Social Security Disability Insurance

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Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a federal cash benefit that may be available if a person is disabled.

Application Process: contact the local Social Security Administration (SSA) office to schedule an appointment. To find the closest SSA office, phone 1-(800) 772-1213.

When applying for SSDI, applicants should bring the following documentation to the initial interview:

• Social Security number and proof of age for each person applying for benefits.
  
  
• Names, addresses and phone numbers of doctors, hospitals, clinics, and institutions that have provided treatment and the dates of treatments.
  
  
• A work history for the past 15 years.
  
  
• A copy of the most recent W-2 form or if applicants have been self-employed, their federal tax return for the past year.

If someone does not have all the above items, apply anyway. The people in the Social Security office can help obtain needed information.

Disability Determination

After completing the SSDI application, the paper work is forwarded to the state's Disability Determination Services (DDS) office where an evaluation team consisting of a physician or a psychologist and a disability-evaluation specialist will determine disability using the following criteria.

• If a person earns more than $500 a month, he/she generally cannot receive SSDI.
  
  
• The disability must interfere with basic work related activities.
  
  
• If the disability is on the list Social Security maintains, the claim is automatically processed. If the disability is not on the list, Social Security will determine if it is of severity equal to one on the list.
  
  
• The disability must interfere with the individual's ability to do the same kind of work he or she did for the past 15 years.
  
  
• The disability must prevent a person from doing any other type of work for which he or she is qualified.

Employment Requirement

To qualify for SSDI, a person must have worked long enough and recently enough under Social Security. A person can earn a maximum of four work credits per year. The number of work credits needed to receive SSDI depends on when the disability started. For more information on work credits, please call Social Security at 1 (800) 772-1213.

Benefit Payment

(SSDI) will not begin until the sixth full month after the onset of the disability. The claims process is long because of the need to obtain medical information and to assess the disability in terms of the ability to work.

After Disability Determination Services (DDS) forwards the claim, the applicant will receive the first SSDI check dating back to the sixth month from the on set of the disability.

Disability Review

A person's eligibility will be reviewed periodically: however, the frequency depends upon the following:

• If medical improvement is expected, there will be a review within 6 to 18 months
  
  
• If medical improvement is possible, there will be a review no sooner than 3 years and
  
  
• If medical improvement is not expected, there will be a review no sooner than 7 years.

There are three ways a child might be eligible for special benefits from Social Security.

SSI Benefits for Children

These are benefits payable to children with disabilities who are under the age of 18 because a parent is collecting retirement or disability benefits from Social Security or children who are entitled to benefits because the child is under the age of 18 and a parent has died.

Although children eligible for these benefits might be disabled, their disability does not need to be considered to qualify them for benefits. In other words, a child under the age of 18 is eligible for SSI merely because he or she is the dependent child of someone getting retirement or disability benefits or has had a parent who died. Note: A child can continue receiving dependents or survivors benefits until age 19 if he/she is a full-time student in elementary or High School.

Social Security Benefits for Adults Disabled since Childhood -- The benefits explained in the previous section normally stop when a child has reached the age of 18 (or 19 if the child is a full-time student). However, those benefits will continue to be paid into adulthood if the child is disabled. To qualify for these benefits, an individual must be the son or daughter of someone who is getting Social Security retirement or disability benefits or of someone who has died, and that child must have a disability that began prior to age 22.

SSI Benefits for Children with Disabilities Non-Medical Rules

Social Security Income is a program that pays monthly benefits to people with low incomes and limited assets who are 65 or older, blind, or have a disability. Children can qualify if they meet Social Security's definition of disability and if their income and assets fall within the eligibility limits.

As its name implies, Supplemental Security Income supplements a person's income up to a certain level. The level varies from one state to another and can go up every year on the bases of cost-of-living increases.

Rules for Children under 18

Most children do not have their own income and do not have many assets. However, when children under the age of 18 live at home (or are away at school but return home occasionally and are subject to parental control), evaluators consider the parent's income and assets when they decide if the child qualifies. They refer to this process as the "deeming" of income and assets.

Rules for Children 18 and Older

When a child turns 18, evaluators no longer consider a parent's income and assets when they decide if he or she can get SSI. A child who was not eligible for SSI before his or her 18th birthday because a parent's income or assets were too high may become eligible at 18.

Deciding SSI Disability for Children under 18

Of course, a child's disability cannot be evaluated using these work-related adult criteria. The law states that a child will be considered disabled if he or she is not working and has an impairment that is as severe as one that would disable an adult. This means that the condition must limit the child's ability to function like other children of the same age to such a degree that the impairment is comparable to one that would make an adult disabled.

Message to Parents of Children with Severe Disabilities

The disability- evaluation process generally takes several months, but the law includes special provisions for any individual (including a child) signing up for SSI disability whose condition is so severe that they are presumed to be disabled. In such cases SSI benefits are paid for up to six months while the formal disability decision is being made. Following are some of the disability categories under which evaluators can presume the child is disabled and make immediate SSI payments: HIV infection, blindness, deafness (in some cases), Cerebral Palsy (in some cases), Down Syndrome, Muscular Dystrophy (in some cases), significant mental deficiency, diabetes (with amputation of one foot), amputation of two limbs or amputation of leg at the hip. If special payments are made and it is later decided that the child's disability is not severe enough to qualify for SSI, the benefits do not have to be paid back

Credits

Information adapted from A Separate Voice, spring 1995, a publication of the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, Inc., and Social Security and SSI Benefits for Children with Disabilities, January 1993, a publication of the US Department Health and Human Services.