Is Social Security Disability Giving Extra Money This Month?
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are essential government programs in the US that provide financial assistance to individuals who are disabled by injury or illness and are unable to work. The programs are designed to offer a stable source of income to those who qualify, helping them meet their basic needs. Whether the SSDI or SSI is giving extra money this month is a question that needs more explanation to answer. It may be that an extra payment is made by SSI in a given month, but that usually is merely a scheduling matter, not extra money.
The Keener Law Firm is devoted to providing individuals with disabilities and their families all the information they need to understand precisely what benefits they are entitled to receive. If you need to know if you qualify for SSDI or SSI, or you want to know more about your right to benefits, call our office anywhere in Georgia or elsewhere in the US. Our entire legal practice is committed to disability law and helping people with disabilities.
In this article, we will explore the key aspects of SSDI and SSI, including potential increases in benefits, cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), and other factors that influence changes in the frequency of your benefit payments.
SSI Payment Schedules
A few months each year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) sends out more than one SSI payment in a single month. While you may receive two SSI payments in one month, the money is not actually an “extra” payment.
Unlike SSDI, Social Security retirement, survivors’ payments, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program sends out payments on the first day of each month, unless the first of the month falls on a weekend or a holiday. When the first day of the month does fall on either a weekend or a holiday, the SSA sends out the SSI payment on the first day before first of the month that is neither a Saturday nor a holiday.
According to this schedule, if the first day of a month falls on a Sunday, then the new month’s SSI payment would be sent out on the preceding Friday even though you already received a payment on the first of that current month.
Other programs, including SSDI, survivors, and SS retirement benefits are sent out by their respective programs on different days of the month, depending on factors such as when the benefits began and which day of the month was the recipient’s birthdate. Benefit recipients whose birthdate falls between the 1st and the 10th of the month are paid on the second Wednesday of each month. Those with birthdates that fall on the 11th to the 20th get their SSDI payments on the third Wednesday of each month. And benefit recipients with birthdates between the 21st and the 31st receive their payments on the fourth Wednesday of the month.
The Basics of Social Security Disability
Before explaining how more than one check might arrive in a month, it’s essential to understand the basics of the Social Security Disability Insurance program:
Eligibility: To qualify for SSDI benefits, an individual must have a medical condition that meets the Social Security Administration’s definition of disability. For benefits eligibility, the government defines a disability as a “physical or mental impairment that lasts or is expected to last 12 months (or result in death) and that prevents the claimant from engaging in substantial gainful activities, also called SGAs.”
Another basic requirement for SSDI (but not SSI) is that the claimant has earned the minimum number of work credits. Work credits are assigned to a worker at a rate of 1 per each quarter in which the worker earns at least $1,730. (2024) A worker can earn up to 4 credits per year. In order to qualify for SSDI benefits, a claimant usually needs to have 40 work credits, half of which were earned in the 10 years prior to filing the SSDI claim.
Monthly Payments: SSDI provides monthly cash benefits to eligible individuals. The amount of these payments is determined based on the individual’s work history and lifetime earnings. It can vary widely from person to person. The monthly payment is determined by a formula using the person’s earnings from their highest earning 35 working years. People who earned higher incomes over the course of their working life will receive a higher monthly SSDI benefit payment. Remember that higher earners contributed more to the Social Security funds. There is a maximum payment, however, that anyone may receive in benefit payments regardless of their high income. SSDI is intended to help pay living expenses, not support a luxurious lifestyle.
Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs)
Social Security, including SSDI benefits, is subject to annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). These adjustments are designed to help beneficiaries keep up with the rising cost of living due to inflation. COLAs are typically calculated based on changes in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).
Each year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announces any COLA increases for the following year. The COLA increase for 2024 will raise the amount of benefit payments by 3.2%. The purpose of these adjustments is to ensure that the purchasing power of Social Security benefits remains relatively stable. If there is a COLA increase, it affects all Social Security beneficiaries, including those receiving SSDI.
Note: The first Social Security check you receive in 2024 including the new 3.2 COLA increase will be in January 2024.
Recent COLA Increases
To answer the question of whether SSDI is giving extra money this month, we need to consider the most recent COLA adjustments. This year’s COLA is significantly lower than it was in either 2022 (5.9%) or 2023 (8.7%). The rate is based on the consumer price index of a market basket of consumer items by urban wage earners and clerical workers in the third quarter of the preceding year. As that rate increases or decreases each year, so do does the COLA increase paid to Social Security recipients.
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Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income claims can be confusing to the untrained claimant and their families. Even the payment schedule can become so complex that someone waiting for a payment could be uncertain about when their funds will arrive.
If you have any questions about how Social Security Disability or SSI claims work, how to qualify, how to apply, or how your benefits are determined, contact one of Keener Law’s Georgia offices today.
We have all the information and we have many years of expertise guiding people with disabilities through this difficult process and successfully winning them their full benefits.