If you have never worked, you cannot claim Social Security disability insurance (SSDI). SSDI eligibility criteria require that you have worked long enough and recently enough to be insured for Social Security disability. Insured status for Social Security disability is based upon the wages that are reported by the IRS to an individual’s earnings record each year. An individual can earn up to four quarters of coverage per year, and if they have enough quarters of coverage (usually 20) and enough of those quarters occurred in the past ten years, they may be insured for Social Security disability insurance.
However, the Social Security Administration manages two disability programs, Social Security disability insurance and Supplemental Security Income, or SSI. Each of these programs has their own distinct non-medical qualification criteria. But both programs have the same medical evaluation criteria and are sent to the same state disability agencies for disability determinations.
Supplemental Security Income is based upon need, not insured status. An individual can claim disability through this program if they are found to medically disabled and they meet the income and resource limits for the program, whether or not they have ever worked.
The Social Security Administration sets income and asset limits each year for this program, although the income and resource limit have not changed in several years. As it stands currently, an individual is allowed to have $2000 in resources (but the program excuses the home you live in and the vehicle with the highest value). If an individual has other resources such as land, other vehicles, stocks, a 401(k), or checking or savings accounts, they count toward the $2000 limit for individuals or the $3000 limit for couples.
