1.

What is the basic definition of "adult disability?"

In order to prove that you are disabled you must be unable to perform any "Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA)" by reason of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment that has lasted or is expected to last a continuous period of at least 12 months or result in death.  There are exceptions to this general rule (of course), for example, for individuals who are able to perform SGA, but who qualify for benefits under Social Security's Medical-Vocational Guidelines.

2.

What is "Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA)?"

The Social Security Administration defines "Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) as "...work activity that is both substantial and gainful:

(a)

Substantial work activity. Substantial work activity is work activity that involves doing significant physical or mental activities. Your work may be substantial even if it is done on a part-time basis or if you do less, get paid less, or have less responsibility than when you worked before.

(b)

Gainful work activity. Gainful work activity is work activity that you do for pay or profit. Work activity is gainful if it is the kind of work usually done for pay or profit, whether or not a profit is realized.

(c)

Some other activities. Generally, we do not consider activities like taking care of yourself, household tasks, hobbies, therapy, school attendance, club activities, or social programs to be substantial gainful activity.

3.

What does it mean to be insured for Disability Insurance Benefits?

Whether you are insured for Disability Insurance Benefits depends upon your age and how much you earned prior to becoming disabled. The Disability Insurance Benefit (DIB) program of the Social Security Administration pays DIB benefits if you are proven disabled and you, or the wage earner upon whose account your claim is based, have paid enough total quarters of coverage (or "credits") and have earned a sufficient number of these quarters of coverage prior to becoming disabled. One earns quarters of coverage by paying Social Security taxes. For the year 2009, for example, $1,090 of gross, pre-tax, earnings gets you one quarter of coverage. Here is some basic information about quarters of coverage from SSA's website -http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/QC.html.

You may be eligible for Disability Benefits (also called SSDI, DIB or Title II benefits) if you can show that you became disabled prior to the expiration of your Date Last Insured (or other date if you have applied for Disabled Widow's or Widower's Benefits or Disabled Adult Child's Benefits).  Here is a link to SSA's website regarding being insured for benefits - http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/insured.html.

Check with the Social Security Administration to see what your Date Last Insured is and consider talking to an attorney to help guide you through this process. You should also inquire whether or not you are eligible to receive Supplemental Security Income benefits.

4.

Why is it taking so long to receive my past due Disability Insurance Benefits?

If you have applied for Disability Insurance Benefits (also called Social Security Disability Benefits) and have won your claim and are entitled to and awaiting your past due benefits, sometimes the past due benefits are delayed because the Social Security payment center responsible for paying the past due benefits is waiting for information from the local Social Security office as to whether or not you received SSI (Supplemental Security Income) benefits and in what amount.  Even if you are not entitled to SSI benefits, sometimes this is the reason that Disability Insurance benefits are delayed.

If one of my client's past due benefits are delayed, I will determine the payment center responsible for paying the claim and contact them to see whether or not they received the SSI information and whether or not the Windfall Offset Computation has been done.  This is an offset that may apply to the past due DIB benefits because of the receipt of or entitlement to SSI benefits.  If the payment center tells me that they do not have the Windfall Offset information from the local Social Security office, I will contact the local office and make sure that they have appropriately communicated with the payment center so that the past due Disability Insurance Benefits can be released.

Claimants do not have access to the payment center information so they can contact their local Social Security office to determine what is the reason for the delay and to request that any issue be quickly resolved.

Another possible reason for the delay in receiving past due Disability Insurance Benefits is simply the backlog of cases awaiting payment.

As we continue to develop and expand this new website, we will be posting more and more questions and answers.  Thank you for reading and for your patience.