| Roger Russell 2006-03-27, 12:04 am |
| Marnia,
Disability (ssdi) is formulated on the highest year of income in
the past 7 previous years. That's fine, like you point out if you
had a couple of really good years to pay in to those 'quarters' that
they need. It worked for me, in my case. I was doing great and had
sudden onset, and had paid in enough quarters. I even had a date I
had the onset. But even I had to get an attorney and fight for my
benefits, they tried every trick in the book including turning me
down and trying to tell me to reapply. I didn't, I appealed their
decision so I didn't loose the back benefits for the period we were
contesting.
When we're sick, not thinking well, and too tired to make calls
or write letters is the most important time when it comes to these
benefits. It's sad when people pay in, and get shafted when they
need the help.
Roger
On Mar 26, 2006, at 2:49 PM, Marnia He Sapa wrote:
> Okey Dokey, I stand corrected regarding Social Security Disability
> Insurance/Income (SSDI), however Social Security Supplemental
> Insurance/Income (SSI) is designed for citizens who never
> themselves paid into Social Security at all: it was intended for a
> number or categories of folks, among them wives of wage-earners
> whose husbands died after they'd begun recieving Social Security
> payments at retirement. Remember, it was started in the 30's. It
> is not uncommon for a person who receives small SSDI payments to
> also receive really tiny SSI payments. There are pretty sober
> restrictions on what a person can otherwise own, mostly in the
> liquid assets category: they don't make you sell your house or a
> car (if it's worth less, I think, than $5000 now). Cash, you can't
> have more than $2,000 in any given month total. I doubt that
> figure has been changed in the last 30 years, regardless of
> inflation. As I receive no payments from my state, I have no idea
> how any of that works. Perhaps it is pure stubbornness on my part,
> but Meredith grew up, got her education, got a job and then fell so
> ill she eventually couldn't work. Like many of us, she kept
> plugging long after she was, by SSA criteria, disabled totally:
> she could not work a normal job, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. She
> kept pushing till, for all practical purposes, collapse. It's a
> common story in our CFS community. Meredith acted in good faith,
> as an adult, and went down fighting. The SSA is often clunky and
> seemingly hostile to citizens who apply for benefits due to
> disability, but once the citizen is getting benefits, they seem
> reliable and timely with payments. The other weird thing about
> SSDI is that it seems to be designed for disablity due to sudden
> injury: they ask what date you became disabled. For most people
> with complex diseases, that is a period of time, perhaps over
> years, and is confusing even for doctors. Also, it is designed for
> people who are become suddenly disabled at their greatest earning
> power: for those of us who, like Meredith, have struggled on while
> earning less and less, the formula for payments becomes punitive.
> It's a deeply flawed system, but it's what we've got and I still
> think she ought to make it work for her. In any event, best to
> all, Marnia
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