About Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
The Social Security Disability Insurance (“SSDI”) program pays benefits to individuals with qualifying disabilities who worked long enough, recently enough, and paid Social Security taxes. In other words, there are 2 parts to determining eligibility;
- if you are "insured" under SSDI, and
- if your disability is severe enough.
Determining SSDI Eligibility
Who is considered "insured" under SSDI?
As stated above, to qualify for SSDI (to be "insured"), you need to have paid enough into Social Security and recently enough.
You can find out directly from the Social Security Administration (SSA) if you have worked long enough.
SSA determines this with “Work Credits”, aka “Social Security credits”, aka “Quarters of coverage” (QC), aka “Quarters”. They’re called “Quarters” because you can earn up to 4 per year.
Work Credits, or Quarters of Coverage, are based on earnings rather than hours worked. The dollar amount you need to earn changes every year, just to make things extra complicated (actually because of inflation, but it seems more like a mean trick). In 2022 for example, you earned 1 Work Credit for every $1,510 earned, up to 4 credits. You can find this year's dollar amount on the SSA website.
Let’s break down how many Work Credits you need:
Quick links
Unsure what to do next? Just give us a call or request a Free Consultation!