Health Problems Preventing You From Working? Don't Wait Too Long To File For Disability Benefits.

Timing is rarely on our side in terms of illness and providing for ourselves and our families. For most Americans, a serious illness can result in job loss and even the loss of a home and the ability to support one's family. Hopefully an unexpected illness is temporary and allows the person to return to work. Unfortunately, too often an illness is long-term. The fortunate have short term and long-term disability coverage to carry them through at least temporarily. If an illness has or is likely to prevent a person from working for 12 months or more, then an application for disability should be filed for that person. This is known as “Date Last Insured” or DLI. The time to establish disability is limited to 5 years from the time a person stops working. This means that a person must show that his disability began within that 5-year period to be eligible to receive SSDI.

Most working Americans pay into the Social Security Disability program. Once a person stops working then he stops paying into SSDI. For many Americans, the thought of not returning to work is frightening. Failed attempts to return to work are exhausting and discouraging to say the least. Combine that with the inability to support one's household and a person can be left feeling helpless and terrified for the future. A lot of people do not understand their rights and options when it comes time to filing for disability. Here are frequent questions I hear in my practice and the advice I give in response.

• “Don't I have to be out of work for a year before I can apply for SSDI?”

No. If a person's medical condition(s) has or can be expected to prevent the person from being able to work for a period of 12 months or more, then the person may be eligible for disability. SSA may question if whether significant improvement can be expected from a new illness in less than 12 months. This is one of many reasons a person sees her physicians and follow recommended treatment for her conditions. Records of this treatment can help to support an allegation that an illness is both severe and expected to cause severe symptoms for an extended period.

• “I am still employed. Don't I have to quit my job or get fired before I can apply for SSDI?”

No. If a person is not actively working at his normal capacity at his job, he may be eligible at that time for SSDI. For example: Paul is employed as an electrician for a construction contractor when his ongoing severe spinal condition and COPD prevent him from being able to perform his job. On February 1st, he goes on medical leave from his company and begins receiving short term disability benefits. During this time, Paul also collects his remaining vacation and sick pay that he has accumulated. Because Paul is not physically performing his job and the money he is receiving is not considered 'earned income', Paul can go ahead and apply for SSDI. SSA will ask for information regarding the income that Paul receives after he stops working, but his eligibility for SSDI will not be affected.

• “I am embarrassed to apply for SSDI and keep telling myself I can get back to work.”

This very sentiment has caused clients to have great difficulty getting disability benefits because a person waits too long to file for SSDI. No one should apply for benefits if they do not wish to. However, it is important to understand that SSDI is not a death sentence. It is also important to understand that SSDI is a program that Americans pay into via FICA taxes so that if a worker becomes unable to work due to an illness, he has a monthly benefit that he can receive to help him support himself and his family.

When a person alleges she is eligible for SSDI she is alleging that she can no longer perform what SSA calls Substantial Gainful Activity or SGA. SGA is a set amount of income and work activity that if a person is performing, SSA will find that the person is not disabled. However, a person can perform work below SGA and still collect SSDI. Each year the guidelines for SGA change and SSA will require documentation of income and work activity for a SSDI recipient. Should a period feel she becomes well enough to return to working fulltime she can. SSA allows the SSDI recipients to return to fulltime work with a safety net that allows reinstatement of SSDI benefits if the person becomes unable to continue working within a certain amount of time, due to her health.

It is very important to act within a reasonable amount of time if a person believes that he may be unable to continue working because of a medical condition. There is nothing wrong with trying to return to work and doing all one can to recover from an illness and get back to normal. Sometimes this is not possible and establishing disability while a person is still eligible is crucial for financial security in the future.

This information is very basic regarding this issue and future blogs will be published based on feedback and additional questions. Please feel free to leave your comments and message me with questions.

April L. Roberts, EJD EDPNA

april@aaria.org

www.aaria.org

© 2017 April L. Roberts and Ajaria Consulting, LLC All Rights Reserved