Published on: November 18, 2014
You may think that disability is just something that you read in the newspaper or see on TV, but the cold hard truth is that your chances of becoming disabled are greater than you may imagine. In fact, studies have shown that a person who is 20 years of age actually has a 3-in-10 chance of becoming disabled before they hit retirement age. That is a disturbing number if you think about it. Most of us just go about our daily lives working at our jobs and we never stop to think that we may become disabled.
Benefits:
Social Security Disability Income is a monthly check that people who are disabled receive. The amount of the SSDI that you receive depends on how much money you earned before becoming disabled as well as how many years you worked. Many people are under the impression that the amount they will receive depends on how severe their disability is or how much their income is. That is not the way that disability works.
SSI or Supplemental Security Income is not the same as SSDI. SSI is a program to give you disability benefits that are meant to help cover the cost of living or are given to people who have never worked or who have never paid Social Security taxes. In order to qualify for these types of payments, a person cannot have any family assets or they cannot make over a certain income.
Those who qualify for SSDI benefits automatically get approved for Medicare and those who are approved for SSI are automatically approved for Medicaid. SSI candidates may also be approved for food stamps. You will receive Medicare after you have gotten your disability check for two years. There are some circumstances where you may qualify for Medicare immediately, such as if you have permanent kidney failure or if you have Lou Gehrig’s disease.
For those who are on Medicare and receiving disability benefits, there may be additional help if you have a low income. If you do not have much of an income and very little resources, you may be eligible to have the state cover your premiums for Medicare and sometimes you may be able to have the state also take care of your other Medicare expenses such as deductibles and co-pays.
You can also receive other benefits such as workers’ compensation or other state, local, and federal government programs. If you do receive any other benefits, you do need to report them to the Social Security Administration. In this case, your disability benefits may be reduced or even stop altogether.
How We can Help:
Make sure you get everything you are entitled to, contact the Disability Experts of Florida. They have a skilled team ready to help you through the entire process of applying for SSDI.
