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To qualify for social security disability (SSD) benefits or supplemental security income (SSI) benefits you must be able to prove that you are severely impaired and that your impairment is preventing you from earning a living wage. A “living wage,” is defined by social security as the SGA, or substantial gainful activity amount. The Social Security Administration (SSA) sets the maximum amount (the SGA) you are allowed to earn each month, adjusting it as needed on an annual basis to reflect cost of living increases and inflation. SSD and SSI are covered under two separate parts of the Social Security Act, and there are different non-medical criteria that must be met for each of them. Title 2 of the Social Security Act covers SSD, and Title 16 of the act covers SSI. To qualify for Title 2, or SSD benefits, you need only demonstrate that, due to your physical or mental condition, you are unable to earn the current SGA. You also must have the required number of work credits. SSD benefits are tied to your work history because they function as a sort of national disability insurance policy. Everyone who works pays into this policy, because it is deducted from their paychecks in the form of social security, or FICA taxes. Qualifying for SSI benefits is a bit more involved, because to qualify under Title 16 you must demonstrate that you are not only unable to earn the SGA, but that your total assets are not worth more than $2,000 (excluding the value of your home and one car). In other words, Title 16 requires that you are in real financial need. However, coverage is not earned for SSI via work credits, so you may qualify for this type of disability payment even if you have never held a job. The medical requirements that must be met to qualify for SSD and SSI are the same. Adults who file must provide medical records that indicate three things: 1) They have a severe impairment; 2) Their impairment in ongoing, and has lasted or is expected to last for a period of not less than 12 months; and 3) That their impairment is severe enough to prevent them from earning the current SGA at their current job or at any other job. While meeting the disability non-medical criteria is pretty straightforward, it can be far more difficult to satisfy the medical requirements. Medical records can be subjective—how they are interpreted depends largely on who is reading them. A disability examiner may decide that a claimant’s medical records don’t prove that the impairment is both severe and ongoing, or that they don’t prove that a claimant can’t perform other jobs, even when it is clear that the claimant is no longer able to perform in his current position. About 70% of all initial disability applications are denied, and 85% of first appeals (if your application is turned down you have the right to file an appeal called a request for reconsideration) are denied as well. However, even if your application and reconsideration appeal are not successful, you could still qualify for disability benefits if you stick with it and file a second appeal. This second appeal is decided by a federal administrative law judge at a hearing for disability benefits, and disability judges are more likely to approve cases than the disability examiners who work for social security. Approximately half of all social security disability denials are overturned by judges, and when claimants are represented by a disability lawyer or non-attorney legal representative at their hearing, the approval rate is even better. Sixty percent of claimants who appear at their hearing with legal representation will be approved for disability benefits. 
Social Security Disability and SSI Disability Information
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