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1 1 (February 20, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govcabb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 01;0 , r'E S-..-, - , .. ,, - Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is part of the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, commonly known as Social Security. OASDI is a federal social insurance program that provides monthly cash benefits to insured workers and their family members in the event of the worker's retirement, disability, or death. Workers obtain insurance protection by working for a sufficient number of years in jobs covered by Social Security. The program's SSDI component provides benefits to nonelderly insured workers who experience severe, work-limiting disabilities and to their eligible spouses and children. As with Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Social Security's retirement and survivors component benefits are based on a worker's past earnings in covered employment. The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers OASDI. To qualify for SSDI, workers must (1) be below Social Security's full retirement age (FRA), (2) be insured in the event of disability, and (3) meet the statutory definition of disability. FRA is the age at which unreduced Social Security retired-worker benefits are first payable, which is 65-67, depending on year of birth. Workers who have attained their FRA are ineligible for SSDI. To be insured in the event of disability, workers must have worked in jobs covered by Social Security for about a quarter of their adult lives and for at least five of the 10 years prior to the onset of disability. However, younger workers may qualify with less work experience based on their age. In 2019, SSDI provided disability insurance coverage to 156 million workers; about 89% of covered workers aged 21-64 were insured for SSDI that year. To meet the statutory definition of disability, workers must be unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity (SGA) due to any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that is expected to last for at least one year or to result in death. SSA uses an earnings threshold to determine whether an individual's work activity constitutes SGA, which the agency adjusts annually for average wage growth. In 2020, the SGA earnings limit for most workers is $1,260 per month. In general, workers must have a severe impairment (or combination of impairments) that prevents them from doing any kind of substantial work that exists in significant numbers in the national economy, taking into consideration their age, education, and work experience. The work need not exist in the immediate area in which the claimant lives, nor must a specific job vacancy exist for the individual. Unlike workers' compensation (WC) or the Department of Veterans Affairs'(VA) programs, SSDI does not pay benefits for partial or short-term disabilities. p\w -- , gnom go mppm qq\ , q I aS 11LULANJILiN, Updated February 20, 2020 In addition to providing benefits to disabled workers, SSDI provides benefits to certain dependent family members. Spouses of disabled workers qualify for benefits if they are (1) aged 62 or older or (2) any age and care for an eligible child who is under age 16 or disabled. Children of disabled workers qualify for benefits if they are unmarried and (1) under age 18, (2) aged 18-19 and a full-time student, or (3) aged 18 or older and became disabled before age 22. In January 2020, Social Security provided benefits to 9.9 million SSDI beneficiaries, including 8.4 million disabled workers, 112,000 spouses of disabled workers, and 1.4 million children of disabled workers (Table 1), whereas Social Security provided benefits to 54.3 million OASI beneficiaries, most of whom were retired workers. Table I. SSDI Beneficiaries, January 2020 Total Average Monthly Number Monthly Benefits Beneficiary (thousands) Benefit (millions) Total 9,907 $1,122 $11,119 Disabled Worker 8,360 $1,258 $10,516 Workers Spouses 112 $362 $40 Children 1,435 $392 $562 Source: Social Security Administration (SSA), Monthly Statistical Snapshot, January 2020, February 2020, Table 2. SSDI benefits begin five-full consecutive months after a worker's disability onset date. This requirement is known as thefive-month waiting period. Initial benefits are based on a worker's career-average earnings in covered employment, indexed to reflect changes in national wage levels. The benefit formula is progressive, replacing a greater share of career-average earnings for low-wage workers than for high-wage workers. SSDI-entitled workers' benefits are generally adjusted each year to account for inflation through cost-of-living adjustments. Benefits for dependents are subject to family maximum provisions, which limit the total amount of benefits that can be paid on a worker's earnings record. Disabled workers who also receive WC or certain other public disability benefits may have their SSDI benefits (and those of their dependents) offset. In January 2020, the average monthly SSDI benefit for a disabled worker was $1,258, and the total amount paid to disabled workers and their dependents was $11.1 billion (Table 1). K~:>

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