SSI v.SSD- What is the difference?
September 28th, 2008
Many people who have a disabling condition are advised by family members, friends, doctors or others to apply for “disability.” The term disability generally refers to disability benefits under two programs established under the Social Security Act. But what is the difference?
1. Social Security Disability Benefits (SSD): These benefits are available to individuals who have worked and paid into the Social Security insurance fund through mandatory deductions from their wages. In order to qualify for SSD benefits, an individual must have worked and have had reported wages for a set number of quarters (the number is based, in part, on your age at the date of disability). Having enough quarters to qualify for SSD means that you are FULLY INSURED and eligible to collect SSD benefits if you are found to be disabled under the Social Security rules before your fully insured status expires. The amount of your SSD benefits is based on the amount of the wage you earned before disability and the amount deducted from you wages and paid into the Social Security fund. SSD benefits are NOT income dependent—meaning that it does not matter if you live with someone who works, are receiving private disability benefits, have money in the bank or own property. The amount of your SSD benefit is not affected by these factors.
2. Supplemental Security Income Benefits (SSI): These benefits are known as secondary benefits and are payable only after it is determined that you do not qualify for SSD or if your SSD benefits is very low. SSI benefits ARE income dependent and no matter how severe your disability, if your monthly income, assets and assistance from other individuals or programs is too high (based on a formula set by the Social Security Administration), you cannot receive SSI benefits. SSI benefits are the most common benefits paid to disabled children and adults who have never worked or have a very limited work history.
Generally, when you apply for disability through the Social Security program, a claim for both SSI and SSD will be processes. If your income is too high to qualify you for SSI, a very quick SSI denial will be issued by Social Security. If you also have insured status, your SSD claim will continue to be processed by Social Security despite the SSI denial.
What can I expect at my upcoming Social Security Disability hearing?
September 12th, 2008
You’ve waited a long time for it, but now that the hearing notice has arrived, you are unsure what is going to happen at the long awaited Social Security Disability hearing.
Social Security hearings are relatively informal. In addition to you and your lawyer, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), a vocational expert, and a court reporter will also be present in the hearing room. Sometimes, in cases that have complicated medical issues, a medical expert might also be present during your hearing.
If you bring along witnesses and/or family members for support, they may or may not be allowed to sit in on your hearing depending on who the ALJ is conducting the hearing. If the ALJ prefers it, they will be asked to sit in the waiting room until they are needed to testify or until the hearing is over.
Before the hearing, you will generally meet with your attorney to discuss the hearing and any new information that you might want to share. Your attorney will be given a copy of your file (in paper form or on a computer disc). When the ALJ is ready, you will go into the hearing room with your attorney.
Once in the hearing room, the ALJ will introduce himself or herself and briefly go over the hearing process and the issues with you. You and any experts in the room will be sworn in. After reviewing with you basic information about your claim, the ALJ will generally ask you some questions about why you feel you are disabled and what you can and cannot do as a result of your problems. Your lawyer will then be given an opportunity to ask you questions and to make any legal arguments. Following your testimony, the ALJ will generally asked some questions to the Medical Expert (dealing with the information contained in your medical records) and the Vocational Expert (concerning your past work, the physical requirements of that work and whether someone with limitations such as you have could do the work).
Following the conclusion of the testimony, the ALJ will again give your attorney and you a chance to add any necessary additional information.
In most cases the ALJ will not announce his/her decision at the hearing. While occasionally an ALJ will make an “on the record decision” and tell you that you have been awarded benefits at the end of the hearing, this is the exception and not the rule. Most decision are issued in writing after the hearing and mailed to you and your attorney.
There is no set time limit for issuing the decision. It may take from 2 weeks to 2 months for the decision to arrive.
Dress for the hearing is “casual and clean.” Most ALJs disapprove of shorts, sweatpants and hats in the courtroom.
Can I collect SSD and WC benefits at the same time?
July 31st, 2008
The short answer is “yes.” The long answer is “yes, but with some reduction for workers’ compensation benefits being received.”
If you are receiving workers’ compensation (WC) benefits and the nature and extent of your injury is such that it is unlikely that you can return to any work for at least one year, an application for Social Security Disability benefits should be considered. However, when I suggest this to clients. they often respond, “But I can’t get both WC and Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits at the same time.” In fact, you can.
The Social Security Act provides that if you meet the disability and other technical requirements of the Act to qualify for SSD benefits and are also receiving WC benefits ( or certain other types of “social disability benefits”), your monthly SSD benefit is to be reduced by the amount of your WC benefits. The calculations performed by Social Security to determine the amount of your benefits after deductions for WC benefits are a bit complicated, but suffice it to say that most individuals still receive some amount of SSD benefit even after Social Security takes the credit for WC benefits. In addition, if the amount of your weekly WC benefit goes down for any reason (for example—deduction of attorney fees, modification of benefits after litigation or settlement) you will probably see an increase in your SSD benefit once Social Security is notified of the change and verifies the new information.
While applying for SSD is not appropriate in every workers’ compensation case, discuss the issue with your attorney and know that receiving both WC and SSD benefits is possible.
Limitations of Past Due SSD Benefits
October 16th, 2007
If you are injured and/or ill and will be unable to work for at least one year, you should consider filing for Social Security Disability benefits as soon as possible after you first become disabled. Social Security regulations limit the amount of “back” or retroactive benefits that can be paid to a Claimant to one year prior to the date of application. For example, even if the Social Security Administration finds that you are disabled as of 1/1/2002, if you delayed filing your application for Social Security Disability Benefits until 4/15/2005, you could only collect retroactive benefits back to 4/2004. The benefits that you might have been entitled to from your date of disability until 3/2004 would be forfeited because of your delay in application.
