SSDRC

Filing an Application for Disability Benefits

Social Security Disability List of Impairments

Social Security Disability and SSI Back pay

Social Security Disability Status

SSI Disability Benefits

Social Security Disability and SSI Requirements

Social Security, SSI, and Mental Disability

How Long Does It Take To Get Disability Benefits?

Qualifying: What do you Need to Prove to Qualify for Disability?

How Far Back Can SSI Back Pay Be Paid?

Supplemental Security Insurance disability, or SSI as it is more commonly known, is a social assistance disability program that is administered BY the Social Security Administration. And, like most social assistance programs potential, benefits are controlled by the date a person files for the assistance.

Social Security considers the date a person first contacted Social Security for a disability interview to be their protected date of filing. This is important because it generally takes a few days or even a few weeks to get an appointment to file for disability benefits.

SSI back pay can become a substantial amount simply because of the nature of the disability process. Once a person completes their disability application, their claim is sent to a state agency (DDS, or disability determination services) that is responsible for making disability decisions for Social Security. Most initial disability decisions take an average of 100 days for a decision to be made unless the person has:

A) a terminal illness

B) A condition that is considered a fast track for an approval (QDD or quick disability decision)

C) They have conditions that are on the compassionate allowance list.

Unfortunately, only about three percent of all disability cases are any of the above listed exceptions to the average disability case processing time.

If a person’s initial disability claim is denied, they must file an appeal if they still wish to pursue their claim for SSI benefits. Social Security allows sixty-five total days from the date of the denial notice to receive an appeal. Once the appeal is completed, it is forwarded back to the state disability agency for a reconsideration of the initial denial.

Reconsideration appeals generally take an average of sixty days to receive a decision. If the reconsideration appeal is denied, the claimant can file a request for an administrative law judge hearing.

The wait time for an administrative law judge hearing is the longest of the disability claim processing levels. It can take months or even years for a person to be scheduled for a hearing before an administrative law judge. Social Security is working to shorten the wait time, but with record numbers of individuals appealing their disability claims to administrative law judges, it can still be a very long wait for a hearing.

If a person has to appeal their disability claim all the way to an administrative law judge hearing, they are realistically looking at an average of 18 months or more before they are approved for SSI disability benefits (provided they win their disability hearing).

However, even if it takes this amount of time to be approved for SSI disability benefits, Social Security will back pay a person to the date they first contacted Social Security for their disability claim.