I received the letter today telling me that I've qualified for disability. Everyone's been telling me that I'd get turned down the first time, have to get a lawyer, months and months of trying, etc. Yeah, six weeks, and I didn't even have to fill out the Work History Report or the Fuction Report.

Anyway, the letter states that I qualify five months after my injury and they are sending a check for February through December of last year. In fact, it's already in my bank account.

Here's my concern - I went back to work full-time in February and worked up through October. A friend of mine, who is on disability, told me that I can make as much money as I want the first two years. Is that true? I plan on checking this all out next week, but I'd like to hear from some of you that are more familiar with disability.

Brad is in the process of doing his 'working quarters?' to be accepted onto disability. He's got a weird way he has to go about doing this because of some other issues. But my understanding of disability or at least in Brad's case is that he will NOT be able to go back to work once he has been put on disability. Maybe it's different for different people?? I don't know, but I don't see how that would be very fair would it?

You are allowed a trial work period, I think 6 months....... If you make over 750 a month, be prepared to prove expenses and lose your disability......

Jim

That is weird. According to what I've been reading, your case is reviewed every five years. It seems to me that he'd be (at least) eligible to try and return to the workforce eventually.

The trial period is nine months. I didn't realize this before, but I was back to work full-time in February and lost my job in October - nine months.

What do you mean by 'disability'? Social Security Disability Insurance, SSDI? Or SSI, Supplemental Security Income?

I receive SSDI and a Disability Retirement Annuity from my previous/last employer, the U. S. Postal Service, a Federal agency. The earning limits rules are different for each.

If you receive SSDI, you should have gotten information and guidelines explaining how much you can earn without losing or taking a reduction in benefits.

I'm talking about SSDI. I spoke with my local SS office yesterday and they said that the case worker who made the decision has her dates all wrong. There's a chance that they didn't factor in that I was working during the period in question. I'll know more in the next couple of days, but for now, it's under review.

As it's been explained to me, I can make up to $700 per month - no questions asked. If I make more than $980 per month my benefits are reduced according to how much I'm making for up to six months, at which time I lose my benefits. So, the person who told me I can make as much as I want for the first two years is wrong (which I suspected).

Once I get this all straightened out I'll have to work on unemployment. I've been collecting since November. If I get SSDI for that time I might have to repay the unemployment.

Yes, it's kind of a flukey deal. I became a quad in 1965. I worked full-time from 1980-1995 when I had to take a Disability Retirement from the Postal Service due to health issues unrelated to my accident. After the initial waiting period, I received SSDI and a Disability Retirement Annuity payment each month. I can't collect both fully, so there is an off-set they worked out. The earnings rules are different for each; you pointed out SSDI's rules. My Postal Retirement is more generous, I can earn up 80% of my former annual salary before I'm considered 'restored to earning capacity' and lose the payment.

Since I'm now 61 and the economy is in the crapper, I see no point in trying to find a job. If I could find something that fit my skill set and that I could do at home part-time, I'd be more than happy to try it.

Anyone know of any legit work-at-home situations?

After you have received any benefits from your insurance or any annuity your insurance would like you to file for social security. It is going to be a long process with social security, usually for young people because of earning credits history. For those who got denied by first try, you need to revoke why you got denial which is required by insurance. I believed after 3 trials specifically under insurance rules you should entitled all benefits under your contract with insurance. Assume that you have received some money from SSDI, SSI, this willl be subtracted from your insurance. You will not get full benefits from both.

Be careful when taking money and working at the same time. You definitely want to read the fine print or speak to your disability case worker. I got supplemental social security while I was in college. After I graduated, I got a job that was very low paying, barely was able to cover my expenses with my wage and with the sssi checks, yet when I met my case worker for my yearly meeting, I had to pay back every cent of sssi for the time I was working, it was about $1500.00. That was a slap in the face. Since that day I have not taken any money from the federal or state government out of pride and fear that someday I might have to pay it back. So, for the past 12 years I've been doing it on my own without assistance, there were lean times but I think I became more resourceful and active as a result. Long story short, talk with someone who is an expert or an "official" in this area before you get in too deep.

Tom

u cant make any money on ssi, ssdi they let u make 700 bucks, no questions asked really, but u have to stay under there limit! u can alos take off clothes, vehicle, gas any expense acrewed while working, this can come off your gross so u can make 1000 a month and take off 300 of expences.......big difference between ssi and ssdi.............

They sure don't make it easy,,, but, then,, I guess if they did,,, everyone with a disabled parking placard would be be eligable,,, and you know how many of them are out there.
ed

If I find one I'll let you know. I've used Elance.com for writing projects, but everytime I turned around they were charging me for something. They even charged me for bidding on a job.

I'm currently looking at Sologig and DayJobFinder. I'm not necessarily recommending them, however.

I hear ya, Tom. I wasn't thrilled about filing for SSDI. I'd like to think that I'm still capable of earning a living and SSDI is less than half what I can make as a Technical Writer.

And your warning is not without merit. I learned yesterday that SS used the wrong dates for my claim. They took the date of my injury instead of the date I became unemployed. Sooooooooo, I have to pay it all back now and I won't be getting any SSDI benefits until April. Which means my COBRA will run out 11 months before I qualify for Medicare. We're hoping my wife's new job will have health insurance for me to cover that period. We'll see.

Technical writer, eh? In what field? Free-lancer/contractor? I had a heavy IT/Mainframe Applications programming background.

it's just crazy that we cant work for a living and keep our dissability, it doesnt make any since, they would pay us anyway, but we would pay back into the system the whole time and our living conditions would be astronomically better....it just doesnt make any since to me........i'm talking about full blown, never gonna get out of a wheelchair kind of dissability......but u got to command obama, at least there going to do stem cell reseach on new injuries i read.........shame its been to long for most i know........

Software Development. Mostly User Guides, Online Help, Readme files, etc. I also did some work on corporate standards and procedures for Ford's CMMS3 program, which is a mainframe app that they use for parts and logistics management.

I've done quite a bit of HTML, CSS, and Java Script, even some XML. However, most of the Web Development jobs are more back-end, e.g., .NET, PHP, SharePoint, etc.

No one mentioned long term disability insurance. What I paid into through my company until my sci. Now I get about 1/3 my pay through SSI and 2/3 through my Insurance coverage. But it's more than $700 from SSI, and no one said anything about my paying this back. I just turned 40, and I was told it'll be like this (receiving my checks) until I'm 61. Then I'll get it all from SSI. . . . if it's not completely tapped out by then.

I thought I was going to have the same problem with my COBRA running out early but you can get an extention on COBRA as long as you can prove your disabled. Just call your provider and fax over your determination letter that was sent to you from SSDI and you can get 11 more months on COBRA covered. Thats what I did and it saved my butt.

That's good to know. Thx Doug!