SOCIAL SECURITY
DISABILITY
DISABILITY
THE
U.S. SOCIAL SECURITY system does more than provide income after
you retire. If you become disabled before then, you can receive benefits
through its disability insurance program--subject, as so many government
benefits are, to fulfilling a long list of requirements.
Who Is Eligible?
First, you must meet the government's definition of disabled, which is stricter than commonsense usage. The disability must:
* Keep you from performing not just your current job, but any "substantial gainful activity" (defined as one paying more than $740 a month if you are not blind)
* Be "medically determinable" (that is, your doctor can see abnormalities or detect them with lab tests; unmeasurable problems such as pain and fatigue don't qualify by themselves, no matter how disabling they are)
* Be expected to last at least a year or to cause your death
Second, you need to have participated in the Social Security system and received a certain number of credits within a certain number of years, depending on your age. The amount you have to earn to receive one credit rises each year. For 2002, you will receive one credit for each $870 of income you pay Social Security taxes on. The most credits you can earn each year is four. The older you are when you become disabled, the more credits you need to receive benefits.
You can find out whether you've earned enough credits to qualify for disability payments by looking at the Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement that Social Security sends you each year. This form also guesstimates what your approximate payment would be.
Who Is Eligible?
First, you must meet the government's definition of disabled, which is stricter than commonsense usage. The disability must:
* Keep you from performing not just your current job, but any "substantial gainful activity" (defined as one paying more than $740 a month if you are not blind)
* Be "medically determinable" (that is, your doctor can see abnormalities or detect them with lab tests; unmeasurable problems such as pain and fatigue don't qualify by themselves, no matter how disabling they are)
* Be expected to last at least a year or to cause your death
Second, you need to have participated in the Social Security system and received a certain number of credits within a certain number of years, depending on your age. The amount you have to earn to receive one credit rises each year. For 2002, you will receive one credit for each $870 of income you pay Social Security taxes on. The most credits you can earn each year is four. The older you are when you become disabled, the more credits you need to receive benefits.
You can find out whether you've earned enough credits to qualify for disability payments by looking at the Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement that Social Security sends you each year. This form also guesstimates what your approximate payment would be.