Indiana Disability Lawyers

Types of Social Security Disability Benefits for People in Indiana

Before you try to win disability benefits, you need to know there are different types of benefits with different eligibility requirements.

You may qualify for:

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): These benefits are meant for people who worked and paid into Social Security before health problems made it impossible to hold a job. It was created to provide fairness and support for people who paid Social Security taxes but are forced to stop working before retirement.

Social Security calculates monthly SSDI payments based on your past earnings. SSDI recipients can also enroll in Medicare after a waiting period.

In some cases, children of qualifying workers can also receive SSDI benefits.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI): These benefits are need-based, meaning a significant work history isn’t required.

SSI instead has strict limits on assets you can own. Individuals receiving SSI can’t have financial resources (other than a primary residence and one car) totaling more than $2,000. Couples can’t have more than $3,000 in assets.

SSI recipients can receive medical coverage through Medicaid as soon as they are approved for benefits.

Disabled adult child (DAC) benefits: These are for adults who have suffered from health problems from a young age and don’t have much work history.

If one of their parents worked and paid into Social Security enough to qualify for SSDI or retirement, “a disabled adult child” can receive disability benefits based on their parent’s record. This won’t affect the parent’s existing disability or retirement benefits.

The Fletcher Van Gilder Indiana disability attorneys can help you determine which benefits you might qualify for.

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Why is it Difficult to Win Social Security Disability Benefits in Indiana and Nationally?

Most people get denied Social Security Disability benefits at least once because Social Security has strict standards.

You need to confirm these three things:

• You can’t work at your current or latest job, and it’s because of your health problems.
• Switching jobs or careers isn’t an option.
• Your disabling health condition will last 12 months or more.

An experienced Indiana Social Security Disability Lawyer can guide you through this.

A big issue for many applicants is how tough it is to show you can’t work any job at all.

Social Security has a measurement known as residual functional capacity (RFC) that it uses to determine the maximum work-related activity you could still handle with your physical or mental health impairments.

Social Security breaks different types of work into categories of intensity, ranging from sedentary to very heavy.

As an example, for someone whose job required physical labor before they applied for disability, a claims examiner could classify their job as heavy work.

They could acknowledge that the applicant has health issues, but then decide the worker has an RFC that still allows light or sedentary work. That can mean a denial.

Showing you can’t work any job is going to be a key part of your disability application.

For most people, the best chance to win benefits is when they appeal a denial and testify in a hearing with a disability judge.

While an overwhelming majority of people are denied when they first apply, almost 60% who went to hearings in Indiana won approval, according to recent data from Social Security.

The different hearing offices across the state had slightly different results—55% approved in Evansville, 58% in Valparaiso, 60% in Fort Wayne and 61% in Indianapolis.

Even though this may be your best opportunity to win benefits, you can see it’s still a challenge.

When you need to appeal a denial and attend a hearing, it’s a crucial time to work with a skilled disability lawyer who can help present your arguments for benefits at this key moment.

Our Indiana Social Security lawyers identify and help you gather the information you need to succeed.