Ssd Benefit Waiting Periods
A delay may occur from when Social Security disability is approved until you receive the first payment because you must be disabled for at least five months. Depending on how long after becoming disabled you apply for benefits, and how long it takes for your application to be processed and approved, the five-month waiting period may not be a factor that delays your benefits from starting.
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What Is Backpay And How Do I Receive It
You are eligible to receive SSDI or SSI backpay for as long as the previous 12 months starting from the date you file your initial claim provided you have been unable to work during that time. This may result in quite a sizable benefit.
For instance, if it takes two years from the time you file your initial claim to be approved, this means that you could be eligible to receive up to three years of back pay. The SSA will determine how many months you are eligible for backpay based on the date when the disability prevented you from working.
When Your Benefits Start
Generally, if your application for Social Security Disability Insurance is approved, you must wait five months before you can receive your first SSDI benefit payment. This means you would receive your first payment in the sixth full month after the date we find that your disability began.
Example: Your disability began on June 15, 2020 and you applied on July 1, 2020. Your first benefit would be paid for the month of December 2020, the sixth full month of disability.
However, there is no waiting period if your disability results from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and you are approved for SSDI benefits on or after July 23, 2020.
Example: We found that your disability began on November 3, 2020 and you applied on January 11, 2021. We would pay your first benefit for the month of December 2020, the first full month of disability.
We pay SSDI benefits in the month following the month for which they are due. This means that the benefit due for December 2020 would be paid to you in January 2021, and so on.
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Fact: Ssdi Payments Don’t Kick In Immediately
Processing can take three to five months, according to the Social Security Administration. When your request is approved, you will receive a letter with the effective date. Your first payment will be for the sixth full month following your disability effective date, according to Social Security.
For example, if you get a letter that approves your claim and sets a disability effective date of January 15, your first payment will be for the month of July. But you’ll actually get that payment in August, since payments are made one month after the month they cover.
When You Are Owed Disability Back Payments From The Date You Applied Or Earlier You May Be Paid In A Lump Sum
By Aaron Hotfelder, J.D., University of Missouri School of Law
Anyone familiar with the Social Security disability system is aware of the long delays that can occur between an initial application for benefits and an eventual approval. For the minority of applicants approved at the initial level, a wait of three to six months is common.
Those who appeal and have to proceed to the reconsideration level or to a hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge can expect to wait a year or more before receiving benefits.
And if a case is appealed to the Appeals Council or lands in federal court, a successful disability applicant will usually have waited several years before receiving a payment.
Because the Social Security Administration has a massive backlog of cases at every level of the disability application process, the unavoidable result is a lengthy delay in processing claims.
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Signs You Will Be Approved For Disability
While it may be a challenge to get approved for disability benefits initially, there are some signs that you will be approved for disability.
While nothing is for certain for sure, there are things that you can do before you send in your application, that can give you a better shot of getting approved for disability initially.
The first sign that you will be approved for disability is that you have enough work credits. In order to qualify for SSDI benefits, you need enough work credits to qualify.
How work credits are calculated is by your age and how long you worked. On average, it is usually around 40 work credits to meet the requirements. You can earn up to 4 work credits per year that youve worked.
The Second sign that you will be approved for disability benefits is that you have a sufficient of medical evidence. Medical evidence to back up your claim that you can no longer work because of your disability is the key to winning a disability claim. The more evidence you have the better. Be sure to include as much medical evidence as you can in your claim.
The third sign that you will be approved for disability, is that you have a condition that is in the SSAs Blue Book. The Blue book is the list of conditions that the SSA has put out that qualify for disability.
The SSA will look at your application and see if your symptoms and ailments match one of its listings in the Blue Book, if it does then you could be approved for disability.
Does Social Security Disability Approval Include Health Insurance
After the SSA approves your claim, you wont;automatically get;health insurance right away. Once you receive SSD approval, you must wait 24 months. Then, you receive automatic enrollment into into Medicare Part A and Part B .
The federal government manages Medicare to specifically cover individuals aged 65 and older. In addition, Medicare also provides healthcare coverage for younger people with qualifying disabilities.
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Review Associated With An Application For Disability Benefits
Your initial application for Social Security disability goes through a review process to determine whether or not you are disabled and unable to work. The local Social Security office where your application was submitted reviews it to determine that you meet non-medical qualifying criteria, including having an eligible work history for SSDI or having limited income and resources when applying for SSI.
The application goes from the local Social Security office to one of the state agencies referred to as Disability Determination Services. The people at DDS contact doctors and other medical providers that treated you to obtain records and other evidence needed to make a decision about your medical condition and whether or not you are disabled within the definition used by Social Security.
The Social Security disability review conducted as part of the application process generally takes anywhere from three to five months. However, the exact length of time it takes in each case depends on how easy or difficult it is for the DDS to obtain the medical records needed to make a decision. Having a Social Security disability lawyer helping to prepare and submit your application for benefits may expedite the process by knowing what information to provide along with the application to support your claim for benefits.
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Victor Malca P.A. has over 25 years of litigation experience in Workers Compensation and Social Security Disability lawsuits. His experience and continued success in fighting for his clients puts among the most trusted workers compensation lawyers in Florida. Our area of expertise is in representing injured workers on compensation benefit cases and disabled individuals claim social security disability benefits.
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About The Author
Judy Ponio is a writer for Victor Malca Law P.A. and enjoys helping people with questions about social security, workers compensation, and other serious matters involving peoples livelihood. She is not an attorney and her writing should not be considered legal advice.
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What If The Social Security Administration Finds That My Disability Has Ceased But Im Still Not Able To Work
The notice, which you will receive from the Social Security Administration following a continuing disability review, will explain your appeal rights. Read this notice carefully. If you appeal within ten days of the date you receive the notice your benefits will continue during your appeal. So be sure to act quickly.
How Does The Ssdi Waiting Period Affect My Back Pay
There is a fivemonth waiting period for SSDI benefits, meaning even if you receive approval the month after you apply you will not be eligible to receive benefits until five months after the date your disability first occurred. If you have to file an appeal or qualify for retroactive benefits, this may not prevent you from receiving monthly benefits as soon as you gain approval. It will, however, reduce your retroactive or back pay by five months worth of payments.
For example, earlier we mentioned a situation where your debilitating injury occurred in March but you did not apply for benefits until December. In this case, your retroactive back pay would cover only September through December. The first five months of the period would count as your waiting period.
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If You Receive The Long
Disability recipients who are thought to have a high probability of improvement receive the long-form report rather than the mailer. If you receive Form SSA-454, called the Continuing Disability Review Report, means that you’re getting a CDR. You need to fill out this form in full and send it in. This form asks extensive questions about your disability, whether your condition has changed, and whether you’ve worked since your last review. You also need to describe your daily activities and list all visits with doctors and facilities so that Social Security can request your medical records. Social Security will then do a full medical review of your case, which may take three to five months.
Stay In Contact With Your Ssd Lawyer
Law Office of Attorney Daniel Bergers team of SSD attorneys and support staff work tirelessly to ensure you get the best representation when your SSD claim is reviewed by the SSA. To keep your lawyer up to date on all the developments in your life and in your medical treatment, you must maintain a continuous stream of communication with your lawyers office.
That means you need to make sure your SSD attorney has your current telephone number and street address so they can reach you when necessary. Your lawyer should be notified of any new diagnosis or new treatment you doctor orders. All surgeries and procedures you undergo need to be reported to your lawyers office too.
Your SSD lawyer will be able to use the new information to better support your claim, they will also need to obtain the new medical records and submit them to the SSA.
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Time For Initial Application Decision
After you turn in your application for SSDI or SSI, a disability examiner will make an initial decision on whether you qualify for benefits. The amount of time it takes to get that decision can vary considerably. Still, nearly two-thirds of readers received a decision within six months after they filed their applications. Nearly four in ten got an answer within three months, while a similar number had to wait longer than six months. Government data says that the average time for the initial disability decision is three and a half months.
If Social Security initially denies your application based on medical eligibility for disability benefits , you can appeal that decision by requesting a hearing. Although you’ll have a greater chance of getting benefits after a disability hearing, you’ll have to wait longer for that opportunityoften much longer.
If You Receive The Mailer Only
About 72% of all disabled adults receive the short-form mailer only. This form, called the Disability Update Report, asks you about whether your health has improved, whether you and your doctor have discussed your ability to work, whether you’ve visited a doctor, clinic, or hospital, and whether you’ve done any recent work, school or training.
Most people who fill out the mailer and send it in will get a letter from Social Security after one to three months saying that Social Security does not need to do a medical review at this time. This means you do not have to go through a CDR at this point and your CDR is deferred until your next periodic review.
Social Security will reset your periodic review interval, which it calls your “medical reexamination diary,” at the same interval it was before you received the mailer. For instance, if Social Security designated you as “medical improvement possible” and gave you a three-year diary when you were approved for benefits, you’ll be sent another mailer or long-form report in three years.
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Why There Is Such A Long Wait For Social Security Disability Benefits
While there may be ways to speed up the approval process, waiting for SSD benefits can take monthsand even longer if you are appealing a denial. For some, not receiving Social Security disability payments can mean not paying bills or receiving needed medical care. Why does it take so long to receive Social Security disability benefits? Simply put, there are more applications than the SSA can handle.
Will I Have To Pay Taxes On The Social Security Disability Benefits I Receive
Probably not, but this depends on the amount of your total income. Most people wont have to pay taxes on their Social Security disability benefits. Couples whose combined incomes exceed $32,000 and individuals with income exceeding $25,000 will pay income tax on a portion of their Social Security disability benefits. The IRS has an odd way of figuring out total income for this rule. The IRS uses adjusted gross income as reported on Form 1040, plus one-half of the total Social Security benefits received for the year, plus non-taxable interest.
Single people with incomes over $34,000 and married people with incomes over $44,000 pay tax on a higher percentage of their Social Security disability benefits.
Heres an odd thing: People whose Social Security benefits are reduced because of the workers compensation offset or offsets for other public disability benefits must count the amount of Social Security benefits not paid when determining taxability of their benefits. But if a child receives benefits on a parents account, those benefits count only for determining if the child must pay taxes on Social Security benefits received.
Tax law is very complex. Please talk to a tax specialist if you have any questions about taxes on your Social Security benefits.
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Myth: Ssdi Will Replace Most Of Your Work
“Social security disability payments are modest,” Jarrett says. “At the beginning of 2015, Social Security paid an average monthly disability benefit of $1,165.” The payment is meant to help people meet basic living needs, and the program is designed to replace some, but not all, lost income.
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“It’s a safety net for those who are no longer able to work on a regular basis,” explains Proudian.
“You can’t expect that it’s going to replace your income 100 percent,” says;Kimberly Calder, director of health policy for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and a patient advocate.
Social security disability insurance is not the same as;Supplemental Security Income;, a federal income supplement program.;One difference between the SSI and SSDI programs is how they are funded. With SSDI, employment taxes primarily finance Social Security retirement, survivors, and disability insurance benefits. Generally, Social Security pays benefits to eligible workers and their families based on the workers earnings, Jarrett says.
You can also return to work while collecting SSDI benefits. We have special rules to help you get back to work without jeopardizing your initial benefits. You may be able to have a trial work period for nine months to test whether you can work, he explains.
Do Approvals Take Longer Than Denials
Our survey results didn’t show a significant difference in the amount of time it took to get an initial approval or denial after filing a disability application. But there did appear to be a difference in how long it took to get an approval or denial after a hearing. Those who were approved for benefits after a hearing waited an average of about seven weeks for the decision, while those who were denied waited almost ten weeks, on average. This makes sense, because written decisions for denials of benefits need to be more detailed ; as a result, they can take longer to write.
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Who Qualifies For Social Security Disability Or Ssi Benefits
If youre still earning more than $1180 a month, the Social Security Administration will not consider you disabled.
To be considered disabled, you must:
- Have a medical condition with a terminal diagnosis or will last at least one year, preventing you from working short-term or partial disabilities do not qualify. There is a list of adult impairments that fall under Social Security, and you check and see if your condition qualifies.
- Fall under the Social Security Administrations definition of disability.
- Be younger than the age at which you qualify for retirement benefits from the Social Security Administration.