SLEDGE: What is the difference between SSI and disability?

Q: What is the difference between Social Security disability and SSI disability?

A: I’ve found this to be a very common area of confusion. It’s not unusual even for people who are receiving the benefit to be confused about which one they’re getting. Maybe it’s because people often associate Social Security with retirement benefits, which would seem to imply that SSI must be the disability benefit.
The Social Security Administration is in fact responsible for two different disability programs. The first, Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI, began in 1954 as an addition to the retirement and survivors program. As with all Social Security benefits, SSDI benefits are financed with the Social Security taxes paid by workers, employers (who match their employees’ tax contributions) and those who are self-employed. To be eligible for SSDI, just as for retirement benefits, the worker must have paid enough taxes into the Social Security system to have “insured status.” Unlike retirement benefits, though, which for everyone requires 40 work credits to be insured, the number of credits needed for disability eligibility varies, depending upon the age at which disability began; younger workers who become disabled, for example, are not required to have as many credits as older workers. Finally, how much the benefit payment will be depends on the amount of tax contributions made by the worker — the more he earns, the more taxes he’ll pay and in turn, the larger the benefit amount will be.

Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, is a program that was created in 1972 when Congress federalized the state-administered programs for needy aged, blind and disabled individuals. The majority of SSI recipients receive these benefits based on disability. But SSI benefits, unlike the SSDI benefits, are financed with general tax revenues. There is no work requirement; instead, entitlement is based on financial need. SSI disability benefits are payable to adults or children who are disabled or blind, have limited income and resources and meet the living arrangement requirements. And unlike SSDI, where the benefit amount depends on the individual worker’s earnings record, SSI payments are based on standard amounts depending on one’s living arrangement. This standard amount will generally be reduced by other income the beneficiary receives.

The one thing SSDI and SSI have in common, though, is that entitlement to both depends upon a finding that the claimant meets our definition of disability. By law, SSA requires that the claimant for disability benefits be found to have a medical impairment or impairments so severe as to prevent him or her from performing substantial, gainful work activity, and which has either lasted for at least 12 months, or is expected to last for at least 12 months, or is expected to end in death.

For more on the SSDI and SSI disability programs, go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov. Under “Publications” you will find booklets specifically dealing with these two important benefit programs of the Social Security Administration.