Equivalence Of Functional Limitations To Listings
For children whose asthma doesn’t meet the requirements of the asthma listing, they may still be eligible for disability if Social Security finds that their condition “functionally equals” the listings — in other words, causes limitations just as severe as those in the listings. For functional equivalence, asthma must cause your child to have a “marked” limitation in two areas of functioning or an “extreme” limitation in one area of functioning. The areas of functioning are:
- acquiring and using information
- interacting and relating with others
- moving about and manipulating objects
- caring for personal needs, and
- having health and physical well-being.
For children with asthma, the area that’s most relevant is the last one, having good physical well-being. Social Security will look to see how your child’s ability to function physically is affected by the asthma. For instance, your child may have lung damage or peribronchial disease caused by asthma, causing persistent difficulty breathing outward and wheezing. Or your child may need to use asthma medications day and night along with corticosteroids. Some children have asthma so severe that it slows their growth relative to other children of the same age. These conditions all show marked or extreme limitations on the child’s health.
What Kind Of Social Security Disability Benefits Are Available To Louisiana Citizens Who Can Get Disability Benefits Under The Social Security Administration
The Social Security Act provides benefits to disabled individuals under Title II and Title XVI .
Under Title II there are three basic categories of individuals who can qualify for benefits on the basis of disability:
- A disabled insured worker under 65.
- A person disabled since childhood who is a dependent of a deceased insured parent or parent entitled to Title II disability or retirement benefits.
- A disabled widow or widower age 50-60 if the deceased spouse was insured under Social Security.
Under Title XVI there are two basic categories under which a financially needy person with limited income and resources can get payments on the basis of disability:
- An adult age 18 or over who is disabled.
- A child under 18 who is disabled.
What Happens If The Dac Gets Married
If the child receives benefits as a DAC, the benefits generally end if they get married. However, some marriages are considered protected.
The rules vary depending on the situation. Contact a Social Security representative at 1-800-772-1213 to find out if the benefits can continue.
1-800-772-1213
To speed up the application process, complete an Adult Disability Report and have it available at the time of your appointment.
Don’t Miss: How Many 100 Percent Disabled Veterans Are There
Disorders Of The Digestive System
- Chronic liver disease
- Intellectual/cognitive impairment disorders
While a physical health problem is easily substantiated with diagnostic scans, lab tests, and other empirical evaluations, a mental illness diagnosis is initially viewed as a subjective diagnosis by SSA disability examiners. To qualify for SSDI, a mental illness must have prevented the individual from working for at least six months. The inability to work due to mental illness should be supported by extensive documentation proving the person has had and is continuing to comply with psychological and pharmacological treatments.
One reason why the SSA denies many SSDI benefit applications is they discover the person has been noncompliant with treatments prescribed by their physician. The majority of mental illness symptoms can be managed as long as the individual takes medication as directed and follows through on counseling appointments. Alternately, schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders are the most difficult to treat with antipsychotic drugs primarily because of side effects and the need for frequent dosage adjustments. Also, if you were recently diagnosed with a mental illness such as major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, or a personality disorder and have just started taking medications, the SSA will immediately deny your SSDI claim due to a lack of duration of your mental illness.
Social Security Disability System
In addition, current policies do not address prevention. Many people with serious illnesses might avoid disability if they were able to obtain health insurance, temporary financial assistance, and help returning to work when they become injured or ill. However, Social Security currently provides no short-term disability benefit that would allow people to avoid a protracted period of separation from the workforce while establishing disabled status.
Read Also: 100 Disabled Veteran Dental Benefits For Family
Applying For Social Security Disability Benefits
You can apply for disability on your own or with the help of a friend, family member, disability advocate, or Social Security attorney. Applications for SSDI can be filled out and submitted online, via the SSAs website, or you can apply in person at your local SSA office. You have the option of appealing the SSA’s decision if it is denied initially.
Your doctor is an ally of central importance when you apply for benefits as well. He or she can ensure your medical records are shared in a timely manner with the disability examiner that reviews your claim for benefits. Your doctor can additionally help you understand the various listings for qualifying conditions for SSDI and under which listing youre most likely to be approved for benefits.
Limited Adoption Of Supported Employment
Evidence-based supported employment has proved to be remarkably easy to implement, inexpensive, successful, and durable in several states in which it has been disseminated as part of a public-private-academic partnership.26 Nevertheless, it has not been widely adopted across the United States primarily because of financing difficulties. Mental health agencies typically draw on a combination of sources to finance supported employment, including the state-federal vocational rehabilitation system, Medicaid, and state mental health dollars. Each source is constrained and unpredictable, and government regulations and policies are not aligned with evidence-based mental health and supported employment.27 Mental health programs often eliminate vocational services when funding fluctuates because they are not easy to apply for and are not considered âmedically necessary.â For example, when the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health was confronted with a state budget shortfall in late 2008, it completely eliminated all funding for the supported employment and education programs that had been built up over several years.28
Recommended Reading: How To Get Ssi Disability
Health Coverage For People With Disabilities
If you have a disability, you have three options for health coverage through the government.
-
Medicaid provides free or low-cost medical benefits to people with disabilities. Learn about eligibility and how to apply.
-
Medicare provides medical health insurance to people under 65 with certain disabilities and any age with end-stage renal disease . Learn about eligibility, how to apply and coverage.
-
Affordable Care Act Marketplace offers options to people who have a disability, dont qualify for disability benefits, and need health coverage. Learn about the .
Does A Disability Need To Match A Listing In The Blue Book
If you are applying for disability and your symptoms and medical evidence to your claim up dont match an exact listing, you still may be able to qualify for Social Security disability benefits.
You dont have to necessarily match the listing in order to qualify for disability. You can still qualify for disability even if you dont match a Blue Book listing by qualifying though a residual functional capacity evaluation. A RFC evaluation shows your physical and mental limitations to see if they prevent you from working.
If the RFC evaluation shows that due to your physical and mental limitations, you cannot perform the same basic job functions that you could before you became disabled, you can still qualify for Social Security disability benefits, even if you do not match a listing in the SSAs Blue Book.
Also Check: My Personal Facebook Account Is Disabled
Ssd Blue Book List Of Impairments
Do you have an injury, sickness, or other medical condition that keeps you from working on a full-time basis in Arizona? If so, you may be entitled to Social Security disability benefits through an SSDI claim or an SSI claim. To receive Social Security disability benefits, you will be required to prove that your medical condition meets the SSAs standards to qualify as a disability.
The Blue Bookor as it is officially known the Disability Evaluation Under Social Securityis an official list of impairments that qualify for disability benefits. In this blog post, our Arizona Social Security disability lawyers explain the most important things to know about the SSAs Blue Book for listed impairments.
Who Is Eligible For This Service
Social Security Advocacy Services are available to children or adults between the ages of birth and 65 who:
- Have a disability which has lasted or will last for 12 months or longer and
- Live in the state of Minnesota and
- Are currently homeless OR at risk for homelessness.
If you are unsure if you are eligible for this service, please contact one of our advocates listed on our online directory.
Read Also: Can I Work While On Social Security Disability
Link Supported Employment Services To Mental Health Services
Linking supported employment to mental health services could enable a sizable proportion of people with serious mental illnesses to become employed. The evidence we reviewed strongly supports combining these. Aligning Medicaid and Medicare with these services could ameliorate the problem of limited adoption of evidence-based practices. Congress could decide which agencies should pay for the services, mandate the services, and allocate sufficient funds to serve the population. States could be mandated to monitor implementation, organization, quality, and outcomes. Valid monitoring will require attention to electronic records, quality of services, and outcomes.
Deaf And Hard Of Hearing
Students with a range of hearing loss may participate in your class either using ASL interpreters, FM Systems, CART , or a combination of these services depending upon the nature of your course.
These students may require a front row seat. If your student has a sign language interpreter, remember to direct any conversation you have to the student. Notes service is a common accommodation in conjunction with sign language interpreters.
If you have Deaf or hard of hearing students in your class, be sure to select captioned films when showing videos to the class. See the resources available on our “Creating Accessible Course Materials” page.
Also Check: How To Unlock Disabled Ipad Without Itunes For Free
Provide Supported Employment And Mental Health Services Early In The Course Of Mental Illness
Doing this could help many people avoid entering the disability system. International early intervention studies, including one in the United States, support this proposal.34 Early insurance provision or universal health care, combined with evidence-based practices for early episodes of serious mental illnesses, would move the mental health system toward preventing disability, with state mandates to encourage the provision of such services.
Our benchmark estimates suggest that wide-scale implementation and recruiting of people with serious mental illnesses to evidence-based supported employment and mental health care would improve financial security for participants and could even save the government money. Our economic model is, however, clearly sensitive to assumptions, and we are making educated estimates regarding many key assumptions. This weakness points to the need to conduct research to answer key questions, such as the following: How many clients would participate in supported employment if the incentives were different? How much would they work, and what would they earn, if regulatory constraints were lessened? To what extent could we prevent disability status by providing insurance and prevention services? That these services could be provided with cost-neutrality or, more likely, with cost savings is a secondary benefit but a finding that should encourage health and disability policy officials to act.
Benefits For Widows Or Widowers With Disabilities
If something happens to a worker, benefits may be payable to their widow, widower, or surviving divorced spouse with a disability if the following conditions are met:
- The widow, widower, or surviving divorced spouse is between ages 50 and 60.
- The widow, widower, or surviving divorced spouse has a medical condition that meets our definition of disability for adults and the disability started before or within seven years of the worker’s death.
Widows, widowers, and surviving divorced spouses cannot apply online for survivors benefits. If they want to apply for these benefits, they should contact Social Security immediately at 1-800-772-1213 to request an appointment
To speed up the application process, complete an Adult Disability Report and have it available at the time of your appointment.
We use the same definition of disability for widows and widowers as we do for workers.
Recommended Reading: Polycom Url Call Is Disabled
How Long After You’re Approved For Disability Do You Get Your Money
There is a bit of a waiting period. Usually, it can take five months for benefits to get paid, with the first payment arriving the sixth full month after the date the SSA determined your disability began.
So, for example, if the SSA determined that your disability began on June 15, 2022, and you applied on July 1, 2022, your first benefit would be paid for the month of December 2022.
Iv: What Financing Issues Does Ssdi Face
SSDI costs have leveled off, but the program faces a long-run funding gap. SSDI costs have stabilized as the baby boomers move from their peak disability-prone years to their peak retirement years. But SSDIs costs will still exceed its revenues. Over the next 75 years, its shortfall is projected to be about 6 percent of the programs costs or income.
SSDI has financial challenges but doesnt face bankruptcy. The payroll taxes that workers contribute out of every paycheck fund most of SSDIs costs. In addition, SSDI has built up trust fund reserves, which Social Securitys trustees estimate will last until 2065. At that point, tax revenues will be enough to pay for 92 percent of benefits even if policymakers do nothing to strengthen Social Securitys financing .
Though the SSDI trust fund has enough funding for more than three decades, policymakers must address overall Social Security financing before then.Overall, Social Security can pay full benefits for 16 more years, the trustees annual report shows, but then faces a significant, though manageable, funding shortfall. Policymakers should address Social Securitys long-term shortfall primarily by increasing Social Securitys tax revenues. Social Security will necessarily require an increasing share of our nations resources as the population ages, and polls show a widespread willingness to pay more to strengthen the program.
Read Also: How To Get Off Disability And Back To Work
How Does A Person Qualify For Ssi
In addition to meeting the disability criteria , an SSI enrollee must meet several non-medical criteria, including having a low income. SSA has complex rules for determining financial eligibility. In general, income is anything received in cash, earned or unearned, that can be used to meet a persons need for food or shelter.17 Income is countable except for some limited amounts that are disregarded.18 Income also includes in kind support, such as any food or shelter provided or paid by another person. In kind support generally is valued at one-third of the maximum federal benefit amount.19 SSA also deems a portion of income from a persons spouse or parent/step-parent as countable income.20 To financially qualify for SSI, a persons countable income cannot exceed the maximum federal benefit rate , and the amount of SSI that a person actually receives is the maximum federal rate reduced by the amount of their countable income.21 These rules apply to SSI enrollees of all ages.
Figure 4: SSI Disability Determination Process for Adults
Figure 5: Disability and SSI Status of Nonelderly Adults with Medicaid, 2019
Figure 6: SSI Application Allowance Rate for Medical Decisions by Adjudicative Level, 2018
Benefits For Children With Disabilities
A child under age 18 may have a disability, but we don’t need to consider the child’s disability when deciding if he or she qualifies for benefits as a dependent. The child’s benefits normally stop at age 18 unless they are a full-time student in an elementary or high school or have a qualifying disability.
Children who were receiving benefits as a minor child on a parents Social Security record may be eligible to continue receiving benefits on that parents record upon reaching age 18 if they have a qualifying disability.
Also Check: How Much Money For Disability
Medical Qualifying With A Mental Illness
The SSA conducts a detailed review of your medical records to determine your eligibility for benefits. During this review, they try to match your records to a disability listing in the Blue Book. The Blue Book is the SSAs medical guide that is used to evaluate every disability application.
Disability listings outline the severity level requirements and the specific medical evidence needed to support a claim for benefits. Mental illnesses appear in Section 12.00 and include:
- 12.06, Anxiety-related Disorders you may qualify under this listing if you have a severe phobia, post-traumatic stress, a panic disorder, or another anxiety-related condition.
- 12.08, Personality Disorders this is the listing under which you may qualify if you have severe, clinical depression.
- 12.04, Affective Disorders if you have bipolar disorder, your application will be reviewed under this listing.
Extensive medical records are necessary to qualify, including:
- Information on your diagnosis, ideally from a psychiatrist or psychologist
- Brain scans or other evidence of physical abnormalities that document an organic cause for symptoms, if applicable
- Treatment records, documenting medications, therapy, and other management methods used and their effects
- Thoroughly documented episodes of increased symptoms or periods of decompensation
- Well documented affects of your symptoms on your everyday abilities or activities of daily living
Listing Of Impairments For Social Security Disability Benefits
So, what qualifies for disability? The Social Security Administration maintains a list of impairments that are essentially considered automatically disabling. The list is also sometimes called the Blue Book. The book also describes the tests and symptoms that a person must exhibit to meet the requirement for a specific impairment. Here is the complete list of impairments from the Blue Book that are SSDI and SSI disability qualifications for adults.
Also Check: Working Part Time On Disability