SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY CLAIMS

History Of The
​Social Security Act

​In August of 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law saying ​
"We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age."
The Social Security Act created a number of different benefits, funded by contributions from workers via taxes.  These include retirement income, medical care via Medicare, income for widows of workers, and two benefits for the disabled – Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits (SSDIB) or Social Security Supplemental Income (SSI).  ​

The idea of Social Security was to create benefits for workers at the end of their life (retirement, both early with reduced benefits or full at a later age). But those in power realized that there would be workers whose body, due to injuries and illness, could not make it to early or full retirement, or whose health issues prevented them from maintaining employment.  And thus SSDIB & SSI were born.  

Social Security Disability
​Social Security Disability (SSDIB) is based upon a worker paying into the fund, but now finding themselves unable to work for a year or more, or who have a injury or illness that will likely claim their lives in the next year.  To be eligible, workers must have sufficiently paid into the Social Security System Twenty out of the last Forty Quarters (20/40), essentially five out of the last ten years before they became disabled.  The source of injuries or illnesses are not specific to any cause, so it can be congenital issues, a disease they were infected with, workplace injuries, a result of a personal injury, etc.  And workers’ are allowed to receive both SSDIB & workers’ compensation.  There is an offset under Social Security Disability Law for workers’ compensation. A cap is set based upon the time frame just before a worker becomes disabled.  

Along with monetary assistance, two years and five months after being found disabled, the SSDIB recipient will also receive medical care assistance from Medicare for themselves and their families.  

Social Security Supplemental Income (SSI) is a disability insurance for those who have not sufficiently paid into the system to received SSDIB.  Because of that, it is needs based as well.  To receive SSI, the recipient must not only show that they are disabled, but they are financially in need.  And income from other sources, e.g. workers’ compensation or a family member’s employment or assets, can prevent someone from receiving this benefit.  

After the initial decision, which is based upon a grid system, where age, education, job skills from the last 15 years of employment and the impairments from all health issues are considered, go through a long, technical appeals process.  Unlike the informal hearings of workers’ compensation, hearings before the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of Hearings and Appeals are very formal.  

THE EXPERIENCE & SKILL  YOU NEED 

Thanks to our combined resources with the Law Offices of Russell Gerney, who serves as Of Counsel with our office as well, we can help out workers who can't quite get to the finish line of retirement or who are temporarily unable to work for a year or more.  

Kurt Young has handled hundreds of Social Security cases  since 1993.  But our greatest resource on this is Russell Gerney.  Social Security Disability represents the majority of his practice.  Russell Gerney is able to represent Social Security disability claimants in all 50 states as well as all US territories.

Changes in the law have made it more difficult for persons to obtain disability benefits without help from an attorney. Working together with The Law Offices of Russell Gerney, we are able to assist persons with filing initial applications, appeals, appearances before Administrative Law Judges and filing appeals to the federal courts.

There are no fees unless the client receives benefits. Fees are limited by Federal law. Contact us now for a no cost, obligation evaluation of your case.  We are ready to help you get where you need to go with what was promised to us all.