newsprompt.coDISABILITY RETIREMENT
There are several rules and requirements you must meet to be approved for Social Security disability. To be eligible for either SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) benefits or SSI (Supplemental Security Income) disability benefits, you must be both financially eligible and medically eligible. The Social Security Administration (SSA) examines the 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) and determines whether you meet the rules and requirements.
Medical Requirements for Disability
One of the most important rules for Social Security disability is that your medical disability must have lasted, or be expected to last, for at least one year for benefits to be awarded. There are no temporary disability benefits through Social Security.
In addition, Social Security disability is for fully disabled, not partially disabled, people. Unlike workers’ comp or veterans disability benefits, there is no percentage of disability with SSDI or SSI, and no partial benefits.
To qualify for benefits, under either SSDI or SSI, you must have a medical condition that is severe and either:
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meets the strict requirements of a Social Security impairment listing, or
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makes working at any of your past jobs impossible, or
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makes working at a less physically or mentally strenuous job impossible. (Social Security takes into account your education, age, and skill set, but not whether there are jobs in your area, when making this determination.
For instance, one way to meet the requirements of the impairment listing for lung carcinoma is to have a pathology report of a lung biopsy showing small cell lung carcinoma. No evidence of how the treatment side effects limit your ability to work is necessary. On the other hand, if you don’t meet the requirements of an impairment listing, you need to have evidence that your medical condition causes specific functional limitations that keep you from being able to perform job duties.
Financial Requirements for Disability
On the legal/financial side, if you earn a certain amount of money per month (called the “substantial gainful activity,” or SGA level), you are considered to be gainfully employed, and therefore not eligible for disability benefits. In 2018, the SGA level is $1,180 per month. To learn more about substantial gainful activity, see our article on the SGA earnings limit for disability. You are generally allowed to be working and earning up to this amount when you apply for disability benefits.
In addition, 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. The work requirements for Social Security disability are a little stricter than for Social Security retirement or for Medicare. The work requirements vary by age, but to give you an idea, a 55-year-old must have worked at least eight years to be eligible for benefits, and five of those years must have occurred within the last decade. For more information, see our article on work requirements and financial eligibility for SSDI.
For SSI, you don’t need to have worked, but there are family asset and family income limits. The income limit for the SSI program is based on something called the monthly federal benefit ($750 per month in 2018), but income you earn for work is not all counted. The asset limit is $2,000 (your house and car don’t count). There are different income and asset limits for married couples.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has a formula for determining if an individual is considered disabled. There are five basic steps that must be met in order to qualify for disability. Each rule is evaluated and if the requirement is met, the next step is considered. All requirements must be adequately met in order for your claim to be accepted.
Are you working? – Have you been able to work in the past year? If yes, have you earned more than a specific average per month? For 2007, that amount is $900 per month. (This dollar figure may change for 2008.) If yes, you will not be considered disabled.
Is your condition “severe?” – In order for your condition to be considered severe, it must interfere with your ability to perform basic work-related activities. Basic work-related activities include things such as exerting yourself physically (walking, carrying, climbing stairs, etc.), tolerating certain environmental conditions (temperature extremes, noise, vibrations), maintaining concentration and attention, understanding, remembering and carrying out instructions, responding appropriately to other people, coping with change, etc.
Can you do work you did previously? – If you are unable to do the work associated with your most current employment, SSA will then evaluate if you can still do the work of previous positions. They look at the past 15 years, evaluating if you were productive and had gainful activity and if you were employed long enough to adequately learn the job. If it is determined that you are not physically and mentally able to do any of your past relevant work, the final question will be considered.
Can you do any other type of work? –
If you are unable to maintain your current employment and you cannot return to work you’ve done in the past, SSA will then evaluate if you can adjust to a new job. Your medical condition, age, education, past work experience, and transferable skills will be considered.
The federal government spends more money each year on cash payments for disabled former workers than it spends on food stamps and welfare combined. Yet people relying on disability payments are often overlooked in discussions of the social safety net. The vast majority of people on federal disability do not work. Yet because they are not technically part of the labor force, they are not counted among the unemployed.
In other words, people on disability don’t show up in any of the places we usually look to see how the economy is doing. But the story of these programs — who goes on them, and why, and what happens after that — is, to a large extent, the story of the U.S. economy. It’s the story not only of an aging workforce, but also of a hidden, increasingly expensive safety net.
