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1 1 (October 7, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govegxp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing th legisIlive deAme sinceo 1914 Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Overview 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 eligible 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 or self-employment. The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers OASDI. Eligibaity Requirements 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 2020, SSDI provided disability insurance protection to 156 million workers. That year, about 89% of covered workers aged 21-64 had sufficient work experience to qualify for SSDI in the event of disability. To meet the statutory definition of disability, a worker 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 2021, the SGA earnings limit for most workers is $1,310 per month. In general, workers must have severe impairments that prevent 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 worker lives, nor must a specific job vacancy exist for the individual. Unlike workers' compensation (WC) or the Department of Veterans Affairs programs, SSDI does not pay benefits for partial or short-term disabilities. Updated October 7, 2021 Spouses of disabled workers qualify for SSDI 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 SSDI benefits if they are unmarried and (1) under age 18, (2) aged 18-19 and a full- time student in grade 12 or below, or (3) aged 18 or older and became disabled before age 22. Cash an d Med ical Benefits In August 2021, Social Security provided $10.8 billion in benefits to 9.4 million SSDI beneficiaries, including 8.0 million disabled workers, 100,000 spouses of disabled workers, and 1.3 million children of disabled workers (Table 1). The average monthly SSDI benefit was $1,281 for disabled workers, $359 for spouses of disabled workers, and $401 for children of disabled workers. Table 1. SSDI Beneficiaries, August 2021 Total Average Monthly Number Monthly Benefits Beneficiary (thousands) Benefit (millions) Total 9,386 $1,152 $10,816 Disabled 8,021 $1,281 $10,274 Workers Spouses 100 $359 $36 Children 1,265 $401 $507 Source: Social Security Administration (SSA), Monthly Statistical Snapshot, August 2021, September 2021, Table 2. Notes: Components may not sum to totals due to rounding. Initial benefits for workers are based on their career- average earnings in covered employment or self- 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. The benefit for a spouse or child of a disabled worker is up to 50% of the worker's basic benefit amount. Following entitlement, SSDI 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. SSDI benefits may be offset if disabled workers also receive WC or certain other public disability benefits and the combined amount of their SSDI and other disability benefits exceeds 80% of their average current earnings before they became disabled. SSDI benefits begin five full consecutive months after a worker's disability onset date. This requirement is known

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