Waco Social Security Disability FAQs

Finding Your Way in a Difficult Time

Serious health problems can turn your life upside down. You can’t work. You face overwhelming medical bills. You don’t know how you’re going to support yourself.

Social Security Disability benefits provide monthly checks and a chance to reclaim your sense of independence and dignity.

But if you need Social Security Disability benefits, you have a lot of questions. Social Security has thousands of rules for deciding who wins benefits. Most people get denied and need to appeal the decision.

At the office of Merryl Jones, Second Chance Lawyer, we want to be a resource to help you find your way through this difficult time. So we’ve gathered answers to common disability questions and put them on this page.

Keep reading to learn more about how the disability system works.

Or to learn more about your specific situation, contact us for a free evaluation of your claim.

Common Social Security Disability Questions

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) calculates the size of your monthly checks using a formula that considers how much you made when you worked and how long you paid into the Social Security system through your work. Your exact payment will depend on your individual situation.

The maximum possible benefit was set at $2,861 per month in 2019. The average benefit people received was $1,234.

Another kind of benefit—Supplemental Security Income (SSI)—for people with limited incomes, resources and work history pays the same amount for everyone, totaling $771 for individuals and $1,157 for couples in 2019.

Winning Social Security Disability benefits is a great help in providing for your day-to-day expenses when you can’t work due to health problems. But you still have high costs for medical care—costs that you can’t handle on a limited income and would be hard to afford even if you were still working.

This is where Medicare helps.

Medicare is the government’s health insurance program for retired people. But it’s also for people receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. When you qualify for SSDI, you also qualify for Medicare.

There is a waiting period, however. You become Medicare eligible on the 30th month after the official onset date of your disability. In some ways, though, the wait might not be as bad as it looks. You’ll have time credited to that 30 months for the period you spent waiting to be approved for benefits.

Applying for Social Security Disability benefits requires filling out a lot of forms and providing evidence that your health problems make it impossible for you to work. You’ll need to submit reports from your medical treatment and records of your education and work history. You’ll need all your paperwork to be complete and correct, to reduce your risk of getting denied. On top of all this work, you’re not feeling your best.

This is why we recommend working with a disability attorney. Your attorney can take the burden off you and make sure your application is strong.

In a Social Security Disability claim, you’re the one who has to prove that you can’t work because of your health problems. Social Security has thousands of rules for deciding this. You want an attorney who works with this system every day and knows it in depth.

And perhaps the most important reason to get a disability attorney is to improve your chances of winning benefits. Most people get denied. But a government study found people who had representatives in their disability hearings were almost three times more likely to win benefits.

In fact, the United States Supreme Court even found that having an attorney is so important that it now requires disability judges to tell people without lawyers that their chances are much better with an attorney.

When you can’t work due to bad health, and money is a struggle, affording an attorney to help you secure Social Security Disability benefits can feel impossible. But thankfully, the Social Security Administration and disability attorneys like Merryl Jones understand this. The payment system for attorneys is designed to make this process easier for you.

First, you don’t pay any attorney fee until you win benefits. Second, when you win benefits, the attorney fee comes out of your back pay. Social Security awards back pay to compensate you for the time you waited before getting approved for benefits.

It automatically sends payment to your attorney from this back pay, so nothing comes out of your pocket up front. And in most cases, the amount your attorney can receive from your back pay is limited to 25 percent, and no more than $6,000.

More Questions about Social Security Disability?

At the office of Second Chance Lawyer Merryl Jones, we’ve gathered detailed answers to many common questions about Social Security Disability benefits.

To help you navigate through this system, read more on these topics:

Applying for Social Security Disability benefits, or appealing a denial, is daunting.

But Merryl Jones and her legal team help Texans through the process every day.

Your second chance starts now.

Talk to Us About Your Case.

Waco Social Security Disability FAQs

Finding Your Way in a Difficult Time

Serious health problems can turn your life upside down. You can’t work. You face overwhelming medical bills. You don’t know how you’re going to support yourself.

Social Security Disability benefits provide monthly checks and a chance to reclaim your sense of independence and dignity.

But if you need Social Security Disability benefits, you have a lot of questions. Social Security has thousands of rules for deciding who wins benefits. Most people get denied and need to appeal the decision.

At the office of Merryl Jones, the Second Chance Lawyer, we want to be a resource to help you find your way through this difficult time. So we’ve gathered answers to common disability questions and put them on this page.

Keep reading to learn more about how the disability system works.

Or to learn more about your specific situation, contact us for a free evaluation of your claim.

 

Common Social Security Disability Questions

Q: How Much Does Social Security Disability Pay?

A:Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) calculates the size of your monthly checks using a formula that considers how much you made when you worked and how long you paid into the Social Security system through your work. Your exact payment will depend on your individual situation.

The maximum possible benefit was set at $2,861 per month in 2019. The average benefit people received was $1,234.

Another kind of benefit—Supplemental Security Income (SSI)—for people with limited incomes, resources and work history pays the same amount for everyone, totaling $771 for individuals and $1,157 for couples in 2019.

Q: How Do I Get Medicare with Social Security Disability?

A: Winning Social Security Disability benefits is a great help in providing for your day-to-day expenses when you can’t work due to health problems. But you still have high costs for medical care—costs that you can’t handle on a limited income and would be hard to afford even if you were still working.

This is where Medicare helps.

Medicare is the government’s health insurance program for retired people. But it’s also for people receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. When you qualify for SSDI, you also qualify for Medicare.

There is a waiting period, however. You become Medicare eligible on the 30th month after the official onset date of your disability. In some ways, though, the wait might not be as bad as it looks. You’ll have time credited to that 30 months for the period you spent waiting to be approved for benefits.

Q: Why Should I Hire a Social Security Disability Attorney?

A: Applying for Social Security disability benefits requires filling out a lot of forms and providing evidence that your health problems make it impossible for you to work. You’ll need to submit reports from your medical treatment and records of your education and work history. You’ll need all your paperwork to be complete and correct, to reduce your risk of getting denied. On top of all this work, you’re not feeling your best.

This is why we recommend working with a disability attorney. Your attorney can take the burden off you and make sure your application is strong.

In a Social Security disability claim, you’re the one who has to prove that you can’t work because of your health problems. Social Security has thousands of rules for deciding this. You want an attorney who works with this system every day and knows it in depth.

And perhaps the most important reason to hire a disability attorney is to improve your chances of winning benefits. Most people get denied. But a government study found people who had representatives in their disability hearings were almost three times more likely to win benefits.

In fact, the United States Supreme Court even found that having an attorney is so important that it now requires disability judges to tell people without lawyers that their chances are much better with an attorney.

Q: What Does It Cost to Hire a Social Security Disability Attorney?

A: When you can’t work due to bad health, and money is a struggle, affording an attorney to help you secure Social Security disability benefits can feel impossible. But thankfully, the Social Security Administration and disability attorneys like Merryl Jones understand this. The payment system for attorneys is designed to make this process easier for you.

First, you don’t pay any attorney fees until you win benefits. Second, if you win benefits, the attorney fees come out of your back pay. Social Security awards back pay to compensate you for the time you waited before getting approved for benefits.

The Social Security Administration automatically sends payment to your attorney from this back pay, so nothing comes out of your pocket up front. And in most cases, the amount your attorney can receive from your back pay is limited to 25 percent, and no more than $6,000.

 

More Questions about Social Security Disability?

At the office of Merryl Jones, Second Chance Lawyer, we’ve gathered detailed answers to many common questions about Social Security disability benefits.

To help you navigate through this system, read more on these topics:

Applying for Social Security disability benefits, or appealing a denial, is daunting.

But Merryl Jones and her legal team help Texans through the process every day.

Your second chance starts now.

Talk to Us About Your Case.