When Do Social Security Disability Payments Start?

Under the law, your Social Security Disability payments cannot begin until you have been disabled for at least five months. Payments usually start with your sixth month of disability.

When Social Security tells you that you will be receiving disability benefit payments, the notice explains how much your disability benefit will be and when your payments start.

NOTE: If your family members are eligible for benefits based on your work, they will receive a separate notice and booklet.

How long payments continue

Generally, your disability benefits will continue as long as your medical condition has not improved and you cannot work. Benefits will not necessarily continue indefinitely. Because of advances in medical science and rehabilitation techniques, many people with disabilities recover from serious accidents and illnesses.

Your case will be reviewed at regular intervals to make sure you are still disabled. You are responsible for reporting if your medical condition improves, if there is any change in your ability to work or if you return to work.

If you disagree with a decision we make

If you have any questions about your payment amount or any other information we may send you, please contact us. If you disagree with a decision we make, you have the right to appeal the decision.

Your request must be in writing and delivered to any Social Security office within 60 days of the date you receive the letter containing our decision.

If you still are not satisfied, there are further steps you can take. Ask for the publication, Your Right To Question The Decision Made On Your Claim (Publication No. 05-10058).

You have the right to hire an attorney or anyone else to represent you. This does not mean you must have an attorney or other representative, but we will be glad to work with one if you wish. For more information about getting a representative, ask for the publication, Your Right To Representation (Publication No. 05-10075).

When and how your benefits are paid

Social Security benefits are paid each month. Generally, the day on which you receive your benefit depends on the birth date of the person on whose work record you receive benefits. For example, if you receive benefits as a retired or disabled worker, your benefit will be determined by your birth date. If you receive benefits as a spouse, your benefit payment date will be determined by your spouse’s birth date.

Date of birth
Benefits paid each month on

1st - 10th
Second Wednesday

11th - 20th
Third Wednesday

21st - 31st
Fourth Wednesday

 

Direct deposit

If you did not sign up for direct deposit when you filed for disability benefits, we strongly encourage you to do it now.

Direct deposit is a simple, safe and secure way to automatically receive your benefits. Contact your bank, savings and loan or credit union to help you sign up. Or you can sign up for direct deposit by contacting us.

If you do not have an account, you may want to consider an Electronic Transfer Account. This low-cost federally insured account lets you enjoy the safety, security and convenience of automatic payments. You can contact us or visit the website at www.eta-find.gov to get information about this program, or to find a bank, savings and loan or credit union near you offering this account.

If you receive your checks by mail

If your check is not delivered on its due date, wait three workdays before reporting the missing check to us. The most common reason checks are late is because a change of address was not reported.

If your check is ever lost or stolen, contact us immediately. Your check can be replaced, but it takes time.

To be safe, you should cash or deposit your check as soon as possible after you receive it. You should not sign your check until you are at the place where you will cash it. If you sign the check ahead of time and lose it, the person who finds it could cash it.

A government check must be cashed within 12 months after the date of the check or it will be void. After a year, if you are still entitled to the payment, we will replace the voided check.

 

If you receive certain other government benefits such as workers' compensation, public disability benefits or pensions based on work not covered by Social Security (for example, government or foreign employment), the Social Security benefits payable to you and your family may be reduced.

For more information about these benefits and how they can affect your Social Security payments, see the following:

How Workers' Compensation And Other Disability Payments May Affect Your Social Security Benefit

Disability payments from private sources, such as private pension or insurance benefits, do not affect your Social Security disability benefits.

However, workers’ compensation and other public disability benefits may reduce your Social Security benefits. Workers’ compensation benefits are paid to a worker because of a job-related injury or illness. They may be paid by federal or state workers’ compensation agencies, employers or by insurance companies on behalf of employers.

Other public disability payments that may affect your Social Security benefit are those paid by a federal, state or local government and are for disabling medical conditions that are not job-related. Examples are civil service disability benefits, military disability benefits, state temporary disability benefits and state or local government retirement benefits that are based on disability.

If you receive workers’ compensation or other public disability benefits and Social Security disability benefits, the total amount of these benefits cannot exceed 80 percent of your average current earnings before you became disabled.

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Some public benefits do not affect your Social Security disability benefits

If you receive Social Security disability benefits and one of the following types of public benefits, your Social Security benefit will not be reduced:
• Veterans Administration benefits;
• State and local government benefits, if Social Security taxes were deducted from your earnings; or
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

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Figuring the reduction

Your monthly Social Security disability benefits, including benefits payable to your family members, are added together with your workers’ compensation or other public disability payment.

If the total amount of these benefits exceeds 80 percent of your average current earnings, the excess amount is deducted from your Social Security benefit.

Example: Before you became disabled your average current earnings were $4,000 a month. You, your spouse and your two children would be eligible to receive a total of $2,200 a month in Social Security disability benefits. However, you also receive $2,000 a month from workers’ compensation. Because the total amount of benefits you would receive ($4,200) is more than $3,200 (80 percent of your average current earnings), your family’s Social Security benefits will be reduced by $1,000.

Your Social Security benefit will be reduced until the month you reach age 65 or the month your other benefits stop, whichever comes first.

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How we determine your average current earnings

We use different formulas to calculate your average current earnings. Which formula we use depends on your specific circumstances. Contact us for information about how your average current earnings were calculated.

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Be sure to report changes

If there is a change in the amount of your other disability payment or those benefits stop, let us know.

It is very important that you tell us if the amount of your workers’ compensation or other public disability payment increases or decreases. Any change in the amount of these benefits is likely to affect the amount of your Social Security benefits.

If you get a lump-sum disability payment

If you get a lump-sum workers’ compensation or other disability payment in addition to or instead of a monthly benefit, the amount of the Social Security benefits you and your family receive may be affected.

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Contacting Social Security

For more information, visit our website at www.socialsecurity.gov or call toll-free 1-800-772-1213 (for the deaf or hard of hearing, call our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778). We can answer specific questions and provide information by automated phone service 24 hours a day.

We treat all calls confidentially. We also want to make sure you receive accurate and courteous service. That is why we have a second Social Security representative monitor some telephone calls.

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Your Social Security retirement or disability benefits may be reduced

If you work for an employer who does not withhold Social Security taxes from your salary, such as a government agency or an employer in another country, the pension you get based on that work may reduce your Social Security benefits.

The “windfall elimination provision” affects how the amount of your retirement or disability benefits is calculated if you receive a pension from work where Social Security taxes were not taken out of your pay. A modified formula is used to calculate your benefit amount, resulting in a lower Social Security benefit.

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When your benefits may be affected

The windfall elimination provision primarily affects people who earned a pension from working for a government agency and also worked at other jobs where they paid Social Security taxes long enough to qualify for retirement or disability benefits. It also may affect you if you earned a pension in any job where you did not pay Social Security taxes, such as in a foreign country.

An important point: If you are a federal employee, the windfall elimination provision will affect you only if you are getting a Civil Service Retirement System pension. It will begin with the first month you get both a Social Security benefit and the CSRS pension.

This provision affects Social Security benefits when any part of a person’s federal service after 1956 is covered under the CSRS. However, federal service where Social Security taxes are withheld (Federal Employees’ Retirement System or CSRS Offset) will not reduce your Social Security benefit amounts.

Your Social Security will be reduced if:
• You reached 62 after 1985; or
• You became disabled after 1985; or
• You first became eligible for a monthly pension based on work where you did not pay Social Security taxes after 1985, even if you are still working.

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Why is a different formula used?

Your Social Security benefits are reduced because Social Security benefits were intended to replace only a percentage of a worker’s pre-retirement earnings. The way Social Security benefit amounts are figured, lower-paid workers get a higher return than highly paid workers. For example, lower-paid workers could get a Social Security benefit that equals about 55 percent of their pre-retirement earnings. The average replacement rate for highly paid workers is about 25 percent.

Before 1983, people who worked in jobs not covered by Social Security received benefits that were computed as if they were long-term, low-wage workers. They received the advantage of a higher percentage of benefits in addition to their other pension. Congress passed the windfall elimination provision to eliminate this advantage.

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How does it work?

Social Security benefits are based on the worker’s average monthly earnings adjusted for inflation. This is a complex formula. If you do not understand it, let us know, and we will be happy to help you. We separate your average earnings into three amounts and multiply the amounts using three factors. For example, for a worker who turns 62 in 2004, the first $612 of average monthly earnings is multiplied by 90 percent; the next $3,077 by 32 percent; and the remainder by 15 percent.

The 90 percent factor is reduced in the modified formula and phased in for workers who reached age 62 or became disabled between 1986 and 1989. For those who reach 62 or who became disabled in 1990 or later, the 90 percent factor is reduced to 40 percent.

There are exceptions to this rule. For example, the 90 percent factor is not reduced if you have 30 or more years of “substantial” earnings in a job where you paid Social Security taxes. See the first table that lists the amount of substantial earnings for each year. If you have 21 to 29 years of substantial earnings, the 90 percent factor is reduced to between 45 and 85 percent.

The second table shows the percentage used depending on the number of years of substantial earnings.

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Year
Substantial
Earnings

1937-50

$ 900

1951-54

 900

1955-58

1,050

1959-65

1,200

1966-67

1,650

1968-71

1,950

1972

2,250

1973

2,700

1974

3,300

1975

3,525

1976

3,825

1977

4,125

1978

4,425

1979

4,725

1980

5,100

1981

5,550

1982

6,075

1983

6,675

1984

7,050

1985

7,425

1986

7,875

1987

8,175

1988

8,400

1989

8,925

1990

9,525

1991

9,900

1992

10,350

1993

10,725

1994

11,250

1995

11,325

1996

11,625

1997

12,150

1998

12,675

1999

13,425

2000

14,175

2001

14,925

2002

15,750

2003

16,125

2004

16,275

 

Years of Substantial
Earnings
Percentage

30 or more

90 percent

29

85 percent

28

80 percent

27

75 percent

26

70 percent

25

65 percent

24

60 percent

23

55 percent

22

50 percent

21

45 percent

20 or less

40 percent

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Some exceptions

The windfall elimination provision does not apply to survivors benefits. It also does not apply if:
• You are a federal worker first hired after December 31, 1983;
• You were employed on December 31, 1983, by a nonprofit organization that did not withhold Social Security taxes from your pay at first, but then began withholding Social Security taxes from your pay;
• Your only pension is based on railroad employment;
• The only work you did where you did not pay Social Security taxes was before 1957; or
• You have 30 or more years of substantial earnings under Social Security.

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...and a guarantee

If you get a relatively low pension, you are protected. The reduction in your Social Security benefit cannot be more than one-half of that part of your pension based on your earnings after 1956 from which Social Security taxes were not deducted.

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Contacting Social Security

For more information, visit our website at www.socialsecurity.gov or call toll-free 1-800-772-1213 (for the deaf or hard of hearing, call our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778). We can answer specific questions and provide information by automated phone service 24 hours a day.

We treat all calls confidentially. We also want to make sure you receive accurate and courteous service. That is why we have a second Social Security representative monitor some telephone calls.

A law that affects spouses and widows or widowers

If you receive a pension from a federal, state or local government based on work where you did not pay Social Security taxes, your Social Security spouse’s or widow’s or widower’s benefits may be reduced. This fact sheet provides answers to questions you may have about the reduction.

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How much will my Social Security benefits be reduced?

Your Social Security benefits will be reduced by two-thirds of your government pension. In other words, if you get a monthly civil service pension of $600, two-thirds of that, or $400, must be deducted from your Social Security benefits. For example, if you are eligible for a $500 spouse’s, widow’s or widower’s benefit from Social Security, you will receive $100 per month from Social Security ($500 – $400 = $100).

If you take your government pension annuity in a lump sum, Social Security still will calculate the reduction as if you chose to get monthly benefit payments from your government work.

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Why will my Social Security benefits be reduced?

Benefits we pay to wives, husbands, widows and widowers are “dependent’s” benefits. These benefits were established in the 1930s to compensate spouses who stayed home to raise a family and who were financially dependent on the working spouse. But as it has become more common for both spouses in a married couple to work, each earned his or her own Social Security retirement benefit. The law has always required that a person’s benefit as a spouse, widow, or widower be offset dollar for dollar by the amount of his or her own retirement benefit.

In other words, if a woman worked and earned her own $800 monthly Social Security retirement benefit, but she was also due a $500 wife’s benefit on her husband’s Social Security record, we could not pay that wife’s benefit because her own Social Security benefit offset it. But, before enactment of the Government Pension Offset provision if that same woman was a government employee who did not pay into Social Security, and who earned an $800 government pension, there was no offset and we were required to pay her a full wife’s benefit in addition to her government pension.

If this government employee’s work had instead been subject to Social Security taxes, any Social Security benefit payable as a spouse, widow or widower would have been reduced by the person’s own Social Security retirement benefit. In enacting the Government Pension Offset provision, Congress intended to ensure that when determining the amount of spousal benefit, government employees who do not pay Social Security taxes would be treated in a similar manner to those who work in the private sector and do pay Social Security taxes.

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When won’t my Social Security benefits be reduced?

Generally, your Social Security benefits as a spouse, widow or widower will not be reduced if you:
•
Are receiving a government pension that is not based on your earnings;
•
Are a state or local employee whose government pension is based on a job where you were paying Social Security taxes
?
on the last day of employment and your last day was before July 1, 2004;
?
during the last five years of employment and your last day of employment was July 1, 2004, or later (Under certain conditions, fewer than five years may be required for people whose last day of employment falls between July 1, 2004, and March 2, 2009.);
•
Are a federal employee, including Civil Service Offset employee, who pays Social Security taxes on your earnings (A Civil Service Offset employee is a federal employee who was rehired after December 31, 1983, following a break in service of more than 365 days and had five years of prior civil service retirement system coverage.);
•
Are a federal employee who elected to switch from the Civil Service Retirement System to the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) on or before June 30, 1988. If you switched after that date, including during the open season from July 1, 1998, through December 31, 1998, you need five years under FERS to be exempt from the Government Pension Offset.;
• Received or were eligible to receive a government pension before December 1982 and meet all the requirements for Social Security spouse's benefits in effect in January 1977; or

• Received or were eligible to receive a federal, state or local government pension before July 1, 1983, and were receiving one-half support from your spouse.

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What about Medicare?

Even if you do not receive cash benefits based on your spouse’s work, you still can get Medicare at age 65 on your spouse’s record if you are not eligible for it on your own record.

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Can I still get Social Security benefits from my own work?

The offset applies only to Social Security benefits as a spouse or widow or widower. However, your own benefits may be reduced because of another provision of the law. Contact us for the publication, Windfall Elimination Provision (Publication No. 05-10045).

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Contacting Social Security

For more information, visit our website at www.socialsecurity.gov or call toll-free 1-800-772-1213 (for the deaf or hard of hearing, call our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778). We can answer specific questions and provide information by automated phone service 24 hours a day.

We treat all calls confidentially. We also want to make sure you receive accurate and courteous service. That is why we have a second Social Security representative monitor some telephone calls.

 

edicare Coverage If You're Disabled

 

 

Disability Planner Home

How to Qualify

How to Apply

You're Approved

Other Factors

Family Benefits

Benefit Calculators

 

We automatically enroll you in Medicare after you get disability benefits for two years. Medicare has two parts--hospital insurance and medical insurance.

 

Hospital insurance helps pay for inpatient hospital bills and some follow-up care. The taxes you paid while you were working financed this coverage, so it is free.

 

Medical insurance helps pay doctors' bills, outpatient hospital care and other medical services.You will need to pay a monthly premium for this coverage if you want it.

 

Most people have both parts of Medicare.

Go to the next page to see information about help for low-income Medicare beneficiaries.

If you get Medicare and have low income and few resources, your state may pay your Medicare premiums and, in some cases, other Medicare costs for which you are normally responsible such as deductibles and coinsurance.

Only your state can decide if you qualify for this assistance. To find out if you do, contact your state or local welfare office or Medicaid agency.

For more general information about the program, ask Social Security for the brochure, Don't miss out on your turn for Medicare savings! (CMS Publication No. 10126).

Go to the next page for information about taxes on your benefits.

 

SSI Federal Payment Amounts
Updated October 16, 2003

Background
Maximum Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payment amounts increase with the automatic cost-of-living increases that apply to Social Security benefits. The latest such increase, 2.1 percent, becomes effective January 2004.

SSI amounts for 2004
The maximum Federal amounts for 2004 are $564 for an eligible individual, $846 for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse, and $282 for an essential person. For past values, please see our table of historical SSI payment amounts.

In general, monthly amounts for the next year are determined by increasing the unrounded annual amounts for the current year by the COLA effective for January of the next year. The new unrounded amounts are then each divided by 12 and the resulting amounts are rounded down to the next lower multiple of $1.

Calculation details

Recipient(s)
Unrounded annual amounts for—
Monthly amounts for 2004

2003
2004 a

Eligible individual
$6,633.23
$6,772.53
$564

Eligible couple
9,948.73
10,157.65
846

Essential person
3,324.22
3,394.03
282

a The unrounded amounts for 2004 equal the unrounded amounts for 2003 increased by 2.1 percent.

Payment reduction
The monthly amount is reduced by subtracting monthly countable income. In the case of an eligible individual with an eligible spouse, the amount payable is further divided equally between the two spouses. Some States supplement SSI benefits.