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Word
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Definition
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Administrative Law Judge
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Administrative Law Judge: A Judge who specializes in Administrative proceedings, such as Social Security Disability hearings.
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Alleged Onset Date:
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Alleged Onset Date: the date in which you become disabled or unable to work due to medical conditions.
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Date of Last Insured
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Date of Last Insured: Some people have what is known as a “Date of Last Insured” with regard to SSD. This means
they may have not filed a timely application for benefits, didn’t pay into the system long enough, etc. In this
case, the SSA would send you a letter stating, “We did not find that you became disabled on or before X date, the
date in which you were last insured for purposes of receiving SSDI benefits.” This means that your conditions have to have been disabling on or before X date in order to recover.
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Medicaid
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Medicaid is a state administered program and each state sets its own guidelines regarding eligibility and
services. There are stringent restrictions in order to receive Medicaid. These may include your age, whether you
are pregnant, disabled, blind, or aged; your income and resources (like bank accounts, real property, or other
items that can be sold for cash); and whether you are a U.S. citizen or a lawfully admitted immigrant. The rules
for counting your income and resources vary from state to state and from group to group. There are special rules
for those who live in nursing homes and for disabled children living at home.
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Medicare
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Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over, or who are disabled for at least two years and five months.
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Past Relevant Work:
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Past Relevant Work: the work you have performed 15 years prior to your onset of disability, lasting more than three months at any given time.
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Social Security Administration
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Social Security Administration: the Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the United
States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement,
disability, and survivors' benefits.
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Social Security Disabled/Disability
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Social Security Disabled/Disability: Social Security has their own definition of what being “disabled” is. It means that you have an impairment, or combination of impairments, that has lasted or is expected to last at least one full year. You must not be able to engage in ANY form of employment (or substantial gainful activity as you will hear it called).
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Substantial Gainful Activity
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Substantial Gainful Activity: o be eligible for disability benefits, a person must be unable to engage in substantial gainful activity (SGA). A person who is earning more than a certain monthly amount (net of impairment-related work expenses) is ordinarily considered to be engaging in SGA. The amount of monthly earnings considered as SGA depends on the nature of a person's disability. The Social Security Act specifies a higher SGA amount for statutorily blind individuals; Federal regulations specify a lower SGA amount for non-blind individuals.
Both SGA amounts increase with increases in the national average wage index. Amounts for 2009
The monthly SGA amount for statutorily blind individuals for 2009 is $1,640. For non-blind individuals, the monthly SGA amount for 2009 is $980. SGA for the blind does not apply to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, while SGA for the non-blind disabled applies to Social Security and SSI benefits. (Source: ssa.gov).
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Trial Work Period
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Trial Work Period: During a trial work period, a beneficiary receiving Social Security disability benefits may test his or her ability to work and still be considered disabled. We do not consider services performed during the trial work period as showing that the disability has ended until services have been performed in at least 9 months (not necessarily consecutive) in a rolling 60-month period. In 2008, any month in which earnings exceed $670 is considered a month of services for an individual's trial work period. In 2009, this monthly amount increases to
$700. (Source: ssa.gov).
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