Social Security Steals From You Even Before You File for Disability

How Social Security Uses Its Disability Rules to Cheat You

Did you know that you are forced to pay for a disability insurance plan through your payroll taxes? That’s right, it’s called Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and if you’ve worked 5 out of the last 10 years as a W-2 employee then you’re covered. You are paying too much for this so-called “policy” and it’s how Social Security steals from you. Let’s look at the cost, then look at comparable private long term disability coverage.

If you make $100,000 per year then you and your employer pay around $16,000 per year for this disability insurance. Approximately 15% of that, or $2,400, is allocated to pay for the SSDI policy. A high-end long term disability insurance policy for someone making $100,000 per year only costs between $1,000-$3,000 per year. As you can see, an SSDI “policy” costs about as much as a high-end LTD policy. So we’re getting what we pay for, right? Wrong! Social Security is giving you the worst long term disability policy in the universe for top dollar. The culprit is Social Security’s method for determining who is disabled. It’s called the 5-step process.

What Are the 5 Steps Social Security Uses to Decide a Disability Claim?

Social Security denies most Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims when they are first filed. SSA uses a 5-step process to adjudicate claims, and that’s where they suck the money out of most workers that pay into the system. Here are the 5 steps, and which ones are to blame:

Step One: Are You Working Full Time?

Step One in the Social Security Five Step process is supposed to ensure that working people don’t take advantage of disability benefits that they don’t need. Under Social Security Administration (SSA) rules, you’re not disabled if you’re working and making more than about $18,000 per year. So making $19,000 a year, for example, would be considered full-time work even if you’re working part-time hours. The SSA goes much further than any private Long Term Disability (LTD) policy, and that’s one of the ways Social Security steals from you.

Private LTD policies are much more liberal: there’s no maximum dollar amount that defines full-time vs. part-time work. Private policies are triggered on a percentage basis, as opposed to the SSA’s set dollar amount of $18,000 per year. “Full time work” is usually defined as 80% of a work week, so most people working less than 4 out of 5 days per week due to a disability would get benefits under the policy.

So, for example, say that a person with a $100,000 per year salary while healthy is paying $3,000 per year for a private disability policy. If that person becomes partially disabled he would be able to make $50,000 and collect $50,000 under the policy. Under Social Security rules, however, the same person making $100,000 per year is paying at least $2,400 per year for the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) “policy”. That person would only be able to make $18,000 of wages per year and collect an average of $36,000 per year in SSDI benefits. What a rip-off! But we’re not done, not only do you get less money, you also get denied if your disability doesn’t last long enough.

Step Two: You Must Have a 12-Month Disability 

SSA rules dictate that your claim must be denied if your disability lasts, or is expected to last, less than 12 months. In a coma for 11 months then back to work in month 12? Sorry, you’re out of luck, the SSA would deny your case with a smile, and they’d be right. Under their rules, anyway. Private LTD policies have different rules, however. Under almost all LTD policies you only have to be disabled for 6 months before benefits kick in. Social Security takes more of your money for much less coverage. But it doesn’t end there.

Step Three: Do You Meet One of the Listing of Impairments 

If you have met Steps One and Two, then your SSDI case gets approved if you meet any of the SSA Listing of Impairments. Any of these impairments would likely also get you approved for LTD benefits, so this step is irrelevant to our subject matter.

Step Four: Can You Do Your Past Work?

Step Four is another opportunity for the SSA to take money directly from your pocket. For someone to get private LTD benefits they need to be disabled from only their most recent job. The SSA requires you to be disabled from not only your most recent job but also all of your jobs in the last 15 years. 

For example, a truck driver has a very physical job and can become disabled due to a back surgery. He would likely get private LTD benefits regardless of his previous work. SSA, however, would look at his prior work history. If he were a dispatcher within the last 15 years, his SSDI case would likely be denied due to that sedentary work experience. That’s not fair, but it gets worse.

Step Five: Can You Do Any Job in the National Economy?

Here is a step that both private LTD policies and SSDI rules have in common, but is one of the ways Social Security steals from you. In both cases, you aren’t disabled if you can do any job in the national economy that you are suited for. The difference is this: private LTD policies give you 24 months of benefits before you’re not disabled anymore, and SSDI gives you zero months of benefits. Let me explain with an example.

Say the truck driver in the last example had never been a dispatcher. He is 45 years old and has to get back surgery, which keeps him out of work for 3 years. If he has a private LTD policy, there is very little doubt that he would receive 24 months of benefits then be cut off unless he could prove that he can’t even work a desk job. In order to get even 1 month of SSDI benefits, on the other hand, he would have to prove right away that he can’t do a desk job. After back surgery, proving you can’t be a truck driver is relatively easy. Proving you can’t do a desk job is very much more difficult. Again we see that the SSA has basically stolen 24 months of benefits from this truck driver, who paid into the system for decades. 

What Can You Do About It?

Almost every citizen of the United States is paying too much for a terrible disability “policy” called SSDI. What can someone do if they’ve been victimized by the SSA’s dishonesty? If you got denied under Step One or Step Two, you’re probably out of luck. There is really no gray area there, and only Congress and the President can change these rules. 

If you got denied under Steps Four or Five, a lawyer could help prove that you can’t work any kind of job due to your medical condition. Contact Baltimore Social Security Disability Lawyer Emmett B. Irwin by clicking here. Remember, our main office is located in Baltimore but we serve clients up and down the East Coast.

This article originally appeared on ebilaw.com