If you get Social Security disability benefits do you get Medicare or Medicaid?

How to prove you are disabled
and win disability benefits

Both the social security disability and SSI disability programs have some provision for medical coverage. But those provisions are very different from each other. If you get approved for SSI disability, then you will receive medicaid benefits.

Medicaid may vary between individual states since medicaid benefits are state-supported (though the states receive money from the federal government to fund their medicaid programs). But medicaid will generally pay for a certain minimum number of prescriptions per month and doctor visits per year.

For example, in the state of North Carolina, medicaid for disabled adults will pay for up to six prescriptions per month and 24 doctor visits per year.

Individuals who approved for SSI disability will receive medicaid from the time they are approved for SSI. There is no waiting period. This is not the case for individuals who are approved for social security disability benefits.

Claimants who are approved for SSD, or social security disability benefits will receive medicare instead of medicaid. But they may not necessarily have medicare available from the moment they are approved for social security disability. This is because SSD has something known as the two year waiting period for medicare.

What does it mean when we say "two year waiting period for medicare". This means that a person's determined eligibility for social security disability benefits must be in existence for 24 months before medicare will "kick in" so to speak.

Does this always mean that a person who has been approved for SSD (perhaps, for example, after a hearing before a judge) will have to wait two entire years before they utilize medicare? Not necessarily. The two year medicare waiting period begins at the point in time at which a person is actually eligible to receive a social security disability check.

However, because the established onset date for a person's disability (i.e. when the disabling condition began according to the social security administration's interpretration of the medical records) can often be set very far back in time, and additionally because disability claims can take several years to resolve, it is often the case that the two year waiting period is completed by the time a person receives the notice of award for their disability claim.

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Topics and Questions

How do you Win Benefits under Social Security Disability?

Will Social Security Follow The Opinion Of my Doctor And Approve My Disability Claim?

If Social Security Turns Down My Case Can I apply For Disability A Second Time?

If You Get Disability Benefits, Will Your Dependents Get A Check?

Can You File For Disability While Receiving Unemployment?

Do the Results of the Social Security Psychological Exam have any Bearing on Being Approved?

List of Impairments for Social Security Disability and SSI Benefits

Has my Disability Claim Been Approved?

Applying for disability benefits in Texas

Is Social Security required to give you a decision on your disability case in a certain amount of time?

Can I Get SSDI Disability If I have Not Worked Before?

What should you say if you go to a Social Security Exam?

Filing for Social Security disability does not have to be difficult - How to File for Disability

Can you appeal a Social Security disability claim denial if the deadline has passed ?

Will Being A Veteran Affect Your Eligibility And Chances For Social Security Disability?

Who Do You Call Or Contact For Your Social Security Disability Status or SSI Update?

How will Social Security find you disabled?

What kind of cases win disability benefits ?

Will I Qualify For SSI, How Do I Get Approved?

The Difference Between Social Security Disability and SSI Really Involves Work Activity

How much does Disability Pay?

Social Security Administration Physical Consultative Exam (CE)

Once an individual applies for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability

Will You Be Denied For Disability If Your Records Indicate You Can Return To Work?

Does The Social Security Judge Use The Same Rules As The Disability Examiner?

Hiring a Qualified Disability Lawyer in Colorado

Why Are Child SSI Cases Often Turned Down By Social Security Examiners?

Still Waiting For My Social Security Disability Decision?

SSD and SSI are Federal Programs

The title II Social Security Disability and title 16 SSI Disability programs operate under federal guidelines and, therefore, the program requirements--medical and non-medical--apply to all states:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Recent approval and denial statistics for various states can be viewed here:

Social Security Disability, SSI Approval and Denial Statistics by state

Special Section: Disability Lawyers and unnecessary claim denials