question re: findings

[mac1ntosh]

Hello - I was found to be "fully favorable" decision by a judge, after my hearing for disability approval. what I have a question about is the verbiage of "Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" section of the ruling.

The first finding is stated-
1. the claimant's date last insured is December 31, 2019.
the claimants earnings record shows that the claimant has acquired sufficient quarters of coverage to remain insured through December 31, 2019. Thus, the claimant must establish disability on or before that date in order to be entitled to a period of disability and disability insurance benefits.

Does this mean, I will run out of funds at that date? I guess I don't understand it.

Thanks for some clarification!

[pennstater]

My guess is that you have been out of work for awhile. So the credits you earned previously would allow a claim as long as it was made prior to that date. If made after that date, then you would be denied because you wouldn't have enough work credits.

So I think it is just confirmation that you are eligible now, that you have met the criteria for work credits. It is documentation by the judge as part of his ruling that financially, you are eligible.

You can always check with social security. I have never heard of anyone getting their payments stopped other than they are found later to not be disabled or that they earn too much, exceeding Substantial gainful activity amount.

Congrats on your award. I am sure it is a relief.

[jreagan70]

Hi mac1ntosh:

The "date last insured" doesn't involve work credits (they don't "expire") or running out of funds. It's based on how recently a person last worked and when they no longer meet eligibility criteria.

The purpose behind SSDI is to replace income that's lost because a person is unable to work due to disability. One rule for SSDI eligibility is that a person must have worked 20 quarters out of the previous 40, which is 5 out of the previous 10 years. The reasoning is that, if a person hasn't worked within the previous 5 years, they haven't lost any income by becoming disabled and unable to work because they weren't working for a long time and had no income anyway. If there's no loss of income, there's nothing for SSDI to replace. So the person doesn't qualify for SSDI because they don't meet the requirement of lost income.

Your date last insured of December 31, 2019 means that you have until December 31, 2019 before you pass the 5-year mark of not working and becoming ineligible. After that date, it would have been so long since you last worked that you couldn't claim that you had lost income because you already hadn't had an income for 5 years.

There are some other rules that go with that. But since you easily pass the "recent work" test, there's no point in going into them. That's a good thing.

[mac1ntosh]

Thanks to both of you, that makes sense. I guess silly me thought that the govt could see that I couldn't work, so would grant SSDI. but in fact the opposite is true.

This disease is a master class of self discovery.

[pennstater]

JReagan - thanks for clearing up confusion my post may have caused.