Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is intended to provide financial assistance to those who can no longer work due to their disability. This may lead one to wonder whether it is possible for everyone to receive SSDI benefits, even without having worked.
It is not possible to receive SSDI benefits without ever working. This is because, in order to be eligible for SSDI benefits, one needs to have a minimum number of work credits that they have collected over the course of their employment history.
Keep reading below as we go through this in more detail and discuss some possible workarounds.
What Are Work Credit Requirements for SSDI?
The Social Security Administration (SSA) states that, on average, you need 40 work credits during your employment history to be eligible for Social Security payments in retirement. However, the necessary number of credits to be eligible for SSDI varies by age group.
The circumstances of someone else’s case should not lead you to conclude that you do not have enough work credits. To better understand how the work credit system works, consider the following example.
Let’s say you worked with an individual in his fifties who, after only four years of contributing to Social Security, became too sick to work due to Parkinson’s disease. Each year, you can accumulate up to four work credits.
With only 16 work credits, your coworker would be ineligible for benefits in this scenario.
You might think you don’t have enough work credit if you worked for the same company for five years before becoming disabled, but you’d be wrong.
Generally, you need 40 credits, 20 of which were earned in the last 10 years ending with the year your disability begins. However, younger workers may qualify with fewer credits.
For instance, if you’re 35 years old, all you need are 20 work credits before you’re eligible for SSDI. The number of work credits you need to apply for SSDI depends on your age and the length and recency of your employment in a job that contributed to Social Security.
Why SSA Requires Work Credits
SSDI is an insurance program, as the abbreviation suggests. The “premiums” for this program come from the portion of your salary that is withheld for Social Security and sent on your behalf to the government by your employer.
That sum goes toward paying for people’s regular Social Security retirement and disability benefits.
Social Security Income (SSI) benefits, on the other hand, are paid for out of the government’s general revenues, which include things like income taxes and other levies. To qualify for SSI benefits, you don’t need to have worked long enough to have earned enough Social Security tax payments through payroll deductions.
How Are Work Credits Calculated?
When you work at a job that contributes to Social Security, you will get one work credit for every three-month block (quarter) that you are employed at that position. Worker contributions to Social Security effectively “buy” you benefits.
A worker who works for 30 years in qualified jobs, for instance, could potentially receive 120 work credits. You should know that your rewards under this program will not decrease if you have more than the minimum number of credits.
Can You Get SSDI Without Ever Working?
Unfortunately, you cannot get SSDI benefits if you have never worked. The Social Security Disability Insurance program provides financial assistance to those who have become disabled while employed.
When a person is employed, they earn coverage in quarters. If an employee has earned at least 20 quarters during the preceding 10 years, they are qualified to receive Social Security Disability Insurance coverage in the event that they become disabled while employed and are unable to return to work.
A person is not eligible for SSDI benefits until they have worked enough quarters to earn coverage.
The Application of Work Credit Rules
While you cannot receive benefits if you do not have enough work credits, there is an indirect way. The SSDI only requires the primary applicant to have the minimum number of work credits.
Any secondary beneficiaries that apply for SSDI based on someone else’s record are not required to have a work history.
Using a Deceased Spouse’s Record to Apply for SSDI
Many stay-at-home spouses carry heavy responsibilities, such as raising children or maintaining the household. In the event that the non-working spouse becomes disabled after the working spouse has passed away, benefits may be awarded based on the working spouse’s records.
Although this is only applicable in specific cases, it can provide widows and widowers with the necessary amount needed to survive, possibly at a higher rate than they would receive under SSI.
Unfortunately, not everyone can take advantage of these perks. You need to be between the ages of 50 and 60, and you need to have had the condition for at least 7 years prior to when your spouse died. If a disabled spouse is dependent on their partner’s income, then they will be eligible for benefits at the death of their partner. This is also helpful for surviving spouses who may have suffered a disability as a result of the accident that took the life of their partner.
There are restrictions on who this can help, but it does provide an option for those with no employment history to apply for disability benefits.
The Social Security Administration assumes that if you are under the age of 50 and your spouse has passed away, you will either return to the workforce on your own or file for Supplemental Security Income benefits instead of SSDI.
Using a Parent’s Record to Apply for SSDI
In many cases, disabled children are able to get assistance from their parents’ records. Both minor children and adult children can sometimes get continued SSDI payments on their parent’s records without applying to need-based SSI programs, although the rules are different for each category.
Children Under the Age of 18
Your disabled young child is eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits as a dependent. In most cases, the criteria that are used to define a disability in children are distinct from the criteria that are used for adults.
Furthermore, the criteria that are used to identify a disability in children do not include limitations on the child’s ability to work because children are not of working age anyway. It’s possible that the medical definition of any particular health issue, when applied to children, will have a looser interpretation.
Your child is eligible to get benefits on your record if their disability persists into adulthood and meets the adult criteria for their condition. If their condition does not satisfy the criteria of an adult, then these payments will be terminated when the child is 18 years old.
If your child is enrolled full-time in school, then financial aid will expire when they graduate, drop out, or turn 19 years old.
When your child turns 18 without a condition that prevents them from working, they may have trouble getting into college or finding a job. They may be able to reapply for SSDI as an adult child if their health worsens and they meet the requalification criteria.
Children Over the Age of 18
Disabled children under the age of 22 can often rely on their parents’ employment history to secure benefits. Many young adults and teenagers enter the workforce before becoming unable to continue due to illness, injury, or other causes.
Rather than relying on your limited employment history, you can instead use your parents’ work history to apply for SSDI.
To qualify, your disability must have begun before you turned 22 and meet the same criteria as those of other disabled adults. This also requires that your disability fit a specific medical description and that your condition is severe enough that it prevents you from being able to hold down a job.
Since the application for SSDI is based exclusively on the parent’s work record and not the child’s, these benefits are available regardless of whether or not the adult child has a job history of their own.
In most cases, individuals are permitted to get these benefits indefinitely. A person who is receiving SSDI payments based on the record of a parent cannot marry or own considerable assets without risking the termination of those payments.
Disabled adult children are effectively treated as dependents by the Social Security Administration. Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits issued through a parent’s record are normally terminated if the beneficiary has the resources to support themselves or is married to someone who can do so.
If you became disabled before you turned 22, you could apply for SSI payments if you don’t have your own employment history, but you might get more money if you apply using your parents’ SSDI record.
Even if you plan to marry and leave your parents’ Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, you may still be eligible for SSI as a need-based recipient, although you may receive reduced benefits.
Can Non-Disabled Spouses or Children Receive SSDI Benefits?
Even if a disabled worker’s child or spouse does not have a disability of their own, the worker is nonetheless eligible for supplemental disability compensation under this program.
The Social Security Administration will often provide an additional 50–80 percent of the worker’s payments to help sustain the worker’s family members. If your spouse or parent is disabled, you can collect disability benefits without having to prove your own condition or have a job history.
If your spouse is 62 or older or if they are taking care of your children (under 16 years old), they may be eligible for supplementary benefits. In these cases, the Social Security Administration has decided that a spouse is entitled to supplementary payments, usually amounting to 50% of the amount you receive for your own disability.
Your spouse may be eligible for higher benefits based on their own work history, but these benefits are still available even if your partner has never had a job. In some situations, a divorced spouse may be eligible for these benefits as well.
If you get SSDI and have non-disabled children, they are eligible for benefits even if they have never worked. If your child turns 18 while still enrolled in high school, he or she may be eligible for an extension of these benefits until he or she turns 19 or graduates.
In most cases, your dependents can only get up to 50% of your benefits, and your total dependents cannot receive more than 80% of your benefits.
For instance, if you are disabled, and have a spouse but no children, your spouse may be eligible for an additional 50% of your disability benefits. If you have a spouse and a single child, your spouse, and child could share up to 80% of extra disability payouts instead of 50% each.
Benefits through SSI
Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance are the two main forms of disability payments offered by the SSA.
Both programs are intended to provide regular financial support to people who are unable to work due to a severe and long-lasting disability. While the goals of these programs are comparable, the employment requirements vary widely.
To qualify for SSDI benefits, applicants must establish that they have paid into the system through previous employment.
Similar to other insurance programs, beneficiaries pay premiums into SSDI in the event they need to collect benefits. However, many people, such as wives or children who do not work, are still eligible for SSDI payments on the record of another family member.
SSI is not like a credit system; rather, it is based on proof of financial necessity. This means that if you have exhausted all other avenues for obtaining disability payments through the SSDI system, SSI is usually a great option, even though the payments are reduced.
Am I Eligible for SSI?
To be eligible for SSI, the following conditions must be met:
- You need to be medically disabled and low-income.
- Your disability must be “medically determinable” (diagnosed using clinical or laboratory tests).
- Your disability must keep you from holding down a full-time position of any kind and have persisted for at least a year.
- If you’re unemployed and applying for SSI, you can’t own many assets other than your home, a car, and some personal belongings.
- You can’t own $2,000 in financial assets if single, or $3,000 if married.
- The Social Security Administration will reduce your benefit payment by the amount of any non-work-related income you receive.
- You will no longer receive SSI if your monthly salary is higher than $914.
- The SSA will consider a portion of your spouse’s income if you are married, and both of you are working.
Conclusion
So, while it is not possible to receive SSDI benefits without ever working, there are some possible workarounds that you can try. These include applying for SSDI based on another family member’s record or opting for SSI instead.
