If you become disabled, Social Security Disability Insurance ("SSDI") provides income until your condition improves and guarantees income if it doesn't. It is not a government handout or welfare. It is insurance that you paid for during your working years. You are entitled to it based on mandatory payroll taxes that you have paid and your employer has matched. At Bromberg Rosenthal LLP, we provide the knowledge and legal expertise to make the Social Security disability process less confusing, less intimidating and more convenient for people with disabilities.
When a worker covered by Social Security becomes disabled or blind, he or she may be entitled to receive disability benefits. In addition, certain family members may qualify for benefits based on the disabled worker's earnings record. Some of the family members who may qualify for such benefits based upon your own earnings record include:
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Your unmarried children under age 18, or under age 19 if attending high school full-time
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Your unmarried child 18 years of age or older, when that child was disabled before reaching age 22
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Your spouse age 62 or older
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Your spouse of any age who is caring for a child of yours under age 16, or who is disabled and also receiving disability checks.
An issue of critical importance to most disabled workers is the availability of health insurance. Fortunately, regardless of your age, if you qualify for Social Security Disability benefits, you also become eligible for Medicare, including Part A (hospital benefits) and Part B (medical benefits) once you have received SSDI benefits for 24 months. However, the criteria for determining eligibility for Social Security disability benefits are extremely strict and the Social Security Administration is reluctant to award such benefits even in the face of what you believe is compelling proof that you are, indeed, disabled. While private disability insurance may pay for short-term disability or partial disability, or provide benefits when you can't work at your regular job, Social Security does not. Under Social Security's eligibility rules, you must be completely unable to do any kind of substantial gainful work for which you are suited, and the disability must be expected to last for at least a year or result in death. To qualify for disability payments on the basis of blindness, your vision must not be correctable to better than 20/200 in your better eye, or your visual field must be 20 degrees or less even when using a corrective lens.
If you believe you are disabled, you should promptly contact your local Social Security Office and submit an application for disability benefits. If you are denied benefits, you should contact Bromberg Rosenthal LLP immediately at 301-DISABILITY to arrange for a free consultation to determine the best course of action to secure your benefits. For additional information, please click on any of the articles listed below:
