Reductions Based On Workers Comp Benefits
If youre collecting workers compensation benefits, your disability benefits will be reduced.
SSI
Workers compensation benefits are counted as unearned income toward the SSI income limit and will reduce your SSI check.
SSD
If you receive both workers compensation and SSD, your monthly benefits from SSD will be reduced. This is because the Social Security Administration limits the total amount of combined monthly benefits you can receive. However, veterans disability compensation will not lower your SSD check.
The basic rule is that your workers compensation and SSD benefits combined cannot exceed 80% of the average current earnings you made before you became disabled, or the total amount your family receives monthly from SSD at the time you get your first workers compensation check, whichever is higher.
If your workers compensation payment and SSD check combined take your monthly payment above 80% of your pre-injury salary, the Social Security Administration will reduce your SSDI check so that you receive only 80% of your prior monthly earnings. The specific rules about how workers compensation reductions are made vary by state.
Social Security Disability Benefits
Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance are disability income benefits administered by the Social Security Administration that also provide Medicaid and/or Medicare health insurance to individuals who are eligible. The application process for SSI/SSDI is complicated and difficult to navigate. Nationally, about 37 percent of individuals who apply for these benefits are approved on initial application and appeals take an average of two years to complete.
For people who are homeless or who are returning to the community from institutions , access to these programs can be extremely challenging. Approval on initial application for people who are homeless and who have no one to assist them is about 10-15 percent. For those who have a mental illness, substance use issues, or co-occurring disorders that impair cognition, the application process is even more difficult yet accessing these benefits is often a critical first step in recovery.
Critical components of SOAR include:
- Serving as the applicants representative
- Collecting medical records
- Writing a medical Summary Report
- Conducting quality review
- Please contact a regional coordinator below to find your nearest SOAR Specialist:
| Ashley Blum |
How Much Can I Earn And Still Get Benefits
When you begin receiving Social Security retirement benefits, you are considered retired for our purposes. You can get Social Security retirement or survivors benefits and work at the same time. However, there is a limit to how much you can earn and still receive full benefits.
If you are younger than full retirement age and earn more than the yearly earnings limit, we may reduce your benefit amount.
If you are under full retirement age for the entire year, we deduct $1 from your benefit payments for every $2 you earn above the annual limit. For 2021, that limit is $18,960.
In the year you reach full retirement age, we deduct $1 in benefits for every $3 you earn above a different limit. In 2021, this limit on your earnings is $50,520. We only count your earnings up to the month before you reach your full retirement age, not your earnings for the entire year.
If your earnings will be over the limit for the year and you will receive retirement benefits for part of the year, we have a special rule that applies to earnings for one year. The special rule lets us pay a full Social Security check for any whole month we consider you retired, regardless of your yearly earnings.
Read our publication, How Work Affects Your Benefits, for more information.
When you reach full retirement age:
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How Has The Covid
Working people with disabilities experience disproportionate job loss, compared to workers without disabilities, during economic downturns,39 and SSI applications generally increase when the unemployment rate increases . This trend held during the Great Recession and subsequent economic recovery.40 One exception to the general trend is the period from 2003 to 2007, when SSI applications continued to rise despite falling unemployment.41 Possible explanations for this anomaly include factors such as the lagged effect of federal welfare reform leading TANF enrollees to switch to SSI and persistently high poverty rates.42 The same study also found that the likelihood of applying for SSI significantly increases during extended periods of high unemployment.43
Figure 7: Percent change in SSI Applications Filed by Adults Ages 18-64 and U.S. Unemployment Rates, 1991-2019
What Happens When Your Nine
If you participate in the Trial Work Period Program , at some point you will use up your nine months of unlimited income while still receiving your full SSDI benefits. What then?
The Extended Period of Eligibility When you exhaust your nine TWP months, the SSA wants to give you the incentive to continue working if you can. The Extended Period of Eligibility is a 36-month period in which you have an income safety net.
Each month, the SSA checks your reported income to see if you exceeded the monthly income cap that is substantial gainful activity . If you do exceed the SGA level, you will continue to receive your full SSD benefit during a 3-month grace period. After that, your SSD benefit payment will be suspended for any month your income is above the SGA.
But, if during the 36-month safety net period your earnings again fall below the SGA level, your SSD benefit payments will resume for each such month.
About Author
Clauson
Clauson Law has focused on representing the injured and disabled for over 10 years. We have handled thousands of cases. Each client is important to us and has a unique situation.
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Benefits For Your Children
When you qualify for Social Security disability benefits, your children may also qualify to receive benefits on your record. Your eligible child can be your biological child, adopted child, or stepchild. A dependent grandchild may also qualify.
To receive benefits, the child must:
- Be unmarried.
- Be under age 18 or
- Be 18-19 years old and a full-time student or
You’re Enrolled In Medicare
Not everyone who collects Social Security is a Medicare enrollee. Medicare eligibility begins at age 65, whereas you can file for Social Security as early as age 62. Plus, you can collect Social Security even if you’re still working. And if you’re still working, you may still have access to a group health plan that makes enrolling in Medicare unnecessary.
Still, many seniors on Social Security are Medicare enrollees and therefore have their Part B premiums deducted from their monthly benefits. Next year, Medicare Part B costs are rising substantially. The standard monthly premium is set to increase from $148.50 to $170.10. That’s a jump of $29.60. And that’s also a figure you’ll need to subject from your upcoming COLA.
So, let’s say you collect the average monthly benefit of $1,565. After applying a 5.9% COLA, your benefit rises by $92. But when we subtract $29.60, you’re left with a $62.40 raise instead.
Now to be clear, a $62.40 bump is still pretty significant in the context of Social Security. But unfortunately, much of that remaining money could easily get eaten up by higher food and fuel costs, which consumers of all ages are grappling with now.
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Calculating Ssdi: Covered Earnings
If you are eligible for SSDI benefits, the amount you receive each month will be based on your average lifetime earnings before your disability began. This is the only factor that determines your benefit amount, although it may be reduced if you’re receiving disability payments from other sources . In other words, your SSDI benefit amount is not based on how severe your disability is, and unlike SSI, you cannot be denied SSDI because you have too much unearned income or too many resources .
Your past earnings must be covered under the Social Security program in order to count towards the amount of SSDI benefits you will receive. “Covered earnings” are wages you have received from jobs that have paid into Social Security. If you have received a paycheck that had money withheld for “Social Security taxes” or “FICA,” the wages you made at that job are covered earnings and will count toward calculating your benefit amount. Most wages are covered earnings.
Your SSDI payment will be based on your average covered earnings over a period of years, known as your average indexed monthly earnings . A formula is then applied to your AIME to calculate your primary insurance amount the basic figure the SSA uses in setting your actual benefit amount.
For example, someone in their fifties who made $100,000 for the past few years might expect a disability payment of $2,500 per month. Someone in their fifties who made $60,000 per year might expect a disability payment of $2,000 per month.
Your Ssdi Payment Depends On Your Average Lifetime Earnings
If you are eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, the amount you receive each month will be based on your average lifetime earnings before your disability began. It is not based on how severe your disability is or how much income you have. Most SSDI recipients receive between $800 and $1,800 per month . However, if you are receiving disability payments from other sources, as discussed below, your payment may be reduced.
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How Do Benefits Work And How Can I Qualify
While you work, you pay Social Security taxes. This tax money goes into a trust fund that pays benefits to:
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Those who are currently retired
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To people with disabilities
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To the surviving spouses and children of workers who have died
Each year you work, youll get credits to help you become eligible for benefits when its time for you to retire. Find all the benefits Social Security Administration offers.
There are four main types of benefits that the SSA offers:
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Learn about earning limits if you plan to work while receiving Social Security benefits
About Your Supplemental Security Income Benefits
To be eligible for SSI benefits, you must meet at least one of the following criteria:
- You must be blind according to the definition used by the SSA.
- You must be disabled as defined by the SSA, but keep in mind that different definitions apply to children and adults.
- You must be at least 65 years old.
If you meet the age, disability, or blindness criteria, there are financial requirements that you must satisfy to qualify for SSI benefits. You cannot have resources, such as bank accounts, real estate, or other assets, having a total value of $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for couples. Some resources, such as a primary residence, may not count toward the resources total, so you should speak with a disability lawyer at NY Disability to learn how what you own as assets may affect eligibility for the program.
Income limits that currently apply to SSI eligibility change in 2022. The general income limit for 2021 is $794 a month for one person and $1,191 for couples, but the increase in the monthly federal benefit rate for 2022 will increase the limits to $841 for an individual and $1,261 for couples.
A special earned income exclusion exists for students younger than 22 years of age. They may exclude up to $1,930 per month up to a yearly maximum of $7,770 in 2021. The excludable amounts for students increase in 2022 to $2,040 per month with an annual limit of $8,230.
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Returning To Work While On Ssdi
If you return to work while receiving SSDI benefits, the SSA will want to determine if you are engaging in “substantial gainful activity” . The biggest factor in determining if work qualifies as SGA is the amount a person is paid. In 2021, someone is generally considered to be engaging in SGA if he or she earns more than $1,310 So, for example, if you are making, say, $200 per week doing part-time work, you would not be working over the SGA limit. However, this isn’t a cut and dry issue. If you are working a lot, it’s possible for the SSA to determine that your job duties constitute SGA even if you are earning less than the SGA amount.
One exception to the SGA rule is what’s referred to as a “trial work period” . This period of time allows someone who is currently receiving SSDI benefits to attempt to return to work without automatically losing their SSDI eligibility. In most cases, you can work for up to nine months during your trial work period without causing your SSDI benefits to stop, regardless of how much you’re making. If, at the end of the TWP, you are still working and making over the SGA level, you will no longer be considered disabled and your Social Security payments will stop. For more information, see our article on the trial work period and the three-year time period that follows, the “extended period of eligibility.”
How Much Will Ssi Checks Be In 2022
If you currently receive or plan to have NY Disability apply for Supplemental Security Income benefits on your behalf, the monthly payment will increase in 2022. The Social Security Administration makes annual cost-of-living adjustments to SSI benefits, but the current rate of inflation in the economy caused it to increase SSI payments by 5.9% beginning with the payment scheduled for December 30, 2021.
The check SSI benefits you received in 2021 for $794 as your base amount from the federal government increases to $841 for 2022. Couples who received $1,191 each month in 2021 will be receiving $1,261 in 2022. These are the federal benefits and do not reflect supplementary payments you may receive if you live in a state that supplements the federal SSI payments. Lets take a closer look at SSI to learn how it determines the amount that you receive each month.
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Changes To Your Ssdi Amount
Most years, your monthly SSDI payment will go up, thanks to Social Security’s annual cost of living adjustment . You can find the annual COLA here.
Once you’re eligible for Medicare benefits , the cost of Medicare Part B will be taken directly out of your Social Security check. Most people will pay a premium of $158.50 for Part B in 2022, but the amount can be quite a bit higher for those with high income. If you have low income, on the other hand, a Medicare Savings Program can pay your Part B premium.
What Are The Average Ssi And Ssdi Payments
There are limits to how much you can receive in disability benefits each month. In 2016, the maximum amount you can receive from SSDI is $2639 per month. Additionally, the limit for SSI is $733 for a single person and $1100 for a couple. By the time you get approval for benefits, you will likely qualify for back pay as well. Social Security disability back pay is money you receive for past due benefits. This means you are compensated for the payments you would have received in the months between when you filed your application and when it was approved.
Currently, the average disability payment is $1,166 for SSDI and $542 for SSI. However, these numbers change yearly. Therefore, you should always check with your local Tulsa disability lawyers for the latest Social Security benefits statistics.
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What Is Supplemental Security Income
SSI is a program administered by the Social Security Administration that provides monthly cash payments to low-income elderly or disabled individuals, including blind or disabled children. In addition, to be eligible for SSI the individual must have very few assets. For children on SSI, the Social Security Administration reduces the childs SSI benefit by two-thirds of the amount that is paid in child support.
Who Is Considered A Spouse
If you are legally married and are living together, you are considered married for the purpose of deeming income. At the current time, there is no deeming between those in a domestic partnership or civil union. However, if you live with a boyfriend or girlfriend and you hold yourselves out in the community to be husband and wife, the SSA will deem your boyfriend or girlfriend’s income to you.
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Amount Of Childs Benefit
A minor child receiving a childs benefit based on the Social Security earnings record of a parent is eligible for up to 50% of the parents monthly benefit, which depends on the parents lifetime earnings record. The higher the disabled parents lifetime average earnings, then the higher the childs monthly SSDI benefit check will be.
For example, a disabled parent whose average indexed monthly earnings are $3,000 per month might receive an SSDI check for approximately $1,400 per month, and the child might receive approximately $700 per month. A disabled parent who earned twice as much money while working might have an AIME of $6,000 per month and receive a disability check for $2,100 per month, while the child receives a childs benefit of approximately $1,050 per month. However, if more than one relative is receiving Social Security benefits based on the disabled parents record, the childrens benefits will be subject to a family maximum , and reduced according to a formula.
Want To Know How Much Ssdi Pays Here’s How Social Security Calculates Your Ssdi Benefits
By Melissa Linebaugh, Contributing Author
How much your SSDI benefit will be is based on your “covered earnings”the wages that you paid Social Security taxes onprior to becoming disabled.
What is SSDI? Social Security Disability Insurance is the federal insurance program that provides benefits to qualified workers who can no longer work. To be eligible, you must be insured under the program and you must meet the Social Security Administration’s definition of disabled. SSI payments, on the other hand, aren’t based on past earnings.
Your SSDI benefits may be reduced if you get disability payments from other sources, such as workers’ comp, but regular income won’t affect your SSDI payment amount.
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