there are no monetery limits with ssd only with ssdi which as the other poster has mentioned is $2000.00 for a single person and it's a little bit more for a married person....

Gilbert, The income/asset qualification limits go with SSI, there are no such limits with SSDI. The acronym SSD isn't used and tends to confuse matters.

When I qualified for dissability, I got social security. That was after a hearing. I did not get a big check as I had to quit my career. The check was small enough that I could not have lived anywhere. Therefor I applied for SSDI. Social security dissability income. I was told I could not keep more than 2000, to qualify. So I am indeed confused. This was my lawyer who told me that. ginnie:

The acronyms are absoultely confusing.

Title II of the Social Security Act (starting in 1936 and continually modified) authorized benefit payments for retirement, survivor, and disability. These benefits are both earned and funded by payroll taxes, called FICA or OASDI or Social Security/Medicare (depends on employer). All those benefits are based on the amount of years a person worked and the amount of FICA taxes paid on those earnings. Disability benefits under Social Security are computed the same way as retirement and survivor benefits. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a subcategory under Title II. There are no resource limits for any Title II benefit, including SSDI, no restrictions on bank accounts. These benefits can even be subject to income tax, depending upon the other income received.

Title XVI of the Social Security Act (started in 1974) provided for a federal program called Supplemental Security Income (SSI) which pays benefits for people who are disabled, blind or over 65 and who have limited income and resources. SSI payments are in no way based on years a person has worked or taxes paid. Some recipients have never held a single job, never worked. Others have worked but at low wages or sporadically so that the SSDI benefits is not very high and there is no other pension.

These are the two programs, SSDI (T2) and SSI (T16), administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). Way way too many letter 'S' in these acronyms (IMO) which leads to the confusion.

SSI and SSDI have two things in common. First, both applications are filed for and administered by the Social Security Adminstration so sometimes the same employee works on both applications. Second, both programs use the same definition of disability and require the same medical proof standard. But other than the finding of disability, the program requirements are very different.

As i mentioned in my previous post there are no monetery limitations with SSDI,only SSI..i hope by me adding the extra I at the end of SSD helps clear up this matter...gil...

to recap and put simply

ssdi=no monetary restrictions
ssi=$2,000 limit on assets excluding home and one car.

ginnie it sounds like you qualified for ssdi and then since that amount was low enough you also qualified for ssi to bring you up to a mininum amount of payment. ssi also qualifies you for medicaid. so its the ssi and medicaid that have income limits not ssdi. if your income went over the limits you would lose the ssi portion but not the ssdi portion of your monthly payment.

Ginny,

When you say you qualified for disability, we are assuming that you mean SSDI. Then you say that check was so small, you applied for SSDI......which you alreay had.

Your story makes more sense if, as ELA has suggested, your SSDI amount was small enough that you also qualified for SSI.

It complicates threads with other poster's questions when you claim that you had to meet asset restrictions for SSDI, because that is just not the way the system works. It is easy to confuse the acronyms. We can all see it happening in many threads on this forum. Your supportive comments to those in pain and desperately waiting for disability help are appreciated by so many here. Keep up the good work ! Know that the corrections on Social Security Administration facts don't diminish your contributions and obvious desire to help others.

Well I sure am confused. will call my lawyer to get a handle on this. What I was told, is different than what I hear now. ginnie