What Are Social Security Disability Benefits?
- The amount of money received from Social Security disability varies depending on how much you were earning at the time of disability. The amount of money paid in disability benefits may be significantly less than you were earning, when working full time. When you are approved for benefits, Social Security will tell you how much you will receive.
Payments begin after a person has been disabled for five full months. Generally, the first check is issued six months after you become "disabled" as defined by the SSA. Payments continue as long as the disability persists and you remain unable to work. The SSA will regularly review those receiving benefits, to ensure that they are still disabled and unable to work. Generally, benefits continue until you are deemed able to return to work again, at which point "work incentives" may be offered by the SSA to help you transition back into working.
Social Security benefits are paid monthly, and the payment date is determined by the date of birth of the person who worked to earn the Social Security benefits.
Social Security disability benefits can be issued by check, or directly deposited into a bank account. Generally, taxes are not charged on Social Security disability benefits, unless your income exceeds $25,000 (single) or $32,000 (joint).
If you are receiving disability benefits and you reach retirement age, the disability benefits are automatically converted to retirement benefits, but generally the amount remains the same. - Qualifying for Social Security disability benefits is a two-step process. First, you must have worked a sufficient amount of time in a covered job and paid Social Security taxes. Second, you must be considered "disabled" by the SSA. To be considered disabled, generally your medical condition must preclude you from working for at least a year and/or the condition must be likely to result in death. You also must be completely unable to do the work you were doing, and unable to adjust to other work because of your illness or disability.
- To determine whether you are qualified for disabled benefits, the SSA has five steps:
1. Determine whether you are working and, if so, whether your earnings for the year average more than $980 per month.
2. If you are not working, determine whether your condition is "severe," defined as interfering with the majority of basic work-related activities.
3. Determine whether your disability or medical condition is on the list it maintains of severe medical conditions. If your condition is on the list, you are automatically considered disabled. If it is not, the condition is reviewed to determine whether it is as severe as those on the list of "severe" disabilities.
4. Determine whether you are capable of doing the work you were doing prior to your illness or condition.
5. Determine whether you are capable of doing any other work. This is decided on a case-by-case basis, considering each person's abilities, education, experience and condition. - Benefits cease if the SSA decides you are no longer considered "disabled" (your disability is no longer severe and the answers to the five qualifying questions have changed). Benefits can also cease if your average earnings begin to exceed $940 monthly. Those who are receiving disability benefits must notify the SSA if their conditions improves.
- Special situations apply to certain classes of people. Those who are legally blind whose vision can't be corrected have a higher monthly income limit before they are precluded from receiving benefits. That monthly limit, in 2009, is $1,570, as opposed to $940 for others who are considered disabled.
Disabled widows/widowers who did not work for the minimum amount of time to qualify for disability can also receive benefits if they become injured. The widow/widower must be between the ages of 50 and 60, considered disabled, and the disability must have started before the spouse's death, or within seven years after.
