I hope you read that title with the sarcasm infused in it.

I have so many well-meaning friends/family that say things like "Why don't you just go on disability?" If they weren't such wide-eyed innocents, I'd surely smack 'em.

They think you just wake up some morning deciding you don't feel like working any more, go to the "Disability Office", sign up (no doctor's note necessary), pick up your first check and a note for your boss.

You take the note to your employer, clean out your desk, and go happily on your way. All before 9:00 a.m. Easy-peasy. Golly, why didn't I think of that?

LOL, so true B2. When others still asked me that, I would answer them with my own question: "Since you're struggling to pay the orthodontist and make the boat payment, why don't you just go get a new job that pays $500,000 a year?"

Have ya ever gotten a response?

Blessings, praying for you the strength to make it to retirement. 30 years! What an accomplishment.

What they don't know is that private disabiltiy that comes from your employer is taxed. You do not get SSDI in addition to that. The private policy gets reimbursed when you qualify for SSDI.

It is not a cakewalk by any means to live on disability period!!

Also my employer's policy only covers one year of health insurance. If you can't come back to work, you have no insurance!!!

I literally dragged myself to work before the deadline and was declared partially disabled. I needed a doctors note to say I could go back to work with the following restrcitions, and the PT wrote a note that I had to use the elevator. This was not for MS, but a severe accident I had b/f dx of MS.

I am with you. I am trying to make it to full retirement, one way or another.

Just EXACTLY what I'm talkin' about, Starfish!

Some days I drag my sorry self home from work in tears, thinking "I just can't DO this any more!" It really is getting hard. But when I think about going through "the process", that looks really hard, too.

I THINK I can, I THINK I can...chug chug chug...

SSDI isn't easy to get, and really, they shouldn't base it on "previous earned income" after all, when your sick your sick, and alot of people can't work much to begin with. I had to leave a very high paying job due to my ms, and didn't know what it was at the time. Then they make you jump through hoops and get medical testing you can't even afford to prove you are disabled. The whole system over here is backwards. By the time you get benefits, you are in debt, and what they give you isn't enough to live on.

Good post B2Y! I'm not hijacking your post here, I too have the old "I can't do this anymore, but I can't do THAT either thing going on in my head...chug chug chug"

I have to add a few things for general information...cause I can!

Private disability is a policy that a person buys on their own. The person pays for it out of pocket. It is usually very expensive and most people don't buy them because of the cost. They are NOT taxable because they are purchased by the person out of pocket with after tax dollars. They normally DON'T have a payback clause and they are always paid in conjunction with SSDI. They are often sold as part of a total insurance package to young couples just starting out with a family. If you were smart enough to actually buy one of these policies and keep them in force, you are considered "lucky" in the disabled world!

Disability policies may be provided by an employer. That kind of disability policy IS taxable because the employer pays for it, so you DO have to pay income tax on it. These types of policies may or may not have to be paid back when SSDI comes through, depending on the type of policy or company requirements ( the actual insurance company that sells and holds the policy)

An employer sponsored policy is one that the employer agrees to sell but the employee pays for themselves. These are not taxable, again, because the employee pays for them out of pocket with after tax dollars. These may or may not have a payback policy (depending on the insurance company that sells and holds the policy)

SSDI is Social Security Disability Income. This is the policy that the government gives to people who have worked a certain amount of time and have a certain number of credits of work time (40 quarters). It is not taxable until one reaches a certain level of earned income above and beyond the actual policy benefit. There's a LOT of complicated rules for SSDI and earned income, and benefits may be offset by any earned income. I believe you get to keep 20% of your benefits at the very least.

SSI is Supplemental Security Insurance. This is the policy that the government gives to people who are disabled and don't have the required number of work quarters in, and people who are blind. It ain't much but it's better than nothing. You usually are eligible for other government benefits because of your low income level, like health care, food stamps, LIHEAP, Section 8 rental assistance, TANF if you have kids, WIC for women with infants and small children and other forms of private assistance from charities.

I found a lovely piece of information in my SS travels. If you retired early, say at 62, there is a little known clause that lets you pay back the benefits you received and start out as if you never retired early. There is no interest on that payback, just pay back the actual amount of benefits received and VOILA! Retire again at full benefits! This could work for people who retire early, then come into a large sum of money, who can afford to pay back the received benefits. It actually can work out in the person's favor, if you are in good health and can afford this!

If anyone has anything to add to this information, please do so...this information is very helpful to those of us who haven't had to deal with the whole mess yet! The only reason I know all of this is because I had to help my fiance when he became disabled.

If we can get it together with correct info, maybe we can have a sticky?

In order to qualify for SSI does a person have to be living in poverty? I would think that a lot of people with MS did not have the opportunity to work 40 quarters before having to quit and yet have a spouse that makes a decent amount of money.

Blessings,

Please keep on with your goal for retirement. My husband just retired with his 30 years in and he is really enjoying his new found freedom and getting paid without working to boot!

gmi

Making the decision is gruelling . . . but once you've made it (and depending on your coverage, etc.), it is something many of us have had wade through as some point.

What is stopping you?

Do you have STD and LTD, or would you be dependant on SSDI (or whatever it's called there ... ?).

Cherie

Actually, Cherie, I only have 14 months (and 14 days) left before I can retire with 30 years of service, so I am determined to get there if I possibly can.

I hope it didn't sound as if I was making light of having to go on disability. Just that so many people think that you can simply keep working until you "decide" to collect, then it's just as easy as 1-2-3.

I've heard so many horror stories of what folks have had to go through to get approved--doctors who won't cooperate, paperwork and red tape, waiting through months of no or little income, feeling frustrated and anxious, and then not always getting approved despite OBVIOUS disability.

I'm glad it's there in case I DO need to apply, but...I hope I don't.