting Denied

The constant rise in the number of claims for Social Security Disability benefits has resulted in a 60% increase of denial rates at the first stage. If we are to consider the first stage of appeal or the re-examination phase, the figure rises to 80%.

 

The primary causes of denial are:

• Failure of the applicant to convince the officials about the extent of a disability because of inadequate medical records or other required documents.
• Unsatisfactory work history to fulfill the requirements for work credits as established by SSA.
• Lack of familiarity with the process for Social Security Appeals, can lead to being unaware of right steps to take in order to fight for their claims when they are denied.

 

To prevent such issues, it would be wise for claim applicants to continue getting medical treatments and make sure all records are not only organized but also intact. The expertise of a Social Security lawyer/attorney may be useful even in a case as common as initial stage denial.

 

Retirement and its effects on Disability Benefits

SSA runs three benefits programs named the SSDI, SSI and the Social Security Retirement. Many individuals on the payroll of SSDI or SSI face uncertainty about the fate of their disability payments after retirement.

For the SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) which is financed by the Social Security Tax, a part or your entire monthly payment may be transformed and paid as retirement benefit when you attain retirement age. However, the sum total of your benefits should be constant. Strive to promptly inform the SSA if you get a higher (above normal) payment because you could bear the burden of having to return any excess amount you mistakenly receive.

For SSI (Supplemental Security Income), you may be allowed to retain a portion, or all, of your monthly benefits. However, it all depends on how much you get as retirement benefits.