Long post about how to get on disability (SSI or SSDI) in the United States
It just hit me that this information might help a lot of users who might see this post. If you or someone you know is disabled and seeking to apply please feel free to use this information in any way to help them because it is a long complicated process involving multiple steps and details that almost lends itself to being difficult for the person who would most benefit from being approved for financial assistance.
This is not a complete guide. I will try to use basic English vocabulary for this because language barriers make the process even harder.
Differences between SSI and SSDI (both programs are administered by the Social Security Administration in the US):
SSDI stands for Social Security Disability Insurance. You pay payroll taxes in each paycheck, if you are working, to the SSA as part of a retirement fund. The SSDI program is in basic terms early access to the money you have accrued for retirement due to a long-term disability. (It is more complicated than that re: how much you receive on SSDI when compared to what you would receive depending on the age you would have retired, but that’s a detail you can look into). The program has no asset limit. This is important later on. Your eligibility for this program depends on whether you have worked enough in the past decade or throughout your life to earn enough work credits, and the credits are earned at a certain rate per years you have been working. There are other eligibility requirements, such as income, citizenship, and many, many others. Generally, you are eligible for SSDI if you are a citizen, a legal permanent resident who has been an LPR for over 5 years or became an LPR before August 22, 1996, but please check in case this changes by the time you read this.
SSI stands for Supplemental Security Income. It does not require you to have earned work credits or paid through SSA payroll tax. It is based on financial need and it has an asset limit. You may not be eligible for SSI if you became a legal permanent resident after August 22, 1996 but please do your own research and check, because my memory of this detail is not perfect. Disabled children may qualify for assistance through SSI depending on their parents’ income and assets. If you are under 18, your parents apply for you, but they must make a bank account in your name to receive the payments. Once you turn 18 your parents’ income and assets do not count against your receiving benefits even if you live at home. [Link] SSI may often require you, especially if the application is for a child, to attend an appointment [LINK] in person after completing the application online (which I’ve linked below).
If you are an adult, both of these programs really only care if your condition makes it impossible for you to work full time for a very long time. (However, activities of daily living, like how the disability affects your ability to take care of yourself and family and do chores at home and socialize with the community, are still looked at, and for a child, whether they are on an IEP or a 504 plan at school or whether they have problems behaviorally or physically at school or at home are looked at) I have spoken to people with a lot of very valid medical conditions who need to work full time to feed their kids and being that their working full time would count against their disability--that they need to lose the job first and possibly bring themselves to a dangerous level of poverty to be considered worthy of these benefits--so they cope with the conditions even to a really unhealthy point just because they have to. The long, long process of waiting to hear back doesn’t lend itself to allowing yourself to support yourself while waiting for your payment arrive doesn’t help either. It’s one of the many catch-22s of these types of programs.
Requirements common to both programs:
-Asset limits and income limits change based on how many children a family or married couple has. Remember, SSDI has no asset limit, but SSI does. If you are living with a partner but not married their assets and income are not pooled with yours, which disturbingly enough, works in your favor even if they cover bills or help with stuff or you each own a car. Assets do not include your first home or first car, or the land you live on, however any additional properties you own, or cars you have, or bank accounts in your name or your spouse’s name are measured in value. They will let you count your least valuable car as your second car. If you are applying for SSI and have 2 cars, consider that it may cause a denial if it is over your family’s asset limit. (Asset limit right now is $2000 for an individual and $3000 for a married couple and up to $5000 depending on number of children and please look this up to find current in because they change these. Income limit, which both programs scrutinize, is complex as well and there is more information here but $1180 monthly if you are not blind and $1970 if you are blind. Please double check these figures prior to applying because they change I just wanted to give you some numbers to work with.) Depending on how much you make your benefits can be reduced. And if you think a second car’s a stupid reason to deny someone who has a disability we aren’t even started on the stupid reasons to deny someone unfortunately
(boxes checked to increase your probability of denial for these programs: because you are under 55, because you have graduated high school or have some further education, because while your disability may prevent you from doing the job you were doing before but not others they’ve found for you even if you are unable to commute to those jobs or cannot find those jobs or won’t be hired for them as long as they exist in some capacity in the United States they will treat you as someone who can still do that job, because your disability is deemed not severe enough yet because it needs to either be expected to end in your death or last over a year to be considered long term enough, because you are able to work part time and your benefits are reduced due to you already making a bit of money, because you use one cane instead of a walker, because your condition is not affecting you every hour of every day, because you are able to walk up and down stairs without a stairlift even if it takes you a long time or is painful, because you only saw the PCP and no specialists for your condition even though how are you supposed to go to a lot of appointments if the point is your disability makes it difficult for you to go places, because the doctor you saw didn’t see something or inconclusively mentioned the condition in your medical record and there wasn’t additional testing ordered...there are more, this paragraph is just becoming too much of a wall of text even for me)
(on the flipside, terminal illnesses, including HIV and cancer, depending on the stage, often qualify for the “compassionate allowance”, which rushes your application through an approval and gets you receiving benefits early. I’m just going to include a link HERE on that because my brain would melt explaining it)
Please note that every situation is different and don’t be discouraged if the monstrous paragraph above contains situations that apply to you. It does not mean you will be denied, I cannot know that. Your entire situation might change the way the application is seen, and any form of evidence of that situation may help you out, so the best thing to do is find out who can help you with going to the doctor, what your current health plan will help with in regards to getting the right referrals to get your particular condition looked at by a specialist before you apply.
The last thing i want this post to do is make you give up applying before you tried, because if you are approved, you will receive financial help that could really help you, as well as enrollment in Medicaid with no waiting period (if approved for SSI) and Medicare (if approved for SSDI) two years later.
It is very common to get a denial. Some states allow you to apply for a reconsideration of the application with additional information within 60 days of the denial; other states skip this step and have you appeal your case before an administrative law judge. These are very complex and involve long wait times but beyond these levels, if you keep getting denied, you can take your case to civil and even Federal courts to have it looked at by different people. This is the stage when people often seek out disability attorneys. I don’t know about you, but I feel when an entire legal industry arises from the fact that it is extremely difficult to navigate the disability system, something is probably wrong with society. Weigh your options because an attorney who knows the ins and outs of this hellscape may provide valuable, but they are also notorious for stretching out the timeline of your case due to the fact that the back pay you are owed will increase, which will increase their percentage of it when you finally are approved. (That’s what they’re banking on, anyway, and what’s in it for them.)
I really hope this post will be helpful. There is still the possibility that somewhere in it I’ve made a serious error, however. I’m going to leave some reading material for you to go over that will offer insight into details I couldn’t include.
https://www.disabilitysecrets.com/will-i-get-medicare-medicaid-with-disability.html
Explanation of income definitions:
https://www.disabilitysecrets.com/resources/social-security-disability/supplemental-security-income-ssi/income-limits-eligibility.htm
The SSA Blue Book Listings (both mental and physical conditions may qualify you, find your particular condition here, there are listings for both children and adults)
https://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/
How assets are looked at for SSI:
https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/spotlights/spot-resources.htm
https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-apply-ussi.htm
https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-documents-ussi.htm
Adult (over 18): https://secure.ssa.gov/iClaim/dib
Child (under 18): https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/disability/apply-child.html
