A friend told me a few years ago that she applied for SSDI, and was sent a huge check for benefits retroactive to the date SS determined she had become disabled - far more than she'd expected.
I applied in May 2013 (after years of inability to work full-time because of MS), and was approved on my first try - but when it came to my first payment, which happened to be about the time I turned 62, they sent me a check for the amount appropriate to someone retiring at age 62, and told me it was SSR, not SSD. When I squawked that I had not applied for SSR, they said they were "doing me a favor", and would start sending me SSD the next month.
Some folks have told me that SS always sends SSDI payments retroactive to the time you apply, not to the date they think you became disabled (which someone in the SS office told me over the phone would have been September 2000). I'd have been glad to get payments back to the date I applied! But I suspect the local SS office cheated me out of 3 months of retroactive payments by giving me that month of SSR.
Yes, SSDI allows us to earn a bit each month - but I can't find work I can still do, and that retroactive payment would help. Is there any hope?
** Moderator's note - Post broken into paragraphs for easier reading. Many people with MS have visual difficulties that prevent them from reading large blocks of print. **
I applied in May 2013 (after years of inability to work full-time because of MS), and was approved on my first try - but when it came to my first payment, which happened to be about the time I turned 62, they sent me a check for the amount appropriate to someone retiring at age 62, and told me it was SSR, not SSD. When I squawked that I had not applied for SSR, they said they were "doing me a favor", and would start sending me SSD the next month.
Some folks have told me that SS always sends SSDI payments retroactive to the time you apply, not to the date they think you became disabled (which someone in the SS office told me over the phone would have been September 2000). I'd have been glad to get payments back to the date I applied! But I suspect the local SS office cheated me out of 3 months of retroactive payments by giving me that month of SSR.
Yes, SSDI allows us to earn a bit each month - but I can't find work I can still do, and that retroactive payment would help. Is there any hope?
** Moderator's note - Post broken into paragraphs for easier reading. Many people with MS have visual difficulties that prevent them from reading large blocks of print. **
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