Wage Earner Claims
SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY INSURANCE (SSDI)
This is the primary type of benefit for people who have earned wages.
To be able to pursue a claim, you must have “insured status”. Like any insurance coverage, you must have paid premiums to have the coverage. When you work, your employer takes out taxes for social security. These taxes go into the fund that pays social security benefits. Thus, your taxes act as your annual premiums for social security insurance.
To have this insured status for a disability claim, you must meet two requirements:
- You must have 1 work credit for each year between the year that you turned 21 and the year before you became disabled. For example, if you became disabled in 2008 when you were 48 years old, it was 26 years between the year after you turned 21 (1981) and the year before you became disabled (2007). You would therefore need 26 credits.
- If you are 31 or older, you must have worked for at least 5 full years out of the last 10 years before the year you became disabled. Those persons who are ages 24-30 must have worked ½ of the years since they were 21, and those under 24 must have worked for 1.5 years.
A work credit is based on the amount you earned in a year. You can earn up to 4 credits each year. Each year the amount for 1 credit goes up slightly. Thirty years ago, to get the full 4 credits you had to earn about $2300. Today that amount is nearly doubled. If your earnings were not enough to get all4 credits for a given year, you could still have earned 1 to 3 credits depending on that year’s earnings.
If you are being told that you do not have insured status, you need to look at your earnings record to make sure that it is correct for your earning through the years. And, if you are still within the time period to file a tax return to report earning (for which taxes would need to be or have been paid) or to amend your return to be able to report (and pay taxes on) additional earnings, you may then get the credits you need.
After it is established that you have insured status, you claim will be processed to determine if you meet the disability standard as discussed in the social security disability page of this website.
Your Benefit Amount
The amount of your monthly benefit is based on the earnings you have had. It is essentially the same amount you would get if you received your full retirement benefits beginning the year you became disabled. To find out the amount, you can consult the green and white notice that Social Security is sending out once a year, or go on line at the Social Security Administration Website (www.ssa.gov) to use their “benefits calculator”.
Your first month’s benefit begins on your “Date of Entitlement”-- the 6th month following the month in which your disability was found to begin. However, Social Security is not required to pay benefits going back more than 12 months before your application. Therefore, if your date of entitlement would have otherwise been a month that was more than a year before you filed your application, the date of entitlement will be moved up. This is one reason you do not want to delay too long in filing your application.
Family Benefits
These are additional benefits given to your minor children (and in some cases to your spouse). The total amount of Family Benefits will not exceed 50% of your monthly benefit amount.
Medicare
Beginning with the 25th month after your date of entitlement, you can elect to get Medicare health insurance through Social Security. The premium will be taken out of your monthly disability check. |
