http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/OASDIbenies.html
In December 2008, over 9.3 million people received Social Security disability benefits
9.3 million people with disabilities, their spouses and children
7.4 million disabled workers under the full retirement age
1.9 million spouses or dependent children of disabled workers
870,000 disabled adult children of workers who are dead, retired or disabled
230,000 disabled widows or widowers of deceased workers
A second display since those numbers do not add to reach 9.3 million
Since 1956, the Social Security program has provided cash benefits to people with disabilities.
In December 2008, over 8.5 million people received Social Security disability benefits as disabled workers, disabled widow(er)s, or disabled adult children.
8.5 million people with disabilities, their spouses and children
7.4 million disabled workers under the full retirement age
1.1 million spouses or dependent children of disabled workers
(870,000 disabled adult children of workers who are dead, retired or disabled
and 230,000 disabled widows or widowers of deceased workers)
When the disabled worker reaches the full retirement age (currently between 65-67 years) SSDI ends and benefits are automatically converted to retired-worker benefits.
Disabled workers who do not have a sufficient employment history to be covered by SSDI may qualify for assistance from SSI. Supplemental Security Income payments were another source of income for about 1 out of 6 disabled beneficiaries. Also, for some disabled workers, SSDI can be supplemented by SSI if the SSDI monthly benefit is less than the amount a disabled worker would receive under SSI ($623 per month in 2008). At the end of 2007, about14 percent of SSDI disabled worker beneficiaries had incomes low enough to qualify for SSI. About 84 percent of recipients of Supplemental Security Income, or, in of December 2008, approximately 6.3 million people, received federally administered payments on the basis of a disability.
As of December 31, 2008, 154.5 million workers—over three-fourths of the U.S. workforce—are insured for disability benefits through SSDI should they become permanently disabled and unable to work and support themselves and their families.
For the purposes of SSDI disability means a person is unable “to engage in any substantial gainful activity.”
Social Security pays benefits only for total disability; it does not pay benefits for partial disability or for short-term disability. Meeting the insured requirement means that a person must have worked long enough—and recently enough—under Social Security and have a Social Security–defined disability. The number of work credits (quarters of coverage) a person needs to qualify for benefits depends on the individual’s age when he or she becomes disabled.
To address disabled workers’ needs for health insurance, Medicare benefits were extended to SSDI beneficiaries in 1972.46 People receiving SSDI benefits are eligible for the full range of benefits that Medicare provides—hospital care, physician services, prescription drugs— but coverage begins only after a two-year waiting period. After the waiting period, SSDI beneficiaries keep their Medicare coverage for as long as they remain disabled.
Although SSDI is available to workers of all ages, the criteria change at age 50, when greater consideration is given to vocational factors—that is, the ability of an older, disabled worker to take a desk job after decades of more physical work. The regulations relate age, education, and past work experience to the individual’s residual functional capacity to perform work-related physical and mental activities, with rules which are specifically designed to help older, less educated individuals by easing the standards for certain applicants.
DI provides monthly cash benefits that replace a portion of the earnings that are lost when a person can no longer work because of a disability. Benefits are based on an individual’s past earnings (up to an annual maximum), with higher replacement rates for lower wage workers. In 2008, disabled worker beneficiaries received an average monthly benefit of $1,063.10. Beneficiaries receive inflation-protected benefits as long as they remain disabled.
