What s SSDI

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI, occasionally also abbreviated as SSD) is a Social Security program 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 handicap." 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. Particularly, you must have earned a particular number of work credits; you can earn up to four work credits per year. (If you have low income and assets, 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 need to qualify for SSDI benefits is dependent upon how old you were when you became disabled. For instance, if you are 50 years old when you become disabled, 28 work credits are needed by you, or to have worked for seven years (and five of those years must have been within the last 10 years). Medical Eligibility You also must have a medical condition that fulfills the definition of impairment of the SSA. Should you adored this post as well as you want to get more details about disability attorneys (www.disabilityattorneyhub.com) kindly check out our site. SSDI benefits are eligible only to people who have a severe, long-term, total handicap. Acute means your condition must interfere with basic work-related activities. Long term means that your illness has survived is expected to last. Total disability means that you'ren't competent to perform "substantial gainful activity" (SGA) for at least one year. If you're now working and make over a particular sum ( in 2014 for disabled applicants, $1,800 for blind applicants), the SSA will find that you're not disabled enough to qualify for SSDI benefits and that you're performing SGA. To find out more 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 entire months. If you're approved right away (because you just had a liver transplant), you'd need to wait five months for your checks to begin. However, 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 finally get approved, you would be paid handicap backpay beginning with the sixth month after your disability began (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 specific amount, you'll have to pay taxes on your disability benefits. Your family may also qualify for a partial monthly benefit. To find out more, see Ways to Get Disability Benefits for Your Dependents. 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 condition has improved. Denial of Disability Benefits If your application for SSD is refused (most first applications are), you can appeal the judgement. You need to request a review of the denial 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're refused you can appeal to the next phase, by requesting a hearing with an administrative law judge who works for the SSA. What're Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Disability Benefits? SSI, or Supplemental Security Income, is a needs-based program that provides a monthly check to individuals 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 program available to them. On the other hand, the SSI plan is tough to qualify for financially, as it has quite low income limits and strength limits. How Much Does SSI Pay? The payment sum for the SSI program is founded on the "federal benefit rate" (FBR). In 2014, the FBR is $721 per month for couples for people and $1,082 (if there's a Social Security cost-of-living adjustment and the FBR increases annually). The FBR is the maximum national monthly SSI payment. Income minus particular exceptions, can be subtracted from your national monthly SSI payment. Moreover, state money can be added to your payment that was federal. State Additions In most states, there's a state accessory, which is added to the national benefit payment. Every state except Oregon, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia adds money to the federal SSI payment. The amount of the state accessory also depends on whether you're married or single and whether you are living in a nursing home, assisted living, on your own, or with others, and changes between states, from $10 to $200. To find out more, see our article on the state supplementary payment. Earned Income Exclusion You're allowed to deduct a certain amount of the income before it gets subtracted from your SSI payment, if you earn income. You can subtract $65 of your earned income, plus another $20 for earned or unearned income, then subtract half of the remainder --that is the amount you can deduct from your income. Just the balance of the income will be subtracted from your SSI payment. In-Kind Support and Care If you receive SSI benefits and someone provides 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 since you're receiving some shelter or food for free that you do not need the full SSI payment. To learn more, see our article on 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 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 equivalent to the SSI monthly benefit amount that is complete. Of course, this scenario isn't going to happen in every such instance. Because SSI has resource (asset) limitations (now, 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 main difference between Social Security Disability (SSD, or SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is the fact that SSD is available to workers who have collected a sufficient variety 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 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 way for both applications, and while the Social Security Administration oversees and managed both programs, there are distinct differences between the two. What Is SSI? Supplemental Security Income is a plan that is just demand-established, according to income and assets, and is financed by general fund taxes. SSI is called a "means-tested application," meaning it's nothing to do with work history, but just with financial need. To fulfill with the SSI income requirements, you must have less than $2,000 in assets (or $3,000 for a couple) and a quite limited income. Disabled people who are eligible under the income requirements for SSI are additionally able to get Medicaid in the state. Most individuals who qualify for SSI may also qualify for food stamps, and the amount an eligible individual will receive is determined by where they reside and the amount of regular, monthly income they have. 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 receivers are considered "insured" because they've worked for a particular variety of years and have made contributions to the Social Security trust fund in the form of FICA Social Security taxes. SSDI candidates must be younger than 65 and have earned a specific number of "work credits." (To learn more, see our article on SSDI and work credits.) A disabled person will become eligible for Medicare, after receiving SSDI for two years. Under SSDI, a disabled person's spouse and children dependents are eligible to receive partial dependent benefits. Yet, only adults over age 18 can receive the SSDI disability benefit. There is a five-month waiting period for benefits, meaning the SSA will not pay benefits for the first five months to you 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.