Many Social Security beneficiaries believe that their disability benefits end when they turn 65, but did you know that you can continue receiving your Social Security disability benefits after the age of 65? Some of the things you hear or read about disability benefits are either not true or offer only a portion of the truth. In this blog we hope to provide some clarity of when and how your Social Security disability benefits convert to Social Security Retirement.
First off let’s talk about your SSDI benefits:
- When you qualify for SSDI benefits, the monthly payment that you receive is typically equivalent to what you would get by retiring at full retirement age based on your lifetime earnings record.
- If you receive workers’ compensation or other public disability payments, they may reduce your monthly benefit through the SSDI program.
Public disability payments include the following:
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- Civil service disability payments
- State temporary disability benefits
- Other state or local retirement benefits paid because you are disabled.
- The total that you receive each month from SSDI, and other public disability payments cannot exceed 80% of the average earnings you had prior to being disabled.
What is Full Retirement Age:
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act in 1935, workers could qualify for retirement benefits at age 65. The Social Security Disability Insurance program, which was not part of the original Social Security Act, was added through amendments to the law in 1954.
Congress made changes to the law over the years, including raising the age when workers became eligible for retirement benefits, which is the full retirement age or normal retirement age. An amendment to the Social Security Act in 1983 changed the normal retirement age from age 65 using gradual increases based on the year of a worker’s birth.
What happens when you reach full retirement age:
- Your SSDI payments end. You cannot receive SSDI and Social Security retirement on the same account, so your SSDI payments automatically convert to retirement benefits when you reach full retirement age.
- You should not experience any decrease in the amount you receive each month when you reach full retirement age for SSDI, but you may actually see an increase in the monthly payment. The reason is that deductions for workers’ compensation and public disability payments that may have reduced your SSDI payment each month do not apply to retirement benefits.
- The conversion from SSDI is automatic. There is nothing that you have to do to make it happen. It’s all handled by the Social Security Administration.
SSI benefits and what happens to those benefits when you reach full retirement age?
- The SSI program pays benefits to adults and children who are blind or disabled and to adults who are age 65 and older without a disability or blindness.
- It is a need-based program without a work requirement, but you must have a very limited income and assets that you own may not exceed $2000 for an individual.
- Adults must meet the same disability standard to qualify for benefits as the one used for the SSDI program.
- If you receive disability benefits through SSI, they will continue unchanged even after you reach full retirement age. One reason for this is that SSI benefits are paid through the general tax revenues of the federal government and not from the Social Security trust fund.
What happens to your benefits at full retirement age if you receive both SSI & SSDI?
- The fact that you cannot receive both Social Security disability benefits and retirement benefits at the same time is only true when the disability benefits are paid through the SSDI program.
- If you are among the more than 8 million people who qualify for disability benefits through SSI and SSDI, your SSI benefits may continue after you reach full retirement age.
- As long as the monthly payment you received from SSDI does not exceed the income limits for SSI eligibility, you may qualify for disability benefits through both programs. However, your SSDI benefit will reduce what you get from the monthly SSI benefit for 2023of $914 for an individual.
Mission Possible has certified benefits counselors on staff to assist and inform you through the transition of your benefits from Social Security disability to Social Security retirement. Call us with questions or for more information 888-359-2366.
~Tina
Tina@mpes.net
*The information in this blog is from The Clauson Law Firm, March 13, 2023 Blog
https://www.clausonlaw.com/blog/ssdi/what-is-full-retirement-age-for-social-security-disability/
https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-01861#:~:text=Social%20Security%20disability%20benefits%20automatically,record%20at%20the%20same%20time.
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