What IS SSDI

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI, occasionally also abbreviated as SSD) is a Social Security system that pays monthly benefits to you if you become disabled before you reach retirement age and aren't able to work. Many people know it as "workers impairment." Qualification for Social Security Disability To qualify for the SSDI program, you must have worked a certain number of years in a job where you paid Social Security taxes (FICA) taxes. Especially, you should have earned a specific number of work credits; you can earn up to four work credits each year. (If you haven't worked and have assets and low income, you can apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) instead.) Work Credits  How many work credits you need to qualify for SSDI benefits depends on how old you were when you became disabled. For example, if you are 50 years old 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 satisfies with the definition of disability of the SSA. SSDI benefits are eligible just to those who have an acute, long-term, total incapacity. Acute means that your condition must interfere with basic work-related tasks. Long term means that your illness has lasted is expected to last at least one year. Total disability means that you aren't competent to perform "substantial gainful activity" (SGA) for at least one year. If you are now working and make in 2014 for disabled applicants per month over a certain sum ($1,070, $1,800 for blind applicants), the SSA will find that you are performing SGA and that you're not disabled enough to qualify for SSDI benefits. To find out more on whether you qualify medically for SSDI, see Medical Eligibility for Disability Benefits. Acceptance for Disability Benefits You won't receive SSDI benefits till you have been disabled for five entire months, if you're approved for disability benefits. If you are approved right away (because you only had a liver transplant), you'd have to wait five months for your checks to start. Yet, it is more probable you would not be approved to a year for about six months (after at least one degree of appeal). In that case, when you eventually get approved, you'd be paid handicap backpay starting with the sixth month after your disability started (your disability onset date). You would get a disability benefit check each month, after you are paid any backpay owing. If your household income is over a certain amount, you'll have to pay taxes on your own disability benefits. Your family may also qualify for a partial monthly benefit. For more information, see Ways to Get Disability Benefits for Your Dependents. You can keep receiving SSDI as long as your medical condition prevents you from working. The SSA will perform a continuing disability review (CDR) on your file every one to three years to ascertain if your condition has improved. Denial of Disability Benefits If your application for SSD is denied (most first applications are), you can appeal the judgement. 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 in most states is the Request for Reconsideration, a review of your file by another claims examiner. If you're denied 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 persons who are blind, aged, or have a disability. For disabled people that have never worked, or those who haven't worked to qualify for SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance), SSI may be the only application accessible to them. On the other hand, the SSI plan is tough be eligible for financially, as it's quite low income limits and asset limits. How Much Does SSI Pay? The monthly payment amount for the SSI program is dependant on the "federal benefit rate" (FBR). In 2014, the FBR is $721 per month for $1,082 and people for couples (if there's a Social Security cost-of-living adjustment and the FBR increases per annum). The FBR is the maximum SSI payment that is monthly that is federal. Income you receive during the month, minus specific exceptions, can be subtracted from your federal monthly SSI payment. Furthermore, state cash can be added to your national monthly payment. State Accessories In many states, there's a state accessory, which is added to the federal benefit payment. Every state except Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia adds cash to the federal SSI payment. The quantity of the state addition changes between states, from $10 to $200, and also depends on whether you're single or married and whether you're living in a nursing home, assisted living, on your own, or with others. To learn more, see our post on the state supplementary payment. Earned Income Exclusion If income is earned by you, you are permitted to deduct a specific amount of the income before it gets subtracted from your SSI payment. You then subtract half of the remainder, and can subtract $65 of your earned income, plus another $20 for earned or unearned income --that's the amount you can deduct from your income. Only the balance of the income will be subtracted from your SSI payment. In Kind Support and Maintenance If you receive SSI benefits and someone supplies you with shelter or food which 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 care, since the SSA considers that you don't need the complete SSI payment since you are receiving some food or shelter for free. To find out more, see our article on income and in-kind support affects your SSI payment. 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 ensure that the claimant's total monthly benefits equal the minimum SSI amount, which is per month. The SSDI recipient would receive an added $325 in SSI to bring her total monthly benefits to $721, a sum equal to the SSI monthly benefit amount that is complete. If you adored this article and you also would like to collect more info with regards to disability attorneys (http://www.disabilityattorneyhub.com/michigan/alanson-mi-disability-attorney/) i implore you to visit our internet site. Needless to say, this scenario won't happen in every such instance. Because SSI has resource (asset) limitations (currently, an individual cannot have more than $2,000 in disposable assets), many SSDI claimants won't 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 that SSD is available to workers who've gathered a sufficient number of work credits, while SSI disability benefits are available to low income people who have either never worked or who haven't earned enough work credits to qualify for SSD. While many people don't differentiate between SSI (Supplemental Security Income) and SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance), they're two completely distinct governmental plans. While both programs are overseen and managed by the Social Security Administration, and medical eligibility is determined in the same fashion for both programs, there are distinct differences between them both. What Is SSI? Supplemental Security Income is a program that's just need-based, according to assets and income, and is financed by general fund taxes. SSI is called a "means-tested program," meaning it's nothing related to work history, but just with financial need. To match with the SSI income conditions, 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 also capable to get Medicaid in the state. Most people who qualify for SSI will also qualify for food stamps, and the sum an eligible person will receive is dependent on the amount of routine, monthly income they've and where they dwell. SSI benefits will begin on the first of the month when you submit your application. What's SSDI? Social Security Disability Insurance is funded through payroll taxes. SSDI recipients are considered "insured" because they've worked for a certain variety of years and have made contributions to the Social Security trust fund in the shape of FICA Social Security taxes. SSDI candidates must be younger than 65 and have earned a certain amount of "work credits." (To learn more, see our article on work credits and SSDI.) A disabled person will become eligible for Medicare, after receiving SSDI for two years. Under SSDI, a disabled person's partner and children dependents are eligible to get partial dependent benefits, called auxiliary benefits. Nevertheless, only adults over age 18 can receive the SSDI disability benefit. There is a five-month waiting period for benefits, meaning the SSA won't pay you benefits for the first five months after you become disabled. The quantity of the monthly benefit after the waiting period is over depends on your earnings record, much like the Social Security retirement benefit.