What Exactly is Social Security Disability Insurance

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI, sometimes also abbreviated as SSD) is a Social Security system that pays you monthly benefits if you become disabled before you reach retirement age and aren't unable to work. Some people know it as "workers impairment." Qualification for Social Security Disability To qualify for the SSDI system, you must have worked a specific number of years in a job where you paid Social Security taxes (FICA) taxes. Especially, you need to have earned a particular variety of work credits; you can earn up to four work credits each year. (In case you have assets and low income, and have n't worked enough when you become disabled, you can apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) instead.) Work Credits  How many work credits you must qualify for SSDI benefits depends on how old you were when you became disabled. For instance, if you're 50 years old when you become disabled, 28 work credits are needed by you, or to have worked for seven years (and at least five of those years must have been within the last 10 years). Medical Qualification You also must have a medical condition that meets with the definition of incapacity of the SSA. SSDI benefits are eligible only to those who have a serious, long term, absolute handicap. Acute means that your condition must interfere with basic work-related tasks. Long-term means that your condition has survived is expected to survive at least one year. Total disability means that you'ren't capable to perform "substantial gainful activity" (SGA) for at least one year. If you're currently working and make over a particular sum ($1,070 per month in 2014 for handicapped applicants, $1,800 for applicants that are blind), the SSA will find that you're not disabled enough to qualify for SSDI benefits and that you're performing SGA. For more information on whether you qualify medically for SSDI, see Medical Qualification for Disability Benefits. Approval for Disability Benefits If you're approved for disability benefits, you won't receive SSDI benefits till you have been disabled for five whole months. If you're approved right away (because you only had a liver transplant), you would have to wait five months for your checks to begin. Yet, it's more likely you wouldn't be approved to a year for about six months (after at least one degree of appeal). If so, when you eventually get approved, you would be paid handicap backpay starting with the sixth month after your disability began (your disability onset date). After you're paid any backpay owing, you'd get a disability benefit check each month. If your household income is over a particular amount, you'll have to pay taxes in your disability benefits. Your family members may also be eligible for a monthly benefit that is partial. For more information, see the way to Get Disability Benefits for Your Dependents. Should you beloved this short article and also you would like to get guidance with regards to social security disability law firm generously go to our own web site. You can keep receiving SSDI. The SSA will perform a continuing disability review (CDR) on your file every one to three years to determine if your illness has improved. Denial of Disability Benefits If your application for SSD is refused (most first applications are), you can appeal the decision. You have to request a review of the refusal within 60 days of when you receive the refusal letter. The first step of the appeal procedure generally in most states is the Request for Reconsideration, a review of your file by another claims examiner. If you are refused you can appeal to the next period, by requesting a hearing with an administrative law judge who works for the SSA. What Are Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Disability Benefits? SSI, or Supplemental Security Income, is a needs-based plan that provides a monthly check to individuals who are blind, elderly, or have a handicap. For disabled people who've never worked, or those who haven't worked enough in the recent years to qualify for SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance), SSI may be the only program available to them. However, the SSI plan is demanding be eligible for financially, as it has very low income limits and strength limits. How Much Does SSI Pay? The monthly payment sum for the SSI program is dependant on the "federal benefit rate" (FBR). In 2014, the FBR is $721 per month for couples for people and $1,082 (and the FBR increases per annum if there is a Social Security cost-of-living adjustment). The FBR is the maximum national monthly SSI payment. Income minus particular exclusions, can be subtracted from your national monthly SSI payment. Additionally, state money can be added to your payment that was national. State Accessories In many states, there's a state supplement, which is added to the federal benefit payment. Every state except Oregon, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia adds cash to the federal SSI payment. The amount of the state accessory changes between states, from $10 to $200, as well as depends on whether you are single or married and whether you are living in a nursing home, assisted living, on your own, or with others. To learn more, see our article on the state supplementary payment. Earned Income Exception If you earn income, you are permitted to deduct a specific amount of the income before it gets subtracted from your SSI payment. It's possible for you to subtract $65 of your earned income, plus another $20 for earned or unearned income, then subtract half of the balance --that is the amount you can deduct from your income. Just the remainder of the income will be subtracted from your SSI payment. In-Kind Support and Maintenance If you receive SSI benefits and someone provides you with shelter or food that you don't pay for, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will count this as income and substract it from your SSI payment. To put it differently, it reduces your monthly SSI payment to account for this in-kind support and maintenance, since the SSA considers since you're receiving some shelter or food for free that you don't need the full SSI payment. For more information, see our post on how your SSI payment affects. Concurrent SSI and SSDI Benefits For those applicants who receive a low SSDI payment, Supplemental Security Income does just what its name suggests. It supplements. For instance, if an approved disability claimant receives SSDI monthly benefits in the sum of $396, an SSI award could be used to guarantee that the claimant's total monthly benefits equal the minimal SSI amount, which is currently $721 per month. The SSDI recipient would receive an added $325 in SSI to bring her total monthly benefits to $721, a sum equivalent to the SSI monthly benefit amount that is full. Of course, this scenario is not going to occur in every such case. Because SSI has resource (asset) limitations (currently, an individual cannot have more than $2,000 in disposable assets), many SSDI claimants will not be eligible to receive Supplemental Security Income, no matter their SSDI benefit amount is. What Is the Difference Between Social Security Disability (SSDI) and SSI? The principal difference between Social Security Disability (SSD, or SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is the fact that SSD is accessible to workers who've accumulated a sufficient number of work credits, while SSI disability benefits are available to low income individuals who've either never worked or who haven't earned enough work credits to qualify for SSD. While many do not distinguish between SSI (Supplemental Security Income) and SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance), they are two entirely different governmental programs. Medical eligibility is determined in precisely the same fashion for both programs, and while both plans are overseen and managed by the Social Security Administration, there are distinct differences between them both. What Is SSI? Supplemental Security Income is a plan that is purely demand-based, based on assets and income, and is funded by general fund taxes. SSI is called a "means-tested program," meaning it has nothing related to work history, but just with fiscal need. To match the SSI income requirements, you must have less than $2,000 in assets (or $3,000 for a couple) and a very small income. Disabled people who are eligible under the income conditions for SSI are additionally capable to receive Medicaid in the state they reside in. Most people who qualify for SSI may also qualify for food stamps, and the amount an eligible individual will receive is determined by the sum of regular, monthly income they've and where they dwell. SSI benefits will begin on the first of the month when you first submit your application. What exactly is SSDI? Social Security Disability Insurance is financed through payroll taxes. SSDI recipients are considered "insured" because they have worked for a particular number of years and have made contributions to the Social Security trust fund in the form of FICA Social Security taxes. SSDI nominees must be younger than 65 and have earned a particular amount of "work credits." (To learn more, see our article on SSDI and work credits.) After receiving SSDI for two years, a disabled person will become eligible for Medicare. Under SSDI, a disabled person's spouse and children dependents are eligible to receive partial dependent benefits. However, the SSDI disability benefit can be received by only adults over age 18. There is a five-month waiting period for benefits, meaning the SSA won't pay benefits for the first five months to you after you become disabled. The amount of the monthly benefit after the waiting period is over depends on your earnings record, much like the Social Security retirement benefit.