Quote:
Originally Posted by ginnie
When I qualified for dissability, I got social security. That was after a hearing. I did not get a big check as I had to quit my career. The check was small enough that I could not have lived anywhere. Therefor I applied for SSDI. Social security dissability income. I was told I could not keep more than 2000, to qualify. So I am indeed confused. This was my lawyer who told me that. ginnie:
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The acronyms are absoultely confusing.
Title II of the Social Security Act (starting in 1936 and continually modified) authorized benefit payments for retirement, survivor, and disability. These benefits are both earned and funded by payroll taxes, called FICA or OASDI or Social Security/Medicare (depends on employer). All those benefits are based on the amount of years a person worked and the amount of FICA taxes paid on those earnings. Disability benefits under Social Security are computed the same way as retirement and survivor benefits. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a subcategory under Title II. There are no resource limits for any Title II benefit, including SSDI, no restrictions on bank accounts. These benefits can even be subject to income tax, depending upon the other income received.
Title XVI of the Social Security Act (started in 1974) provided for a federal program called Supplemental Security Income (SSI) which pays benefits for people who are disabled, blind or over 65 and who have limited income and resources. SSI payments are in no way based on years a person has worked or taxes paid. Some recipients have never held a single job, never worked. Others have worked but at low wages or sporadically so that the SSDI benefits is not very high and there is no other pension.
These are the two programs, SSDI (T2) and SSI (T16), administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). Way way too many letter 'S' in these acronyms (IMO) which leads to the confusion.
SSI and SSDI have two things in common. First, both applications are filed for and administered by the Social Security Adminstration so sometimes the same employee works on both applications. Second, both programs use the same definition of disability and require the same medical proof standard. But other than the finding of disability, the program requirements are very different.