The Social Security Administration has two programs that are for persons who become unable to work because of medical impairments.

SSD vs SSI
The first is Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD). This insurance program was added by Congress to the Social Security Administration’s original retirement benefit program in 1956. A part of the wages withheld from your paycheck has been used to buy you this disability insurance. If you become medically unable to work for one year or longer, you can make a claim for payment on your disability insurance policy. If the claim is approved, monthly insurance payments are then made to you and to your qualified dependents.

The Supplemental Security Income program is commonly known as “SSI”. It is intended to be a supplemental payment for those who do not have enough of a work history to become eligible for disability insurance benefits. SSI also provides a supplemental payment to persons whose disability insurance payments are not high enough to provide a minimum level of support. To be eligible for SSI, you must first of all be disabled, but you must also be financially needy in terms of income and resources.

Generally, when you apply for “disability” you will be asked to complete applications for both types of disability benefits. Social Security will screen you for eligibility under both programs.

Requirements to Qualify for Disability Benefits
To qualify for disability, you must prove that you have medical impairments that prevent you from engaging in regular employment for a time period of one year or more. The law requires that your age, your education and your work experience be considered in making the decision, because what may be a disabling impairment for one person may not be disabling for another when these additional factors are taken into account.

How good your case is depends on many things. When you hire Goss & Fentress to represent you, our attorneys investigate your case during the appeal process, secure all additional evidence that may be relevant to the outcome, and then evaluate your chances of success.

If we then feel there is no chance of success, we will tell you. What we generally find, however, is that with experience and preparation, there usually will be an opportunity to succeed.

Disability is not purely a medical issue. To be found disabled, you must be unable to perform work activity that is generally available in the national, state and local competitive economy. Therefore, in making a determination as to whether you are disabled, Social Security also analyzes the competitive job market as well as your medical condition. This reflects a recognition that what may be a disabling condition to one individual may not be to another. Disability depends on the nature of the medical condition and the type of employment prospects available to the claimant for disability.

The disability standard requires that you not only show that you are unable to do the work you have done in the past. You must also prove that you are unable to do any other work that exists in the competitive economy. This is a high standard.

Therefore, in addition to considering your medical impairments, these vocational factors also are taken into account in developing your potential for competitive employment:

• Work Experience: Skills acquired during a working career broaden the range of work opportunities. This becomes more important for older workers because, as stated above, employers are less likely to invest in training older workers. If you bring an array of job skills to the competitive workplace, you have more job placement opportunities, even with medical limitations.
• Education: More education makes for a broader range of job prospects. This becomes particularly important when the claimed disability is a physical one. Workers with less education will generally find that work opportunities are more restricted to physically demanding jobs, where physical limitations make it harder to perform the job duties.
• Age: The simple fact is that the older a worker is, the less value he has in the working world. This is because job training costs employers time and money, and the preference of employers is to invest in younger workers who have more years to generate a return on the employer’s investment in training. The regulations that are used to determine if an individual is unable to work are sorted into age groupings to reflect this reality, particularly when physical impairments are the basis for your claim.

Generally, the answer is no. This is because you need to show that you are presently unable to work to qualify for the benefits. It’s going to be pretty hard to do this if you are still working in a substantial way.

There are some exceptions to this general rule. If you are working only a few hours a week, or on an occasional or intermittent basis, and are unable to work more than this, you may still qualify. There are strict earnings tests that apply to this situation and your earnings must not be considered substantial.

On the other hand, after you qualify for and begin receiving disability benefits Social Security allows you to try to get back to work while still receiving your monthly payments.

The issue of “Date Last Insured” arises at times in Social Security disability insurance claims. It is not an issue in SSI claims.

Social Security Disability Insurance Covers:
Your payroll tax withholding is used to pay premiums that buy you Disability Insurance Benefits. Unlike your Social Security Retirement benefits, which become fully vested, your disability insurance coverage requires that you be “currently” insured as a worker. This means that you have to generate paychecks out of which payroll tax is withheld to buy ongoing disability coverage. When you stop working, and the paychecks stop, so do the premium payments. There is a period of extended coverage (up to five years) after which your disability insurance policy lapses. The date the coverage lapses is called your “Date Last Insured”. It is determined by the Social Security Administration as part of the claims process when you apply for disability insurance benefits.

In a Social Security Disability Insurance claim, you must establish that you became disabled prior to your Date Last Insured.

If you are a widow or widower, you can receive disability benefits on your deceased spouse’s earnings record as early as age 50, if you are disabled AND your disability started before or within seven years of your spouse’s death. If you were divorced from your deceased spouse, you may qualify for disability benefits the same as a widow or widower provided that your marriage lasted 10 years or more.

The Social Security Administration uses the same definition of disability for widows and widowers as it does for workers.

You can receive survivors benefits on your deceased spouse’s earnings record at any age if you take care of your deceased spouse’s child who is under age 16 or is disabled and receives benefits on your deceased spouse’s record.

For details about Social Security Benefits Call Us
A widow, widower or surviving divorced spouse cannot apply online for survivor’s benefits. You must apply in person at your local Social Security Administration District Office.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits are available to disabled children in some cases where the child has severe physical or mental illness or injury. Special rules apply to the consideration of whether a child is “disabled”.

In addition to general physical health and wellbeing, the factors that are considered in determining child disability are the child’s ability to:

• Acquire and use information
• Attend to and complete tasks
• Interact and relate to others
• Care for self

All of the standards are considered from the standpoint of what would be age-appropriate for the child. Significant or severe discrepancies must generally be present.

Household income also matters for SSI Benefits
Household income must also be considered, as SSI is available to only those parents with limited income and resources.