How many people receive ssi

SSI is available for a wide variety of conditions and disabilities. SSA classifies types of disabilities into broad categories, such as musculoskeletal disorders, respiratory system conditions, and digestive system disorders, just to name a few.

If you think that you or a loved one qualifies for SSI, you can submit an application for review. These benefits can be extremely valuable to someone who is having trouble working and keeping up with daily obligations.

You can and should include a full listing of all of your medical conditions in your application for SSI benefits. Sometimes if your conditions are less severe, but there are several, you can still get SSI. Your application should fully set out all of your medical conditions, even if they seem relatively minor standing alone. Even with these somewhat stringent requirements, you may be surprised just how many people are on social security.

Having a disability attorney help you with the Social Security disability application process can be very helpful.

Certain Divorced Spouses. Some Workers Retiring Abroad. Certain Noncitizens. Some Government Employees. Self-Employed Tax Evaders. Certain Immigrants Over The Bottom Line. Workers who have not accrued the requisite 40 credits roughly 10 years of employment are not eligible for Social Security.

Some government and railroad employees are not eligible for Social Security. American expatriates retiring in certain countries—and some retired immigrants to the U. Divorced spouses married for fewer than 10 years cannot claim benefits based on the earnings of their ex-spouse. Article Sources. Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts.

We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our editorial policy.

Compare Accounts. The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where listings appear. Investopedia does not include all offers available in the marketplace. Related Articles. Partner Links. Social Security benefits are payments made to qualified retirees and disabled people, and to their spouses, children, and survivors. Full Retirement Age FRA The full retirement age is the age at which people can receive full retirement benefits upon leaving the workforce.

What Is Retirement? Retirement refers to the time of life when one chooses to permanently leave the workforce behind. Social Security Definition Social Security is a federally run insurance program that provides benefits to many American retirees, their survivors, and workers who become disabled.

Covered Earnings Covered earnings refer to the amount of an employee's pay that is eligible for use in the calculation of retirement benefits. Investopedia is part of the Dotdash publishing family. Find how to apply for a Social Security number or to replace your Social Security card. While you work, you pay Social Security taxes. This tax money goes into a trust fund that pays benefits to:. Benefits for spouses or other survivors of a family member who's passed.

If you receive or will receive Social Security benefits, you may want to open a "my Social Security" account. You can also make changes to your Social Security record. Contact the Social Security Administration directly. Estimate your benefits at each age, from 62 the earliest you can receive them to 70 when you hit your greatest amount. Once you access the tool, pick the country you're visiting or living in from the drop-down menu options.

You may not have enough credits from your work in the United States to qualify for retirement benefits. But, you may be able to count your work credits from another country. The SSA has agreements with 24 countries. If you earned credits in one of those countries, they can help you qualify for U.

Find out how to report your lost, missing, stolen, or expired government check. And learn why you received a check or direct deposit payment and how to make a payment to the government. Medical evidence is the cornerstone for the determination of disability in both programs. To qualify, there must be medical evidence from a doctor, specialist, or certain other licensed or certified medical sources that documents a severe impairment.

Evidence from other health care providers—such as nurse practitioners or clinical social workers—is not sufficient to document a severe medical impairment. And statements from the applicants themselves, their families, co-workers, friends, or neighbors are not treated as medical evidence. Most applications for Disability Insurance are denied under this strict standard, and many workers with significant disabilities do not qualify.

Between and only about 40 percent of applications were ultimately approved. The level of severity required by the disability standard is apparent when one considers how poorly workers who have been denied Disability Insurance subsequently fare in the labor market. A recent study found that among people whose Disability Insurance applications were denied by the Social Security Administration, the vast majority—70 percent to 80 percent—did not go on to work in jobs with annual earnings above the substantial gainful activity level.

Further underscoring the strictness of the disability standard are the considerably elevated mortality rates for disabled workers found eligible for benefits. One in five men and nearly one in six women die within five years of being approved for benefits.

Disability Insurance beneficiaries have death rates at least three times higher than other people their age. In order to receive Disability Insurance, a worker must have worked during at least one-fourth of his or her adult lifetime and during at least 5 of the 10 years before disability onset. There is also a five-month waiting period before a worker can qualify for benefits.

Supplemental Security provides assistance to people with severe disabilities who have very low incomes and assets and who either lack sufficient work history to be covered for Disability Insurance or receive only a very small Disability Insurance benefit. It is important to note that many Supplemental Security beneficiaries, although lacking the sustained work history necessary to be insured under Disability Insurance, have worked and paid into the Disability Insurance system.

And others, particularly women, are not eligible for Disability Insurance because they took time out of the paid labor force to care for children or other family members. Workers must apply for and exhaust all other available benefits before qualifying for Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security. Both Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security provide incentives for beneficiaries to work. Disability Insurance beneficiaries are encouraged to work up to their full capacity and can earn an unlimited amount for up to 12 months without losing any benefits.

Beneficiaries who work for more than 12 months and have earnings above the substantial gainful activity level cease to receive a monthly benefit. This means they do not need to repeat the entire, and typically lengthy, disability-determination process that they initially went through to qualify for benefits.

Supplemental Security beneficiaries who are able to work are encouraged to do so as well. Beneficiaries who are able to do some work will therefore always be better off with both earnings and a reduced benefit than just the benefit alone.

These incentives are helpful for beneficiaries who are able to do some work or whose conditions improve. The best available data on annual employment rates among working-age beneficiaries of Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security come from a recent report that linked Social Security data and earnings records in , before the onset of the Great Recession. This report found that Disability Insurance beneficiaries were somewhat more likely to have worked than Supplemental Security beneficiaries: The vast majority of beneficiaries who did work had extremely low earnings—just 2.

There has been little change over the past two decades in the share of nonelderly adults receiving Supplemental Security due to a disability. In , 2. This comparison does not, however, take into account demographic and economic changes, particularly the aging of the population and the increase in poverty, which both have increased the number of people who are potentially eligible for Supplemental Security.

Controlling just for income, participation in Supplemental Security by working-age adults who are potentially eligible because of low income has actually declined over the past decade and a half.