If social security disability payments are your source of income, you may be grateful to have them. These payments make it possible for many to live a comfortable lifestyle while they are unable to work. But often, your condition could worsen through the years. This may cause you to wonder if you can receive more SSDI money if your health gets worse.
Can I Receive More SSDI Money If My Health Gets Worse?
The way in which SSDI benefits are calculated in the first place makes it impossible to receive additional funds simply if your condition worsens. Your SSDI payments are determined by your earnings prior to actually becoming disabled. Because this is what the amount is determined from, you can’t actually increase your benefits if you are “more” disabled than you were when you were awarded benefits.
Just because your benefit amount won’t be reevaluated doesn’t mean that your payment will be exactly the same each year. Like many other things, SSDI benefits are subject to cost of living increases, meaning your benefits have the potential to be adjusted each year. For 2019, the SSDI cost of living increase was 2.8 percent, meaning individuals who are receiving benefits saw their monthly payment increase by that percent this year.
Working While on SSDI and SSI
While this contradicts with a worsening health situation, it is possible to work while on SSDI to increase your overall earnings. But, there are very strict rules that go along with this.
For 2019, you are able to work without issue as long as your monthly earnings don’t exceed $880. Any month that your amount earned goes above the $880 will count toward a trial work period. A trial work period consists of a total of nine months. If you exceed the $880 earnings limit in any nine months within a five month time period, your trial work period will commence and the Social Security Administration will reevaluate your condition to see if you are still a candidate for benefits.
Due to this, you want to be very sure that you are going to be able to sustain the work you are doing, as your benefits could be pulled if you exceed the earnings limits within the above guidelines.
For SSI, the rules can be even more strict as SSI is considered very need based. Any work that you perform while receiving these benefits could potentially cause your payment to decrease.
If you have questions on how SSDI benefit payments work, or if you have been unable to receive them at all, call your Milwaukee social security disability lawyer, Tabak Law. We help clients throughout the nation and are nationally ranked for our service.