Hi (again) Sonny,

I have no words of wisdom to convince the disability co that you CAN'T work. The problem is obviously that their docs say you are only 75% disabled. YOUR doc says 100% so that's what I'd go by. I would consider "trying" to find a job. If you can get to an interview, explain ALL of your limitations. No offense, but would you hire you ? If they don't hire you, you still "tried", right ?

To try to explain the whole WC, disability ins, and SSDI payments/pay back.......For SSDI, the government looks at it as a monthly % of what you used to make based on your years of service. The goal is to try to keep your head above water, but not to supply a luxurious livestyle. Forms that you receive every few years from the SSA indicate what your 'amount' is if you retire and survivors benefits for kids if you die, etc. If your amount is $1000 per month that is what your monthly checks 'should' be for. If you are receiving $800 per month from other public disability programs (like WC), SSDI may be lowered.

SSDI/disability total income cannot be more than 80% of what you made pre injury. That includes your family benefit from SSDI and all other public disability payments you get.

Do you have kids ? Using my made up numbers from above.....if you get $1000 per month for SSDI and have 2 kids under 18 that are your dependents, they would (together) get 50% of your benefit....so each kid would get $250 per month.

All together you 'could' be getting $1000 (your ssdi), $800 (other disability), $250 (kid a) and $250 (kid b) for a total of $2300/month

BUT.......

Again....making up numbers, say you used to make $2000/month. 80% of that is $1600. SSDI will adjust your numbers down so that your total disability income will be $1600/month instead of the $2300.

Further complicating your case is the WC money. Do you know if it is specifically earmarked for future loss of wages or were you just assuming that ? If it is free for you to spend, different states do it differently, but in Mass they spread of that $50,000 over so many years and determine that it is, say, $300 a month......and then that gets deducted too from your SSDI to keep your total at $1600. If the WC settlement is for future medical, that's a whole different deal and can be written into a medical trust so it is just used for medical bills and wouldn't affect your SSDI total, but you would have to spend down that amount before utilizing MC for any medical bills related to your WC.

Regarding the 'payback' issue.....that differs by state and what the disability program is too. I was just WC in Mass. I did not have to pay WC back, but my backpay amount was lessened to reflect that I had already received some 'pay' during that time period. My kids backpay amount was decimated by that factor, so they just got small amounts. Sounds like in your case maybe you will get ALL the backpay 'awarded' and the payback comes from that. I think SSA sends the money to them after deducting from your total.

*sigh*

So....there ya go....clear as mud, huh ?