The rules and requirements for Social Security disability cases are fairly simple. Essentially, to be eligible for either SSDI or SSI disability benefits, claimants must be financially eligible and medically eligible. The Social Security Administration (SSA) examines medical issues (that is, whether your illness or injury is disabling) as well as legal/financial issues (that is, whether you have earned enough credits for SSDI or have low enough income and assets for SSI).
Medical Issues
A claimant must have a medical condition that is severe and either:
- meets the requirements of a Social Security impairment listing
- prevents them from working at any of their past jobs, or
- prevents them from doing any other job, given their education, age, and skills.
Another important rule is that a claimant's medical disability must have lasted, or be expected to last, for at least one year for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or SSI (Supplemental Security Income) benefits to be awarded.
Financial Issues
On the legal/financial side, if claimants earn a certain amount of money per month, they are considered to be gainfully employed, and therefore not eligible for benefits. To learn what amount is considered "substantial gainful activity (SGA)," see the video below:
AVOID DENIAL W/ FREE HELP
For SSDI, you must be insured under the Social Security Disability Insurance program, meaning you've paid taxes into the system for the required number of years and your insurance hasn't expired because you stopped working too long ago. Learn about financial eligibility for SSDI by filling out the form on this page you'll get your questions answered by phone or email by a certified disability specialist.
For SSI, there are additional asset and family income limits. Learn about financial eligibility for SSI. Get your questions answered by email or phone.
What You Need To Know Before You Apply
The national denial rate is quite high at 65%, one big reason for this is that many people do not get representation until they have been denied.
Many lawyers are partly to blame for this since it is very common for someone looking for a lawyer at application level for their SSDI or SSI claim to be told to "apply and call back when you are denied". Some lawyers(not all) do this because an attorney's fee is based on past due benefits and if the lawyer wins a case at application they feel the fee does not cover the work involved in handling a case at this level.
This approach should be avoided because it is very important that the case be handled properly from the beginning, not only to assure you have the best chance to win at application level, but also to ensure that an application that was not properly done does not come back to haunt you at a later stage in the process. Studies have shown approval rates are much higher at the initial application level.
AVOID MISTAKES W/FREE HELP!
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