Disability process

The way I understand it's based on if you are disabled and poor due to not being able to work due to the condition. Non-disabled people over 65 can get on it? never heard of that thought it was just for people with disabilities who haven't worked enough for SSDI.

It is possible to get the paper trail/diagnoses and such while going through the SSI process. Of course it is good to have a paper trail initially. But if one does not since the process takes so long it is certainly plausible to develop more of a paper trail during the process....you are allowed to submit any new medical evidence you did not initially submit to them at any time during your case.

I hardly had a paper trail before applying and most of it I ended up with during the process of applying because I found a local mental health center I could afford the costs at since they had very low co-pays for low income people so went to therapy, saw someone who could prescribe meds and ended up with more diagnoses on paper and also saw a neuropsychologist.

I guess what I am saying is the process takes so long it wouldn't make much sense to make sure to develop a very intricate long paper trail and then apply seems to make more sense to do both at once...apply and collect as much medical evidence you can to shorten the amount of time it might take to get on it.

My neighbor is an elderly housewife who never worked (except under the table.) She was not disabled. She has been getting SSI since she was 65. She was never married. Her man left her. She has nothing. So she gets it.

"Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a United States government program that provides stipends to low-income people who are either aged (65 or older), blind, or disabled." From: Supplemental Security Income - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Notice the "either" and the "or." It's a good question.

For the purposes of this program, being over age 65 is the same as being disabled. You are considered too old to be expected to work. Makes sense when you think about it. SSI has kept a lot of elderly females off the streets. (though it's not just for them.) In a lot of states, if you get SSI, which is federal, the state also kicks in a few extra bucks on top of this. (Especially true in rich states.)

In most states, anyone who gets SSI automatically gets Medicaid.

In all states, anyone who gets SSI will get Medicare 2 years after their SSI payments start, or at age 65, whichever comes first.

Most people on SSI end up getting both Medicaid and Medicare.

You might find that all you've done is to shorten the amount of time it takes to get a denial. Then the burden of proof is on you to convince SSA that the first decision they made was wrong. They are going to look at everything you submit the second time and compare it with everything you submitted the first time, and that can get you into trouble.

My strong advice is to get diagnosed and into some treatment before you submit a claim. Even then, you will very likely get a denial (quickly) because they will say that they are hoping that your treatment is effective and enables you to succeed in the workforce. (They are not going to hold your application, while they wait and see. They will deny you and leave it to you to apply all over again.) The approach you are suggesting is most likely to succeed, if you have a condition that is dramatically, and obviously, profoundly disabling. I'm thinking of something like dementia, with obvious cognitive impairment. That might be in someone who has early onset Alzheimer's who suddenly presents as too decompensated to cope, but has gone undiagnosed prior to that.

Your approach might also have a better chance if, though there is no preceding history of medical treatment, there has been a history of failing miserably on job after job after job because of a flaming personality disorder that left you with such impaired judgement that you never even thought there was anything wrong with you. Such a person might be socially inappropriate to a grotesque degree. (Someone close to me got approved rather quickly on that basis.)

Let me add that this would be a good question to ask a lawyer, who might differ with me. My suspicion, though, is that many lawyers are not going to be this candid with you about some of these issues.

If you go to YouTube.com and type in Getting SSDI, you can bring up lots and lots of videos of attorneys explaining some of the ins and outs of the process. These are well worth watching. I credit these videos with the quick success I had. From these recorded talks, I learned exactly what the SSA needs to see in that 13 page thing they have you fill out.

A friend was in your predicament. She was approved on a pdoc stating anxiety and depression. But when she received an inheritance after her Mom died they kicked her off.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.

Erma Bombeck

Some ppl gain medicade from their spouse if they were married 10 yrs.

I think everyone on this thread should give a huge Thank You to Rose76 for all of the time she has spent and excellent advice given.

We ♥ you Rose!!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.

Erma Bombeck

Getting SSI does depend on being very poor. If you're getting SSI, they do review your financial status on a regular basis, at least yearly. A sizable inheritance certainly could get a person kicked off SSI.

SSDI, on the other hand, is granted to a disabled person who has worked long enough to qualify. A billionaire can get SSDI just as readily as a poor person. Your eligibility for SSDI has absolutely nothing to do with your financial status. Once you get SSDI, you will never lose it due to inheriting a lot of money. The same is true for Medicare. (You can only lose SSDI by regaining your health to where you could return to work, and the SSA discovers that.) Qualifying for Medicare has nothing to do with how much or how little money you have. Medicaid, on the other hand, is only for the poor.

I don't know about that.

thickntired, Thank you. I'm glad if anyone has benefited from what I've shared. Before applying for SSDI, I did a lot of research, which I think is why I successfully got through the whole process in only 3 months. I had a lot of misunderstanding about things myself, until I was forced to look into things.

I've seen very deserving people fail to get benefits they should have gotten due to not understanding what it takes to be successful in a claim. This is an undertaking, in which Knowledge is power.

Wait I stand corrected she gained a SS income check from her late husband. She's a widow so there was not a 10 yr marriage rule. She just got out if the hospital and filed for medicade to cover costs retroactive. But bc she has an inheritance I'm not sure medicade will come thru. She's been back and forth with them and the hospital bill is $45k. She's not indigent though.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.

Erma Bombeck

Oh alright that makes more sense...I thought maybe there were other programs for elderly people that have nothing...makes sense that SSI would be for that to.

I'm on SSDI and I was going to sell a house where I could stand to make $90k. I talked to a financial advisor, and he said the profit from selling the home would not have any affect on my SSDI status. Also, the stock, savings, homes etc I owned were in no way a determent to my being approved for SSDI.

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.

Erma Bombeck

Well I definitely am, but my lawyer has to prove that it prevents me from working.

You've helped me a lot. I was not sure about ssdi and an inheritance.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.

Erma Bombeck

That's kind of what I thought you might be referring to. People have gotten SS income from a late spouse.

I know a man who gave up his own SS, in order to get his late wife's because her's was worth more, due to her making more money than he had made. He got it, even though they had been divorced. He was eligible because the marriage had lasted for over 10 years.

"If you are the divorced spouse of a worker who dies, you could get benefits just the same as a widow or widower, provided that your marriage lasted 10 years or more." From: Survivors Planner: If You're The Worker's Surviving Divorced Spouse

The lady you are describing may have to "spend down" her inheritance before she can get Medicaid. She may not have to become totally indigent, necessarily. There is a whole body of rules about what you can and can't own. (Like you don't necessarily have to sell your house, depending. But the government reserves the right to go after any property when you're dead. They will get it before your heirs will. I think that is called their "Right of Recovery." They even have some claim on some insurance money that your heirs might get, depending on this and that.)

That would be totally correct.

If President Obama (age 52) has a totally disabling stroke tomorrow, he gets SSDI that kicks in starting October, 2014. How much pension money he gets as a former president has nothing to do with it. He would also get Medicare starting in 2016. If he regains the use of his faculties in 2017 and starts making speeches that he gets well paid for, then he loses the SSDI and the Medicare.

That's an excellent point. Just having a serious sounding diagnosis and getting treatment for it will not get you a darn thing. You have to make a convincing argument that the diagnosis prevents you from working. The lawyer doesn't have to prove that, exactly . . . just make a very reasonable argument, which the Social Security Administration finds plausible.

In my case, my lawyer didn't have to make the argument. I made it myself, on that 13 page questionnaire that I filled out. I really thought I would get turned down, and then I'ld let the lawyers do the arguing. That's often how it goes. To my surprise, the SSA thought my argument was good enough.

If I were 10 years younger than I am, I doubt they would have approved me. The older you are, the easier it is to get approved (all other things being equal.)

You don't need to make any argument, if you are totally blind. It is assumed that blindness makes you automatically disabled from working . . . even if you can sing like Jose Feliciano. Of course, if you start selling records, you will lose the benefit.

Other illnesses that get you automatically approved are Lou Gehrig's disease and end stage kidney failure that puts you on dialysis.

Lots of people suffering from Cancer were told that they could still get a job.

I think my problem was that I was too strict on my questionare and didn't make any attempts to try to tailor it to my disability.

That is a big insight. I think you are exactly right. But no one tells you that you have some freedom in how you answer those questions. I tailored the heck out of it, to use your very apt phrase. I crammed every nook and corner of each page with details about the way my diagnoses were creating problems for me in the workplace.

Where I listed all the jobs that I had failed at, I put minute details on how my health impacted my performance. I owe a lot of that to the attorney videos on YouTube. Plus there is a great non-profit website that I can't think of right now. It gives fantastic advice. It is supported by showing advertisements.

Your lawyer will reapproach all those questions you answered in a much more expansive way. Don't give up hope.