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Social Security Disability Insurance is a disability program for those who have worked long enough and paid enough into Social Security taxes, and earned enough work credits to be insured for their disability.
Supplemental Security Income or SSI, on the other hand, is another form of a disability program where the beneficiary does not necessarily ever have to have worked and paid into it the SSA and earned work credits. It is often utilized by people who have not worked long enough to be insured for SSDI.
While many people confuse them, these are two distinct programs with notable differences. The team at Jan Dils, Attorneys at Law can help anyone in the country apply for these benefits.
The medical criteria for how the Social Security Administration (SSA) determines if someone is medically disabled are the same, but the differences between SSDI and SSI are the non-medical criteria. SSDI is more of a work-based disability program, where the number of work credits is a primary determining factor. With SSI, the applicants do not ever have to have earned work credits necessarily, but they cannot have too much household income, assets, or resources. In other words, SSI is aimed at lower-income individuals, whereas SSDI is a benefits program for people who have worked, regardless of their income.
Additionally, SSDI claims have a five-month waiting period, which means the SSA will not pay you for the first five months after the date you are deemed disabled. Conversely, there is no waiting period for SSI.
The applicant must have a severe impairment that prohibits them from engaging in substantial gainful activity for a period of 12 months or longer, or a condition that is expected to result in death.
There is a five-step process for the SSA to decide whether to approve an application, and it sounds very simple, but is actually more complex than it seems. First, they determine whether you are working and earning more than substantial gainful activity. The threshold for substantial gainful activity changes every year, but it is normally a dollar amount, and applicants cannot be earning more than that dollar amount.
Step two is determining whether you have a severe impairment, meaning it causes more than a minimal effect on your ability to work. As long as you have at least one severe impairment, then you will get to step three, which is confirmation that you meet one of the listings. The SSA has definitions of each of many conditions, which will define how severe something must be and the proof you must have to meet that listing.
A lot of people do not meet listings, though, which is when they go on to steps four and five. Step four determines whether you have the capability to perform a type of job you held in the last five years, and if the SSA does not feel you can, then they would go on to step five, which determines whether you can perform other types of work in your condition.
There are certain financial requirements to receive SSI, such as the applicant cannot have too many income, assets, or resources. As an unmarried person, they are only allowed up to $2,000 in resources, including money in a savings account, or things that they could sell for cash, like a boat, camper, or a second vehicle.
As a married couple, the applicant is only allowed up to $3,000 in resources together. Just because their name is not titled on something, does not mean it cannot be viewed as a resource for SSI purposes. Resources can also include things like a 401k or a retirement account. Resources do not include the applicant’s home or the land it sits on, nor the value of one vehicle. For generally anything else, the value would be counted as a resource against them.
Assets are anything with a monetary value attached to it, like personal property, that could be used to pay down debts; and they are counted alongside resources to determine SSI eligibility.
There is a maximum SSI payment which can be adjusted for inflation each year, but beneficiaries are not entitled to more than the maximum monthly payment, even if they develop a new condition. It could be reduced for household income purposes, or if you were receiving some kind of earned or unearned income in the household.
Unfortunately, the SSA does reduce benefits for each spouse in that situation, where each partner would receive less than they would if they received the benefits as an unmarried individual.
The maximum retroactive benefits that the SSA can pay on an SSDI claim is one year prior to the date of application. Even if a judge declares a person became disabled 20 years ago, they are not going to get 20 years of back pay.
That is a little bit different compared to SSI. The maximum retroactive benefits someone can receive on an SSI claim is only from their date of application. Even if a judge says they were disabled before that date, payment rules prohibit them from covering dates before the application. That is why it is important to get a claim filed sooner than later.
As soon as possible, do not wait to see if you are going to get better. If you get better, you can always withdraw the application later, but if you wait six months before you realize the disability is not going away any time soon, that is six months of payments you miss out on.
SSDI and SSI benefits come from the same place but they have different eligibility thresholds and will apply to different types of applicants, with some overlap. If you wish to apply to one or both programs, please call Jan Dils now, the largest female-founded law firm in the country. We are happy to take your Social Security claim anywhere in the country!
To Schedule an Appointment, Call Us Toll Free at 1.877.873.8208 or Email Us for a Prompt Response.
Jan Dils, Attorneys at Law
